[CW] Mahlon Loomis (was "PBL")

[Richard Knoppow]

    His daughter dedicated her life to defending her fathers 
priority in inventing wireless. His system was not really 
practical and other examples of similar arrangements can be found 
but he did make something that worked. One can argue that Marconi 
did not really invent anything either. In fact a lot of his 
patents were disallowed later (and regranted too). One can find 
many similar instances in patent law. Marconi's original system 
was very crude but did work.
    I am glad someone else finds this obscure stuff interesting.

On 7/25/2019 4:31 PM, Darrel wrote:
> I've only just joined the list, and going through the archives I 
> noticed this comment, in the "PBL" thread of July 2, on the 
> subject of Mahlon Loomis.
>>       If you look up Mary Texanna Loomis also look up her father,
>> Mahlon Loomis, who claimed to have invented wireless well before
>> Marconi. I don't think anyone really "invented" wireless and am
>> rather skeptical of Loomis claims but both he and his daughter
>> are interesting characters in the history of radio.
> There's a short description of the Loomis work in
> "The Stage Is Set: Developments before 1900 Leading to Practical 
> Wireless Communication".  See
> https://www.cv.nrao.edu/~demerson/ssetq.pdf
> 
> Here's an extract, with the short description of his contribution:
> =======================
> *The Loomis (1826-1886) Patent.*
> /One pre-Hertz demonstration of electromagnetic signalling 
> resulted in U.S. Patent 129,971 [16], Improvement in 
> Telegraphing, being issued in July 1872. The “improvement” was 
> the ability to dispense with wires – truly the first U.S. patent 
> for “Wireless Telegraphy.” Mahlon Loomis used two kites, each 
> carrying a metal wire, separated by perhaps several miles. He 
> found that shorting the base of the wire going to one of the 
> kites generated a spark – as it discharged the natural static 
> electricity picked up from the atmosphere . This caused a 
> measurable electric disturbance at the base of the wire to the 
> second kite. He used this technique in 1886 to send signals 
> between mountains 14 miles apart [9], and later between ships 2 
> miles apart. The 1872 patent speaks of “shocks or pulsations, 
> which traverse or disturb the positive electrical body of the 
> atmosphere above and between two given points …”. Loomis was 
> unsuccessful in an appeal for $50000 from the U.S. Congress to 
> develop the invention. Loomis used no tuning of any kind in his 
> system – other than the natural resonance of the kite antennas. 
> His system may have been the first “Ultra Wide Band” wireless 
> communication system.//
> /=========================
>      Cheers,
>          Darrel, aa7fv.


-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL