Radio Telephone Company
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Product Details
| Certificate Type | Capital Stock |
| Company | Radio Telephone Company |
| Date Issued | July 15, 1909 |
| Canceled | No |
| Printer | Not indicated |
| Signatures | Hand signed |
| Notable | NA |
|
Approximate Measurements |
9" (w) by 6" (h) |
| Product Images | Show the exact certificate you will receive |
| Guaranteed Authentic | Yes |
Historical Context
| A couple months after being unceremoniously expelled from the American DeForest Wireless Telegraph Company, Lee DeForest in early 1907 formed the Radio Telephone Company, headquartered in New York City. This firm was one of the pioneers in promoting full-audio radio transmissions, in contrast to the Morse code telegraphy that had dominated the airwaves to date. DeForest employed his recently invented Audion vacuum-tubes as detectors in the company's receivers. However, it was not yet known that, properly engineered, vacuum-tubes could also be used for radio transmissions, so for audio transmissions the company generally employed arc-transmitters, saving money by not paying Valdemar Poulsen the royalties due him for his controlling patents of the technology. Although many of the Radio Telephone Company's activities were legitimate, these commonly did not produce enough revenue to pay all the bills, especially because large sums were being siphoned off from stock sales by company insiders. The high point of the company's fortunes came fairly early in its corporate life, when, less than a year after its formation, the U.S. Navy purchased twenty-eight arc-transmitter radiotelephone sets, to be used for the world-wide voyage of the "Great White Fleet". The short-range sets were tested for their utility in tactical signalling, their use reviewed in "Wireless Telephones Make Battleship Fleet One Gigantic Chain", from the December 29, 1907 Washington Times magazine. Despite the positive note of this article, the tests actually showed that the technology had not yet advanced to the point that it was reliable enough for regular use. Included in the fleet review was DeForest's claim that "it is a technical and scientific possibility in the near future for the transmission of the human voice from America to Europe", a promotional theme that, although never realized, would continue to play a prominent part in company literature. Ignoring abundant evidence to the contrary, DeForest also proclaimed himself "inventor of the wireless telephone" and later in life his self-appointed status would become even more grandiose, as he titled his autobiography Father of Radio. In "Hello! Paris", from the May 19, 1909 issue of the Bend Bulletin, a fevered imagination described a supposedly upcoming gala society luncheon in New York, where portable wireless telephones would be given out as party favors, and "a message of President Taft to President Fallieres of France" would be radiotelephoned by "Nora Blatch DeForest in the Metropolitan tower... to a fair daughter of France" located at the Eiffel Tower. However, the "definite promise" of transatlantic operations was no closer to realization. Still, hope - and stock promotion activities - sprang eternal, and "Wireless to Span the Ocean", from the November 28, 1909 New-York Daily Tribune, claimed that a link from New York to Paris would be set up shortly, and operations would commence with a "great official ceremony", as "President Taft will touch a gold key in the Washington station; the click will be heard in the Metropolitan Life station, where Dr. De Forest will be stationed at the key. The apparatus will already be attuned with the Eiffel Tower apparatus. The inventor will then start the electric waves across the ocean at the rate of 186,000 miles a second, bearing the greetings of the President of the United States to the President of France". Severe financial trouble, caused by inferior equipment combined with stock promotion shenanigans, eventually drained the life from the company. Facing collapse, a reorganization combined the Radio Telephone Company with numerous other small firms of dubious character, under a new holding company, the North American Wireless Corporation, also of dubious character. A write-up appearing in the Seattle, Washington section of the May 21, 1910 The Mercantile and Financial Times reviewed the "Big Wireless Merger" which created North American Wireless, rashly predicting that "The North American company has a wonderfully bright future before it and we predict that the price of its shares will steadily and consistently advance". The article carried the standard byline of "Staff Correspondence". In truth the features in this notorious "journal" were produced and paid for by the companies being promoted. The May 8, 1910 Salt Lake City Herald-Republican featured a full page advertisement about the "enormous earning powers" of the North American Wireless Corporation, claiming numerous imminent money-making advances, including a national radiotelegraph service which would charge a fraction of the amount of a regular wire telegram. Also in this advertisement, an exuberant statement appearing above Lee DeForest's signature opened with a familiar theme -"I feel certain that within a short time we will be able to be in wireless communication between our station on top of the Metropolitan Tower in New York and the Eiffel Tower in Paris." Federal prosecutors continued to investigate dubious stock promotion practices, and in its December, 1911 issue, Modern Electrics reported in "Twelfth Anniversary of Wireless" that although some within the industry had used radio "as a tool for extorting money from thousands of victims", a "purification" was now taking place. In the November 25, 1911 Telephony, the unfolding troubles of James Dunlop Smith, former president of the Radio Telephone Company, and a number of his business associates, were reported in "Wireless Telephone Promoter Arrested". A few months later it was Lee De Forest under arrest, as reported in the March 28, 1912 of the Atlanta Constitution. DeForest was eventually acquitted on all the counts except one, which the divided jury couldn't agree upon, and was never retried on this final count. However, three others were convicted, and the North American Wireless Corporation and its subsidiaries were effectively shut down, although DeForest would later revive the Radio Telephone Company. During the trial, according to DeForest's autobiography, the prosecuting attorney made special note of the fact that "De Forest has said in many newspapers, and over his signature, that it would be possible to transmit the human voice across the Atlantic before many years!" It is likely DeForest rewrote this statement somewhat, as the issue was not that he had been saying transatlantic transmissions would be achieved "before many years", but that for many years he had been making an unachieved claim of imminent fulfillment. The main reason DeForest brought up this episode is because in 1915, AT&T did successfully transmit the human voice by radio to the Eiffel Tower station, although this voice originated at the Navy's station, NAA, in Arlington, Virginia. Despite being completely uninvolved with the effort, DeForest claimed this validated his long unattained statements. However, instead of using arc-transmitters and crude Audion receivers, AT&T achieved success due to skilled engineering far beyond the talents of DeForest, resulting in the development of efficient vacuum-tube transmitters and receivers. |
Related Categories & Companies
・ Telephone & Telegraph・ Frauds, Scandals & Collapses
・ American De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company
・ Manhattan
・ New York
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