Harold Beverage, known for his pioneering research
in early radio, was the former director of radio
research for RCA Laboratories. He was also
vice-president in charge of research and development
for RCA Communications. Beverage, along with
Phillip Carter, established the first RCA
Laboratory in a tent at Riverhead, Long Island, New
York in 1919.
The interview describes events leading up to the
formation of RCA in 1919, the invention of the
wave antenna, and the first reception. Beverage
discusses Dr. Hansel's development of the first
crystal-controlled transmitter and the first
15-meter transmitter. The interview describes
Major Armstrong's four major inventions, including
the superheterodyne and wide-band frequency
modulation. Beverage also discusses his
relationships with Guglielmo Marconi and Ernst
Alexanderson.
| 1 |
Summary of interview
contents, dictated by Beverage |
| |
Overview of persons
mentioned in interview |
| 2 |
Continuation of interview summary |
| 3 |
Beverage's college education |
| |
Dr. E.F.W. Alexanderson and
the Alexanderson alternator |
| |
organization of RCA in 1919 |
| 4 |
organization of RCA and
various interests of the company |
| |
patent ownership after
World War I |
| 5 |
Ownership of RCA by
Westinghouse and General Electric |
| |
description and background
of Dr. Alexanderson |
| 6 |
Alexanderson's skills as an inventor |
| |
tent which was the first
RCA laboratory |
| |
Alexanderson's absent-mindedness |
| 7 |
Beverage's first years out
of college |
| |
work on the radio telephone
on U.S.S. George for President Wilson |
| |
and Secretary of the Navy, Daniels. |
| 8 |
President Wilson delivers a
speech to troops on board ship |
| |
Wilson's speech read over
the radio by one of Beverage's group |
| |
First transmitter over 2
kilowatts put on a ship |
| 9 |
Article about Wilson's
speech entitled "The Voice that Failed" |
| |
Met Mrs. and Margaret
Wilson, describes the First Lady |
| |
President Wilson unapproachable |
| 10 |
President Harding and the
dedication of RCA at Rocky Point |
| |
Description of radio work
during World War I |
| |
Germans destroying
communication cables |
| |
French request to
Alexanderson for a receiving system in
France |
| 11 |
Beverage's involvement with
developing the barrage receiver |
| 12 |
Installation of barrage
receiver near Bar Harbor, Maine |
| |
Discussion of the
unidirectional problem with receiver wires |
| 13 |
Beginnings of the wave
antenna, or Beverage Antenna |
| 14 |
Description of the wave antenna |
| 15 |
1924 establishment of the
Riverhead receiving center |
| |
Frank Conrad and KDKA in Pittsburgh |
| |
Prevailing theory that
shorter waves were inferior for transmitting |
| |
Marconi and his transmitting
station in Cornwall |
| 16 |
Marconi's transmission with
32 meter waves in 1924 |
| |
Shortwave revolution and
implications for international |
| |
communications |
| 17 |
Dr. H.O. Peterson,
Beverage's associate, joins the interview |
| |
Beverage relates anecdote
about cable rigging in a Ford and a 400 |
| |
foot mast |
| 18 |
Marconi and his major accomplishments |
| 19 |
Marconi and the discovery of
reflecting layers |
| |
Marconi and ultrashort wave signals |
| 20 |
Beverage's first meeting
with Marconi in London, in 1921 |
| |
AEFG consortium |
| |
Suggests that the Babylon
station may have been the first permanent |
| |
radio station in the US |
| 21 |
Major Armstrong buys the
Babylon shop and moves it to Rocky Point, |
| |
presenting it to RCA communications |
| |
Beverage meets Marconi
again, in US |
| 22 |
Marconi is feted at Rocky Point |
| |
Marconi's historic talk
before the American Institute of Electrical |
| |
Engineers |
| |
Education and career of Dr. Peterson |
| 23 |
Beverage's early interest
in radio as a high school student |
| |
Beverage raised on a farm |
| |
Influence of Hugo
Gernsback's Electro Importing Company |
| 24 |
Peterson's early interest
in radio as a boy in Nebraska |
| 25 |
Peterson's first job with
General Electric in 1921 |
| |
Further discussion of wave antenna |
| |
Wave antennas used in
Soviet Union |
| 26 |
Beverage meets group of
Russians in 1962 at meeting of |
| |
International Scientific
Radio Union |
| |
Discusses second wave
antenna system built by Wiegandt |
| |
Competition between Wiegandt
and Beverage |
| |
Wiegandt's theory about
static source different from Beverage's |
| 27 |
Beverage's theory of static
is correct |
| |
Beverage's system superior
to Wiegandt's |
| |
Discusses the experimental
nature of the period |
| 28 |
Discusses different
environment for developing ideas now |
| |
Shift from lone inventor to
teams of,engineers, metallurgists, etc. |
| 29 |
Discusses shift from
individual work to teamwork and impact on |
| |
inventiveness |
| |
Notes the expense involved
in projects today |
| 30 |
co-invention by
Peterson and Beverage of space diversity in
1926 |
| 31 |
Peterson discusses the
diversity system in comparison to the |
| |
Franklin System |
| 32 |
various applications of diversity |
| |
Polarization diversity used
by receiving stations for satellites |
| |
limitations of Marconi beam system |
| 33 |
Destruction of Marconi
towers in hurricane of 1938 |
| 34 |
Notes another application of
diversity system--quadruple diversity |
| 35 |
breakthrough of
crystal-controlled transmitters |
| |
Dr. Hansel makes first
transmitter with crystal control |
| 36 |
In 1926, Hansel builds
transmitter that worked on 15 meters |
| |
The transmitter was held up
by broomsticks and had metal pie |
| |
plates for condensers |
| |
15-meter transmitter
solution to the problem of static |
| 37 |
Discussion of Dr. Hansel
and his work |
| |
Hansel's interest in the
effects of ionization |
| 38 |
Hansel's congenial personality |
| 39 |
Discussion of Major Armstrong |
| |
Armstrong's first invention
dealing with oscillation |
| |
DeForest's man also trying
to make a telephone repeater |
| |
Armstrong's father
discourages him from taking out a patent |
| 40 |
Armstrong describes his
invention on a piece of tissue paper and has |
| |
it notarized in 1913 |
| |
Armstrong's court battle
over patent rights |
| |
Armstrong's belief in the
need for technical advisors to courts |
| 41 |
Armstrong's invention of the
superheterodyne |
| |
Discusses Captain Levy's
static eliminator, with similar elements of |
| |
Armstrong's superheterodyne |
| |
Armstrong's invention of the
superregenerator |
| 42 |
Armstrong's fourth major
invention--wide band frequency modulation |
| |
Armstrong's dealings with
RCA over wide band FM |
| |
personal relationship with
Armstrong and his wife |
| 43 |
Discussion of Armstrong's
thinking processes |
| |
Armstrong's suicide |
| 44 |
Formal interview ends. Begin
Beverage's comments dated July, 1973 |
| |
Brief discussion of rhombic
antenna and long wire antennas |
| |
Notes first international
broadcast of a program, by BBC |
| 45 |
Discusses other early
activities of Riverhead and Rocky Point up
to |
| |
1930 |
| |
Adds detail to discussion of
controversy between Armstrong and |
| |
DeForest over invention of
regeneration |
| 46 |
Discussion of frequency
modulation and work of Murray Crosby |
| |
Armstrong frequently visits
Riverhead during the 1930s |
| 47 |
Beverage notes discussions
between Armstrong and Crosby about FM |
| 48 |
Discussion of first radio
relays for television at Hunter Mountain, NJ |
| |
Beverage's work as a
consultant to the Office of the Secretary of
War, |
| |
1942-1944 |
