Development of the cavity magnetron
during World War II helped change the destiny of Allied forces through
using high frequency
radar with enough power to detect distant targets while using frequencies which
were out of the normal detection
bands of Axis forces' receivers. Most equipment at the time could not operate
efficiently (or at all) above a few hundred MHz. It was considered a top-level secret with great
concern that the technology not fall into the hands of German and Japanese scientists.
According to this early post-war advertisement in a 1945 issue Radio News, Bell Labs
was totally consumed by the development of magnetrons, and was relieved to finally
be able to boast of its critical role now that the war was over.
Here is an interesting paper titled, "The Cavity Magnetron in World War II: Was the Secrecy Justified?"
Bell Telephone Laboratories Ad
Victory Reveals a Mystery
More than two years ago, an engineer of the Laboratories visited U.S.S. Boise,
returned with a mysterious box which went into the Laboratories' vault. Now, victory
opens the box and discloses a special kind of electron tube called a magnetron.
It was part of a Radar which furnished data to aim U.S.S. Boise's guns
during the night action off
Savo
Island on October 11-12, 1942. Because of the high frequency generated by this
magnetron, the Radar was not detected by the enemy and the action was a complete
surprise. Six Japanese warships were sent to the bottom of the sea.
This magnetron is a symbol of the Laboratories' enormous war program. Half of
it was devoted to Radar, the other half gave birth to radio transmitters and receivers,
sonar apparatus for the Navy, loudspeaker systems for ships and beach-heads, fire-control
apparatus for anti-aircraft artillery. Coming months will unfold the story of these
and many other contributions of the Laboratories to the victory of our arms.
Bell Telephone Laboratories' war work began before the war; until now, it claimed
practically all our attention. With victory, we will go back to our regular job
- helping to bring you the world's finest telephone service.
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Exploring and inventing, devising and perfecting, for continued improvements
and economies in telephone service.
Printed in U. S. A.
Posted October 29, 2020 (updated from original post on 11/1/2015)
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
-
Wire-Wrap, 10/53 Radio-Electronics
-
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
-
Coaxial
Electron Tube, 6/54 Radio & Television News
- Thermocompression
Wire Bonding, 3/58 Radio News
-
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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