[Boatanchors] a good mot. history

[Ed Berbari]

Glen, Ed, Larry & others,

I was involved several years ago in setting up an industry workshop on
electromagnetic compatibility & the medical device industry.  Bob Galvin was
our keynote speaker and he related the car burning story to the group and
frankly I may have presumed it was a transmitting system, but Galvin was
making the point that EMC issues went back to the earliest days of mobile
radio.  Whether is was a real EMC problem or just an overload of the car's
electrical system, I just don't know.

He then went on to implore the group about the social responsibilty in
solving these types of unintended, but real consequences of new technology.
Our group, by the way was very concerned about the interference between cell
phones and implantable pacemakers and defibrillators.

Ed, W9EJB

----- Original Message -----
From: "Glen Zook" <gzook@yahoo.com>
To: "ed sharpe" <esharpe@uswest.net>; "Ed Berbari" <eberbari@indy.rr.com>;
"W1GOR" <W1GOR@Maine.RR.Com>; <boatanchors@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2003 6:43 PM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] a good mot. history


> Actually, it was the Galvin brothers (two brothers)
> who founded Motorola in South Bend, Indiana.  It was
> during the early 1920s that they burned up the car.  I
> have heard that it was a Studebaker (which also was
> manufactured in South Bend) but cannot confirm that.
>
> They started using Motorola as a brand name for what
> became Galvin Manufacturing.  In fact, there are all
> sorts of World War II surplus items around that say
> Galvin Manufacturing or Galvin Brothers Manufacturing
> on them.  It wasn't until after World War II that the
> primary company name was changed to Motorola.
> However, Galvin Manufacturing still held the
> controlling interest in Motorola.
>
> There is a book that has been out for quite a number
> of years that tells the history of Motorola but I
> don't remember the title.
>
> Back in the late 1970s, Motorola actually had a
> company historian who's job it was to compile history,
> obtain equipment that had made it through
> extra-ordinary conditions, etc.  I met that person
> when Motorola was trying to consolidate all of the
> reconditioned equipment centers (privately owned)
> around the country into one central, Motorola owned,
> facility in Schamburg, Illinois.  Motorola spent over
> a million dollars trying to accomplish this, but then
> only shipped a very few radios before shutting down
> the operation.
>
> I owned the Motorola reconditioned equipment center
> for the south-central US from 1970 until they went out
> of that end of the business in 1979.
>
> Also, it was not a radio telephone that was installed
> in the car that burned up, but a simple broadcast band
> receiver.  Mobile telephones were not in use at that
> time.  It wasn't until after World War II that mobile
> telephones came into vogue.
>
> Glen, K9STH
>
>
> --- ed sharpe <esharpe@uswest.net> wrote:
>
> It was my impression that Bob Galvin's father founded
> Motorola.  I heard him tell the story about how his
> father  installed their first mobile telephone in the
> 1920s or 30s in their banker's car and how it caused a
> fire in the car's engine soon after driving out of the shop.
>
> =====
> Glen, K9STH
>
> Web sites
>
> http://home.attbi.com/~k9sth
> http://home.attbi.com/~zcomco
>
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