The New England Wireless and Steam Museum
1300 Frenchtown Road
East Greenwich, RI 02818 USA
Telephone: 401-885-0545
Robert W. Merriam, Director
1300 Frenchtown Road
East Greenwich, RI 02818 USA
Telephone: 401-885-0545
Robert W. Merriam, Director
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| Reginald Aubrey Fessenden was born in 1866 in East Bolton, Canada. He worked for Thomas Edison from 1886 until 1890 developing flame-proof electrical insulation. He then married Helen May Trott and moved to the Westinghouse Laboratories in Newark, NJ. His first patent (1902) in the wireless field was for an electrolytic rectifier he called a "liquid barreter". It was made from a fine metal wire dipped in dilute acid. After working at Purdue University, the Western University of Pennsylvania, and the US Weather Bureau he obtained funding from two Pittsburgh investors and started NESCO (National Electric Signaling Company).
The BO station in Brant Rock, MA was established in 1905. A 400 Ft. high tubular antenna with an insulated base was setup and held in place with guy wires that used the same technology that Roebling developed for the Brooklyn Bridge. From Brant Rock on Christmas Eve in 1906 Fessenden became the first person to broadcast musical and vocal programs over the air. The broadcast was heard by US Navy and United Fruit Company wireless operators in ships along the east coast since the receivers were equipped with appropriate rectifiers. The Christmas program was picked up as far south as Norfolk, VA. He invented and patented the heterodyne principle in 1902, a high-density car parking system, and a light weight air cooled engine. He later joined the Submarine Signal Company in Boston and invented the Fathometer. |
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Steam engine driven AC generator and 500 CPS Synchronous Rotary Gap transmitter at Brant Rock, Ma. Ca: 1906. The drive belt is in the foreground, the inductors are near the roof, and the high pressure capacitors are to the right.
Early form (ca 1906) of Alexanderson alternator under test at the Brant Rock station of the national Electric Signaling Company. The alternator spun at 20,000 RPM and generated a 80 KHz signal.
The Brant Rock station in 1912
The tall stacks exiting from the building's roof are for the steam engine's boiler.
The Brant Rock station in 1914.
The Brant Rock station in 1914-1915
Brant Rock Station and the patent for the antenna
The tall stacks exiting from the building's roof are for the steam engine's boiler.
A Fessenden was a consulting engineer to the Submarine Signal Company. One of his accomplishments was the invention of the Fathometer. The company was purchased by Raytheon in 1946.
The top side of the electronics for the Fathometer
The bottom side of the electronics for the Fathometer