George Sweigert
George Harry Sweigert | |
---|---|
Inventor, Scientist |
George H. Sweigert (1920–1999) is credited as the first inventor to patent the cordless telephone.[1]
Born in
Sweigert credited his military experience for invention of the cordless telephone, citing experimentation with various antennas, signal frequencies, and types of radios.
Radio telephone
With the patent application submitted on May 2, 1966 to the US Patent and Trademark Office, Sweigert submitted a working model of the phone in addition to the required description.
The Plain Dealer reported that Sweigert used a part from his washing machine for the invention - the solenoid used to lift the phone's receiver when a current was sensed in the induction coil. Sweigert, who suffered severe back pain from a war injury, saw the device primarily helping handicapped and elderly people.
The US Patent and Trademark Office issued U.S. patent 3,449,750 on June 10, 1969. The
Sweigert held two amateur radio licenses: W8ZIS (Ohio) and N9LC (Indiana). He held the amateur radio extra class license, the highest class license. He also held a First Class Radiotelephone license issued by the Federal Communications Commission.
Role models
Sweigert's heroes included
Sweigert studied the life stories of these inventors, and he frequently would recount the early technical and legal struggles of these inventors to get their inventions patented and protected.
Edison's early technical struggles with
Sweigert admired
He also enjoyed the fact that Bell was a complete amateur compared with professional established laboratories of Elisha Gray and super-inventor Thomas Edison. He greatly admired Edison's work on improving the vibrating diaphragm to vary the induced resistance from varying frequency in the voice. He frequently cited Bell besting Edison on the invention of the telephone as Edison's motivation to invent the phonograph. He expressed dismay how Bell missed inventing the phonograph after his frequent lectures about visualizing audio waves and electrically reproducing them. Sweigert credited being able to visualize human voice waveforms as another key in perfecting the cordless phone.
Sweigert also admired
Wireless networking
Sweigert's
His later years were spent trying to perfect antenna designs, applying the work of
Sweigert predicted that half of the people in the world would own a wireless phone in the time of his children. With the world population of wireless phones at 3.2 billion in 2008[citation needed], he was probably not far wrong with this prediction. He predicted integrated cameras, GPS, accelerometers, and other advanced sensors in the 1969 Moon lander would be integrated into the wireless phone. Sweigert received notice of his patent approval on day of the first Moon landing on June 20, 1969.
Later years
Sweigert greatly admired Philo Farnsworth for his invention of television, and more specifically his work with the
Sweigert took the R&D position with
Sweigert taught electronics at the vocational college level in his later years for
Trivia
Sweigert also admired Guglielmo Marconi for his work with wireless telegraphy. He was internally conflicted on whether Nikola Tesla or Marconi should be credited with the invention of radio.
See also
References
- ^ U.S. patent 3,449,750 DUPLEX RADIO COMMUNICATION AND SIGNALING APPARATUS FOR PORTABLE TELEPHONE ... G. H. SWEIGERT
- ^ Viewable image of the patent application available;
External links
- Carterphone Decision
- Video on YouTube
- First Presidential Radio Telephone Call on YouTube
- George Sweigert at Find a Grave