BVARC Monday Net, 24 August 2015
History Detective: Questions, Answers & Reference Sources

1. Q) Telegraph: Name one of the inventor/designers of Europe’s first long-distance telegraph systems actually implemented.
   
   A1) Claude Chappe, 1792; Paris to Lille (French)
   [http://www.britannica.com/biography/Claude-Chappe]
   [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Chappe]
   
   A2) Robert Hooke (British) submitted to the Royal Society 1684 but never implemented
   [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line]
   

A3) Sir Richard Lovell Edgeworth (Ireland) 1767, not credited as implemented
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line]

A4) Abraham Niclas Edelcrants (Swedish) 1794
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line]

A5) Lord George Murry (UK) 1795
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line]

A6) Rev. Mr. Gamble (UK) 1795
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line]

1. Q) Telegraph: Describe the system from the previous question
   A1) Chappe: Optical Semaphore; Multiple movable arms on manned towers spaced about 3 to 6 mi apart
   [http://www.britannica.com/biography/Claude-Chappe/images-videos/Optical-telegraph-tower-on-the-Litermont-near-Nalbach-in-Saarland/128756]
   

A2) Edelcrants: Collapsible iron shutters forming combinations of numbers. Station spacing was about 6 miles.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line]

A3) Murray: Six rotatable disks on a large frame
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line]

1. Q) Telegraph: Name one of the first inventors of the electric telegraph.
   A1) Charles Wheatstone, 1832 six wire system made as a demonstration
   [Pg. 64, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
   
   A2) William Fothergill Cook & Charles Wheatstone 1837 (patent date) four wire system using Wheatstone’s “relay” to extend distance commercialized
   [Pg. 66, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Fothergill_Cooke]

A3) Reizen, 1794
[Pg. 75, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]

A4) Agustin de Betancourt, 1798
[Pg. 75, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]

A5) D.F.Silva, date unknown
[Pg. 75, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]

1. Q) What musical instrument was invented by Charles Wheatstone?
   
   A) The accordion
   [Pg. 64, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]

1. Q) Electromagnetic Telegraph: Who and when is generally credited with inventing the first electromagnetic telegraph?
   
   A) Samuel Morse, about 1837, though probably in error. What he did invent was the use of a binary code so a single (using ground return) or two-wire system could be used. It is most likely that Wilhelm Weber and Carl Gauss created the first system in 1833.
   [Pg. 81 - 87, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
   [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Morse]

1. Q) Electromagnetic Telegraph: Who devised the Morse code that went into wide use with the telegraph bearing Morse’s name?
   A) Alfred Vail, a partner of Morse. Morse did invent an earlier code however Vail’s was based on the frequency of use of individual letters in the English Language. Vail also created the telegraph key as we know it today and the electromagnet sounder that system used.
   [Pg. 81 - 87, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
   
2. Q) Wireless Communication: Who is credited with making the first wireless communications transmission, where and when?
   
   A) William O’Shaughnessy, East India Company surgeon, the Hooghly River, India, 1839. He independently created a telegraph system and used 2-1/2 miles of the Hooghly River as the transmission line, successfully transmitted signals.
   [Pg. 281, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
   
3. Q) Wireless Communication: Who is credited with making the first wireless voice transmission, where and when?
   
   A) Alexander Gram Bell, 1882. He used the Potomac River to send a telephone message 1-1/2 miles.
   [Pg. 281, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
   
4. Q) Radio: Who is credited as the inventor of radio communications and when?
   
   A1) Nikola Tesla, 1893, St. Louis lecture and demonstration. He holds all the fundamental US patents on radio.
   [Pg. 280/291, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
   [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla]
   
   A2) Mahlon Loomas, October 1866, 18 miles between two West Virginia mountain tops; 1870, 2 miles between two ships on Chesapeake Bay (sponsored by the U.S. Navy)
   Note: While it appears that Loomas should be credited with the invention of radio, there is credible skepticism as to what his experiments and demonstration actually showed. The same could be said of Marconi’s 1901 transatlantic claim. The fundamental issue is the lack of documentation and viewing by others.
   [http://jeff560.tripod.com/loomis.html]
   [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahlon_Loomis]
   [http://www.smecc.org/mhlon_loomis.htm]
   [http://www.carnetdevol.org/Wireless/loomis.html]
   
5. Q) Radio: Who is credited with the first practical radio detector?
   
   A) Edouard Branly, the coherer French physicist; improved by Oliver Lodge and again improved upon by Jagadis Bose. The coherer was invented by British telegraph engineer S.A. Varley as a lightning suppression device in the 1850s.
   [Pg. 280, 282, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
   
6. Q) Radio: Who is credited with the tuning mechanism used by Marconi in his early receivers?
   
   A) Nikola Tesla, Oliver Lodge and John Stone Stone
   [Pg. 279, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
   
7. Q) Radio: Who is credited with inventing the spark-gap transmitter?
   
   A) Heinrich Hertz, 1886/7. Hertz built a dipole antenna resonate at about 100mHz and excited with a Ruhmkorff coil (induction coil). He did not convey communications but built the device to prove Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism.
   [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Hertz]
   [Pg. 279, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
   
8. Q) Radio: Who built the first radio receiver?
   A) Heinrich Hertz, 1886/7. Again but the built the device to prove Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism. The receiver was a dipole antenna with a spark gap at its center (feed point).
   [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Hertz]
   [Pg. 279, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
   
9. Q) Radio: Who made the first radio communications transmission as we understand radio today?
   
   A) Alexander Stepanovich Popov, May 7, 1895, Russian war ship to St. Petersburg, distance of 30 miles; Again on March 24, 1896 the first radio message sent 800 feet as a demonstration to an academic audience.
   [Pg. 284/5, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
   
10. Q) Radio: Who is claimed to have made the first transatlantic radio transmission and when?
    
    A) John Ambrose Fleming transmitting Morse letter “S” from Poldhu, Cornwall to Guglielmo Marconi receiving in St. Johns, Newfoundland; December 12, 1901. Much evidence exists that this was a ruse but will never be settled either way.
    [Pg. 299, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guglielmo_Marconi]
    
11. Q) Radio: Who made the first electronic vacuum tube and when?
    
    A) John Ambrose Fleming, 1904; the Fleming “valve”, (diode). It was patented November 16, 1905; later invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court as known art in the field.
    [Pg. 302, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ambrose_Fleming]
    
12. Q) Radio: Who made the first radio voice transmission and when?
    
    A) Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, December 23, 1900, Cobb Island in the Potomac River. Fessenden used an Edison phonograph cylinder into which he had machined 10,000 groves and a microphone which provided 10 kHz interruptions into a spark transmitter. The apparatus created “absolutely terrible” transmission but worked.
    [Pg. 311, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Fessenden]
    
13. Q) Radio: When was the first AM transmission made and by whom?
    
    A) Christmas Eve, 1906, Reginald Aubrey Fessenden.
    Back Story: Fessenden contacted Charles Proteus Steinmetz of General Electric and asked Steinmetz to construct an alternator that would generate RF energy. Steinmetz was unable because material science of the day was not up to the task. Fessenden then designed and built a prototype in his own machine shop and again asked Steinmetz and General Electric to make one. Steinmetz assigned one of his engineers, Ernst Alexanderson, to the task. Alexanderson first produced a 50 kHz unit and later a 75 kHz, 500 watt unit.
    [Pg. 313/4, Fleet Fire, L.J. Davis, Arcade Publishing, 2003 Second Edition, ISBN 1-55970-655-4]
    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Fessenden]