July 1946 Popular Mechanics |
[Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early
mechanics and electronics. See articles from
Popular Mechanics,
published continuously since 1902. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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Once World War II was
over, a flood of technical information poured out of government, academic, and corporate
research and manufacturing institutions. Making available such data was a promise
made by the Department of War to a citizenry which largely supported the wartime
effort to maximize resource usage for defeating Axis powers. People and businesses
provided raw and recyclable materials as well as services in the interest of assuring
our fighting men had every tool at their disposal while fighting for the folks back
home. To today's unpatriotic and selfish population it might seem like a Pollyanna
and even unlikely view of the world, but that was the case back in the day. Bell
Telephone Laboratories (aka Bell Labs) contributed Big League (not "bigly," as ignoramuses
claim Trump said) to the pushing forward of technical frontiers. A major development
was use of waveguide for microwave systems like radar. As mentioned in this 1947
Popular Mechanics magazine infomercial, their engineers had already figured
out how to not only transport radio frequency signals within the confines of waveguide,
but also how to effect filters and other functions with them. Bell Labs produced
many such promotions in many different magazines over the decades (see list below).
Bell Telephone Laboratories Ad: Electrical Pipe-Line
Microwaves make their journey from apparatus
to antenna not by wire, cable; or coaxial - but by waveguide.
Long before the war, Bell Laboratories by theory and experiment had proved that
a metal tube could serve as a pipe-line for the transmission of electric waves,
even over great distances.
War came, and with it the sudden need for a conveyor of the powerful microwave
pulses of radar. The metal waveguide was the answer. Simple, rugged, containing
no insulation, it would operate unchanged in heat or cold. In the radar shown above,
which kept track of enemy and friendly planes, a waveguide conveyed microwave pulses
between reflector and the radar apparatus in the pedestal. Bell Laboratories' engineers
freely shared their waveguide discoveries with war industry.
Now, by the use of special shapes and strategic angles, by putting rods across
the inside and varying the diameter, waveguides can be made to separate waves of
different lengths. They can slow up waves, hurry them along, reflect them, or send
them into space and funnel them back. Bell Laboratories are now developing waveguides
to conduct microwave energy in new radio relay systems, capable of carrying hundreds
of telephone conversations simultaneously with television and music programs.
Exploring and Inventing, Devising and Perfecting for Continued Improvements and
Economies in Telephone Service
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Posted February 21, 2024
Bell Telephone
Laboratories Infomercials |
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Bell Telephone Laboratories - Time Domain Reflectometry - December 1948 Popular
Science
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The Future Holds Great Promise - August 1949 Popular Science
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Waveguide: 7/47 Popular Mechanics
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Wire Wrapping - 10/1953 Popular Science
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X-Rays, 4/60 Radio-electronics
- The Battle of
the Atoms, 4/1948 Radio News
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The Transistor, 6/1952 Radio-Electronics
- 90-Mile Laboratory
for Telephone and Television, 6/1945 Radio News
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Wire-Wrap, 10/53 Radio-Electronics
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EDT Crystals, 10/47 Radio-Craft
- Germanium Refining,
5/54 Radio & TV News
- Crystal Timekeeping,
1/46 Radio News
- Transatlantic
Cable, 11/56 Radio & Television News
- Pipe Circuits,
11/48 Radio & Television News
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Coaxial
Electron Tube, 6/54 Radio & Television News
- Thermocompression
Wire Bonding, 3/58 Radio News
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Radio Relay Stations, 8/52 Radio & Television News
- Isolators,
6/56 Radio & Television News
- Punch
Cards, 3/55 Radio & Television News
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Over-the-Horizon
Communications, 10/55 Radio & Television News
- Memory
Devices, 2/58 Radio & TV News
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Adventure in Silicon, 5/55 Radio & Television News
- Pipes of Progress,
6/55 Radio & Television News
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Project Echo, 11/60 Electronics World
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Testing Phones - November 1947 Popular Science
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Jacques Bernoulli, February 1960 Radio-Electronics
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Type-O Carrier System, October 1952 Radio-Electronics
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Electron Microscope, 4/1952 Radio-Electronics
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Thermistor, 11/1946 Radio-Craft
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Germanium Crystal, 1/1954 Radio-Electronics
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Lens
Antenna, 5/46 Radio-Craft
- Quality Control, 6/46
Radio News Article
- Transcontinental
Radio-Relay, 10/51 Radio & TV News
- Solar
Battery, 7/54 Radio & Television News
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Germanium Transistors, 1/54 Radio & Television News
- Cavity
Magnetron, 10/45 Radio News
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The Cableman, 10/49 Radio & Television News
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Coaxial Cable, 12/49 Radio & Television News
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Tin
Whiskers, 12/55 Radio & Television News
- Relay
Contact Inspection, 7/55 Radio & Television News
- Transistor's
10th Anniversary, 6/58 Radio & Television News
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Wire
Wrapping, 10/53 Radio & Television News
- Junction
Diode Amplifier, 11/58 Radio News
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Nobel Prize Winners, 2/57 Radio & Television News
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Diode Speeds Voices, 8/58 Popular Electronics
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Microwave Relays, 7/59 Electronics World
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