w Electronii In ItfililllatullHHI Discovert A- (KB Electronics from its earliest beginnings to the present day Fourth Edition ^5p jm ,#* GWA-Dummer Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Gordon Bell http://archive.org/details/electronicinvent14gwad Electronic Inventions and Discoveries Electronic Inventions and Discoveries Electronics from its earliest beginnings to the present day 4th revised and expanded edition G W A Dummer MBE, CEng, FIEE, FIEEE, US Medal of Freedom (former Supt. Applied Physics, Royal Radar Establishment, UK) Institute of Physics Publishing Bristol and Philadelphia © G W A Dummer 1997 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Multiple copying is permitted in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency under the terms of its agreement with the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals. First edition 1977 published under the title Electronic Inventions 1745-1976 Second edition 1978 {Electronic Inventions and Discoveries) Third revised edition 1983 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 7503 0376 X (hbk) ISBN 7503 0493 6 (pbk) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data are available Published by Institute of Physics Publishing, wholly owned by The Institute of Physics, London Institute of Physics Publishing, Dirac House, Temple Back, Bristol BS1 6BE, UK US Editorial Office: Institute of Physics Publishing, The Public Ledger Building, Suite 1035, 150 South Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA Printed in the UK by J W Arrowsmith Ltd, Bristol. 1 Contents Preface vii Acknowledgments viii 1. The Beginning of Electronics 1 2. The Expansion of Electronics 4 3. The Development of Components, Tubes, Transistors and Integrated Circuits 7 4. A Concise History of Audio and Sound Reproduction 18 5. A Concise History of Radio, Communications and Avionics 23 6. A Concise History of Radar and Sonar 3 7. A Concise History of Television 40 8. A Concise History of Computers, Robotics, Mechatronics and Information Technology 44 9. A Concise History of Industrial, Automobile, Medical, Educational, Office, Banking, Consumer and Security Electronics 5 10. List of Inventions by Subject 58 11. A Concise Description of Each Invention in Date Order 73 12. Electronics Acronyms and Abbreviations 259 13. List of Books on Inventions 269 14. List of Books on Inventors 273 Index 276 Histories on a Page Date Chart 1: Passive Components 16 Date Chart 2: Tubes, Transistors, Diodes and Integrated Circuits 17 Date Chart 3: Audio and Sound Reproduction 22 Date Chart 4: Radio and Communications 30 Date Chart 5: Radar 37 Date Chart 6: Television 43 Date Chart 7: Computers 47 Preface As in previous editions, it is not intended that this book should be a learned treatise on a particular aspect of historical electronics, but rather a wide summary of first dates in electronic developments over a very wide field, both for interest and for ready reference. Because no one person can be an authority in all fields of electronics, the data given are extracted from a wide variety of published sources, i.e. books, patents, technical journals, proceedings of societies, etc, to whom full acknowledgment is made. This present work covers inventions from Europe, USA and Japan. Obviously, a survey such as this cannot be completely accurate because of, in many cases, the passage of time and, in others, conflicting claims, but gives the opinions of those knowledgeable in their fields. There are a few cases where, because of incomplete data, a date is given in the 'History on a Page' but not in the text. The author is well aware that conflicting dates are inevitable and welcomes factual data to assist future editions. In addition to the summaries of well known inventions, some little known discoveries are included which may, one day, be important. In this edition, an attempt has been made to trace the development of electronics from its earliest beginnings up to the present day. As far as the author knows, it is the only book in the world to describe concisely the majority of main developments in electronics. The book describes, in nine chapters, developments in electronic components, tubes, transistors, integrated circuits, audio and sound reproduction, radio, communication, avionics, radar, sonar, television, computers, robotics, mechatronics and information technology, in addition to industrial, automobile, medical, educational, office, banking, consumer and security electronics. How does one define an electronic invention? One can consider the first idea or concept, the construction and operation of the first laboratory lash-up, the first prototype, the 'first in service' or the patent date. In this book the author has decided to use the 'first recorded use' as far as it is possible and the selection has been made on the basis of simple language and explanation. Throughout the book, the author has used the American term 'tube' in place of the English term 'valve'. The process of invention has changed from the individual inventor to that of the large research laboratories which have the advantage of funds and cross-fertilization of ideas. Certainly the Bell Laboratories in the USA made the greatest contributions to semiconductor technology, not only by inventing a working transistor, but by producing materials (Si, Ge) of a purity previously unknown. This work, basic to microelectronics, has created entirely new industries. The complexity of modern electronics has brought together chemists, physicists, mathematicians, engineers, and others as the fields of development widen. Research, development, and production are now more closely integrated. Looking back at the history of electronics, there seem to be two periods of creativity shown by the chart on page 5. They are between 1800-1900 (100 years) and 1950-1980 (30 years). In the author's opinion there are three fundamental inventions on which others depend. They are: first, Faraday's discovery of electromagnetic induction from which the dynamo was developed to generate electricity (imagine a world without electricity today!); second, Lee de Forest's thermionic tube, opening up the fields of communications and computers; and third, the Bell Laboratories transistor, because the modern 'chip', in fact, consists of multiple transistors. In the production of electronics, two inventions stand out as enabling devices to be mass produced at reasonable cost: the printed circuit with dip soldering and the planar photo-masking techniques for microelectronics 'chip' production. 9 In preparing this book, one major impression has emerged, instanced by chapters 1 to —how deep the penetration of electronics has become into every part of modern life—whilst the 550 inventions described in this book, together with over 1 100 additional references, form a background to electronics progress which, with ever increasing tempo, is now changing the world in which we live. G W A Dummer Malvern Wells UK Acknowledgments In this book the author has attempted to summarize the development of electronics in chapters 1 to 10 whilst, in chapter 1 1, his task has been that of a compiler rather than an author. Chapter 1 1 has only been made possible because of the cooperation of so many authors. Many books and technical journals have provided extracts which are relevent and the author is indebted to all those detailed in the 'source' following each abstract. Where 'source' is quoted, the words and opinions are exactly those of the authors of the extracts. The page number given in each case is that of the extract and not that of the title page. Full acknowledgment is made to all the authors quoted. Thanks are due to the many authors and publishers for their permission to quote from their publications and also to the Patent Office and many libraries for their help. Full credit is given to the Institution of Electrical Engineers, London, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, for permission to use material from their published journals. Extracts from Science at War are used with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Acknowledgment is made to The Book of Inventions and Discoveries (Associate Editor. Valerie-Anne Giscard d'Estaing, published by Compagne DOUZE, Paris) for permission to reproduce extracts. Acknowledgment is also made to IPC Magazines, London, for permission to publish extracts from New Scientist. Also to Van Nostrand/Rheinhold, New York, for the use of data from one of their published books. The author would like to record his appreciation of the help given on this and previous editions by the Science Museum, London, in particular Dr B P Bowers, W K E Geddes and Dr Denys Vaughn, and also the following for their advice and assistance on the development of electronics in the various fields: S W Amos. W Bardsley, G Bayley, W Bowes, P J Baxendall, C den Brinker, E Chowietz, T A Everist, C Hilsum. N Jones. H G Manfield, A L McCracken, T P McLean, J L Powell, E H Putley, D Sargent, K Thrower, D H Tomlin, N Walter, P L Waters and Professor Dr Jun-ichi Nishizawa, Tohoku University, Japan. The author would like to record the special help given to him by Eryl Davies, acting as a consultant on the contents of the book; to John R Guest and John K Oakley for help on the chapters on radio and computers; to Professor Russell Burns for help on the chapter on radar; to Mark Williams for data on satellites; to Dr P R Morris for help on semiconductor data; to Charles P Sandbank for help on the chapter on television; and to Robert Winton for proofreading the final draft chapters.