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Electronics – William (Bill) Hewlett By Les Simmonds Electronics – William (Bill) Hewlett This new series of articles on elec- The HP 200 series low distortion high quality and long product life tronics will place emphasis on the resistance-capacitance audio os- possible with electronic equip- second word in the name of this cillator directly descended from ment. magazine "Electronics". HP co-founder Bill Hewlett’s mas- ters degree thesis at Stanford Hewlett’s oscillator used a reso- The electronics subjects we will University in 1939. It was HP's nant RC circuit originated by Max cover will include security elec- first product, manufactured in Wien which was developed in tronics and general electronics, 1939 and in various shapes and 1891 (no typo’s here either) (do both analogue and digital, old and sizes it lasted in the HP product you tech heads remember the new technologies, electronics range for nearly 50 years, yes 50 Wien Bridge?) In 1891 Wien had books, etc. We will also cover years! (Current electronic design- no source of electronic gain so he some of the interesting past and ers and manufacturers please couldn't readily get anything to present electronics industry char- note: The number 50 is not a oscillate. Wien went on to de- acters and equipment. We will typo). velop a network for AC bridge keep it simple, interesting and fun measurements. because, "If it isn't fun it ain’t This machine is real electronics worth doing". (George Thorogood history. It provided a direction In 1939 Hewlett saw that Wien's - R&B Guitarist 1978) methods and standards that have network, combined with suitable been reflected in HP products to electronic gain, offered advan- When I first discussed this series this day. The HP 200 series also tages over previous approaches to with the Editor he was tentative, shows that if an electronic product make high quality audio oscilla- probably because there is no firm is designed and manufactured to tors. These included dynamic tun- structure and a very broad sub- the highest possible standards it ing range, amplitude and fre- ject range, even so articles will will satisfy the market and remain quency stability, low distortion only appear on an occasional ba- in a manufacturer's product range and simplicity. Hewlett also used sis. for many years. This can only add Harold Black’s feedback amplifier up to market satisfaction and theory. Therefore, Hewlett had We start this series with a name profit! something else besides electronic every one knows. The recent gain being available - he also had amalgamation of Hewlett Packard The HP 200 is an amazing mixture amplifier feedback! Hewlett also and Compaq and the strong ad- of theoretical ideas, inspired de- had Nyquist’s regeneration theory vertising campaign HP is currently sign, careful engineering and which described the conditions undertaking caused me to think it dedicated execution. It answered necessary for oscillation. might be time to mention a few a market need for a superior solu- interesting things about to Mr tion. The contribution was genu- Hewlett synthesised all this to William (Bill) Hewlett and some ine with the rewards evenly di- show that Wien’s network could HP equipment you may not have vided between HP and its custom- be made to oscillate. He then heard a lot about. ers. The HP 200 design and added a simple crucial element. manufacture process showed the The oscillators gain must be care- Copyright © 2006 Les Simmonds. All Rights Reserved. fully controlled to support stable sinusoidal oscillation. If gain is too low oscillation will not occur and excessive gain will limit cycles, creating a square wave oscillator. The problem is to introduce an amplitude regulation mechanism that does not generated output waveform distortion. Hewlett used a normal low watt- age lamp in this case because lamp resistance increases with an increase in current. The HP 200 is very well-designed because of it’s hardware simplicity. More impor- tantly it’s smart because it's a striking example of lateral think- ing. The whole problem was con- sidered in an interdisciplinary spirit, not just an electronic one. This is the signature of superior problem solving and very good engineering practice. David Packard and his wife rented the first floor flat of a house at 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto, California and Bill Hewlett rented the cottage behind the house. Bill and Dave began part-time work in the garage with $538.00 in work- ing capital. When Hewlett finished his design and thoroughly proved the prototype he and Dave went to their garage and started manu- facturing the HP 200 low distor- tion resistance-capacitance audio oscillator and the rest is history. Eight of the first HP 200’s off the production line were purchased by Walt Disney Studios, who used them to develop and test an inno- vative sound system for the movie Fantasia. 30 years after the release of the HP 200, HP’s first computer the 2116B was released in 1969. One rainy Sunday afternoon 50 years after Hewlett and Packard William’s detailed description majority of Tektronix Oscillo- started production of the HP 200 shows how he had a fun time scopes he restores and I can un- in their garage, Jim Williams, an even though he came up against derstand that! eminent scientist employed at problems with Op Amps that Hew- Linear Technology Corporation, lett had solved with vacuum tube Acknowledgements: who is also the chief editor of valves 50 years before and his several books in the EDN Series detailed description of his design Hewlett Packard. for Design Engineers, set out to process shows how difficult it was Tektronix Inc. make an oscillator similar to Hew- to replicate and improve on Hew- EDN Series for Design Engineers. lett’s HP 200 using the latest lett’s original HP 200. technology ICs. Hewlett’s two Les Simmonds is an independent CCTV consultant. pentode valves were a 6J7 and a It’s worth noting that in 1998 Jim 6F6 Williams replaced them with Williams owned 28 Tektronix Os- Email: two ICs which had a combined 94 cilloscopes (he probably owns [email protected] transistors (progress?). It was many more now!) similar to the Web: found that the new IC technology, one shown here and the amazing www.cctvconsultants.com.au 50 years later, offered only a thing is they were all kept in his This article was originally published in slight improvement in most areas home. His hobby is buying and Security Electronics and Networks Maga- with a reasonably significant im- restoring old Tektronix Oscillo- zine Australia. provement with distortion. Jim scopes. It appears he keeps the Copyright © 2006 Les Simmonds. All Rights Reserved. .
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