However, in their early years, their main objective was to make a fortune either through getting an acceptable system that will be used by the Navy in equipping their ships or a dependable wireless replacement for the wired telephone. Yet, evidence has it that in those early days, Lee de Forest (the first one) already had ideas on the ways of using his radiotelephone for more than two-way purposes. Just as the Navy experiment was taking place, Lee de Forest writes in an article on his radiotelephone "still another feature of the invention…the supplying of music and other forms of entertainment to passengers travelling on the passenger vessels. A service of this kind, aided by a large receiver, so that all of the passengers gathered in a large salon could hear the music or operatic air…" (De Forest, Lee, 1950).
In 1900-1920, known as radiotelephone years, were largely recognized more for the competing voice transmission technologies as compared for broadcasting. Whereas there was quick rejection towards spark terming it as too noisy and the alternator too costly, many permutations of the Poulsen arc was the one that clearly dominated radiotelephone inventions as well as early broadcasting for an audience. Still currently there are several people who apparently believe that early radiotelephone science became dominated by de Forest's vacuum tube. However, according to evidences this is the case because as late as 1915 de Forest himself was manufacturing, marketing and using an arc radiotelephone. This was not strange: Charles Herrold, de Forest as well as the rest of other radiotelephone investors had between 1910 and 1916 spent lots of dollars in perfecting the arc as a carrier of voice and music.
In 1913, Lee de Forest was sued for Fraud by the United States Attorney General, on behalf of his shareholders, on basis that his claim of regeneration was an "absurd" promise, however, he later acquitted his charges. Following this incidence he was left almost bankrupt with legal bills, and he was forced to sell his triode vacuum-tube patent to AT&T and the Bell System for a price of $50,000 in July 1913. AT&T therefore got the right to use and build the Audion except for wireless telegraphy. In 1914, August, Lee de Forest again sold the rights for wireless telegraphy for $90,000. Thereafter he was forced later in March 1917 to relinquish all his rights to AT&T that he still retained for $250,000. This shows the struggle that de Forest had to pass through in his fight to be the "Father of Radio."
This money spent by these radiotelephone investors was of course spent on lawyers as they tried to find a way of getting ground for the basic Poulsen patents. However, the irony is that those who brought Poulsen system to America, such as Cyril Elwell, together with the company that he founded that was based on the Poulsen patents, Federal Telegraph, had for long already abandoned using arc for voice as impractical and focused on high power, long distance arc telegraphy. Maybe following the high current demands of a microphone in an arc circuit, the only invention that were ever satisfactory developed and employed was the low power, limited range arc radiotelephones.
Lee de Forest had finally perfected his Audion by the beginning of 1916 for its most important task such as that of an oscillator for the radiotelephone. Before, while in Palo Alto he went ahead and made his tube to perform as an amplifier and it was purchased by the telephone company as an amplifier of transcontinental wired phone calls. While he was at his home in New York City, by late 1916 he had started a series of experimental broadcasts from the Columbia Phonograph Laboratories, and eventually abandoning his already existing version of the arc transmitter and for the first time using his Audion as a transmitter (photo right) of radio, (Mike Adams, 2011). This radio telephone equipment was made up of two large Oscillion tubes that worked as generators of the high frequency current. One of the early broadcast received mixed reviews. This was when the Columbia phonograph records played at 102 West Thirty-Eighth Street from the laboratory of the company happened to be heard clearly within the receiving room of the Astor (Hotel), with the exception of some interruptions by the powerful naval wireless apparatus within the Brooklyn Navy Yard, when there was an occasional storm warning with the music. After a month, Lee de Forest revealed to the New York Sun reporter that by him using a wave length of 800 meters, there will be another record setting by giving the first public concert by wireless in history.
sound technologies and sound design in Film Sound in films Experiments in Early Age Developments Crucial innovations Commercialization of sound cinema: U.S., Europe, and Japan Sound Design Unified sound in film production Sound designers in Cinematography Sound Recording Technologies History of Sound Recording Technology Film sound technology Modern Digital Technology History of sound in films Developments Sound Design Sound Recording Technologies The film industry is a significant beneficiary of performing arts. The liberal arts combined with latest techniques and advancements experienced a number of stages. The
History Of Communication Timeline TIMELINE: HISTORY OF COMMUNICATION (with special reference to the development of the motorcycle) 35,000 BCE. First paleolithing "petroglyphs" and written symbols. This is important in the history of communication because it marks the first time humans left a recorded form of communication. Also, these written symbols became the ultimate source of later alphabets. Wikipedia, "Petroglyph." 12,600 BCE. Cave paintings at Lascaux show early representational art. This is important in the history of communication
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now