Trivia time

[MarkScott]

Ok, put on the thinking caps..

Who invented radio control and when????

Mark..

 

[Climate Models]

As an electronics Technologist, I think this question is open to interpretation, but I am going to say John Hays Hammond, Jr. in (or around) 1914 was the first to control an object remotely and have it successfully return.

I guess you could say it was Guglielmo Marconi, but I don't recall any of his inventions actually controlling anything

Peter R.

www.climatemodels.com

 

[Jack Garcia]

Mark, being an old fart I can remember my first R/C boat experience back in the 50s. The only way you could control the boat was with a device called an escapement. There was no such thing as a servo and the escapement only provided left, right, neutral and engine control (idle or Full throttle). The transmitter only had a single button for control and an on/off button.

The man that produced the escapements was a gent by the name of Howard Bonner. I believe he also manufactured the transmitter.

If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

 

[MarkScott]

Peter has the answer I found:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/DESTINATION...r.ap/index.html

a bit from the article:

John Hays Hammond Jr. Hammond's work was ahead of its time, known as the "father of remote control,".

The U.S. government bought the rights to more than 100 of Hammond's patents, and used them to develop guided missile systems, among other things. Military officials first took notice when Hammond in 1914 developed remote control through radio waves.

He had this lobster boat going around the harbor with no one on board," said Garland. "He was able to control the wheel of a boat using radio signals. ... He was the father of everything from radar to depth sounding, to satellite positioning. All of it comes from his invention of remote control."

Mark...

 

[Climate Models]

Yaaa for me. I guess all those years of school actually taught me something after all.

http://climatemodels.com/store/media/smart.wav

Peter R.

www.climatemodels.com

 

[Lake S.P.O.R.T.]

Well, I sure am glad that he did that. I don't think it would be as much fun watching my boat go round n round a pole on a cable!! :lol:

 

[Lake S.P.O.R.T.]

On second thought.....no getting on the clock, no buoy cuts, no lane infractions, no calling positions, no radio failures, no dead boats.....i'm off to the hardware store to find a cable!

 

[Eric Bourlet]

I take issue with your answer.

Actually if that is the answer you were looking for I think your question should have been phrased "who invented modern remote control"

The actual first person to demonstrate remote control of a vehicle (and it happened to be a boat) was Nicolas Tesla at the Electrical Exhibition of 1898. You can read more about it here

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ins/lab_remotec.html

Although Marconi is commonly referred to as the inventor of radio in recent times it is realized that Tesla is the first one to document radio signals in his experiments but that was not his interest. Tesla wanted to transmit power without the use of power lines. He also had the intention to light the entire North Atlantic to aid ship travel at night by ionizing the atmosphere. He had started to build one of his huge Tesla coils on the east coast but ran out of funding. They say there is a fine line between genius and insanity and Tesla was close to that line. If your interested in the history of all things radio read up on Tesla he was a fascinating and brilliant man

Here is a excerpt from that page

"Tesla's tublike craft powered itself; there were several large batteries on board. Radio signals controlled switches, which energized the boat's propeller, rudder, and scaled-down running lights—simple enough in concept, but quite difficult to accomplish with existing devices. Even registering the arrival of a radio signal pulse taxed the rudimentary technology. Tesla invented a new kind of coherer (a radio-activated switch) for this purpose, essentially a canister with a little metal oxide powder in it. The powder orients itself in the presence of an electromagnetic field, like radio waves, and becomes conductive. If the canister is flipped over, after the pulse's passage, the powder is restored to a random, nonconductive state.

Tesla contrived for a number of things to happen when the coherer conducted, most importantly for a disk bearing several differently organized sets of contacts to advance itself one step. Thus, if the contacts had previously connected the combination "right rudder/propeller forward full/light off," the next step might combine "rudder center/propeller stop/lights on." And with the aid of a few levers, gears, springs, and motors all would be accomplished, including a final step, flipping the coherer over so that it was ready to receive the next instruction. "

Here is even more proof a Pattent issued for the above note the date

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/res/613809.html

 

[Ron Olson]

I do know that the first Radio Controlled vehicle was a boat. The person made several and let people operate them at fairs. The first R/C plane for recreational use was flown right here in Kalamazoo! That plane is now in the Smithsonian.

 

[[email protected]]

Actually according to the "Godfather" it was an Italian who invented it! :lol: :lol:

They invented everything............. :lol: :lol:

The trivia question brings back so many fond memories of my Italian-immigrant grandmother who had some marvelous stories of all the things her family had invented but had them stolen by the Japanese........... :lol:

 

[Eric Bourlet]

Ron, you are correct that the first RC vehicle was a boat as I stated in my last post, but I do not think that Tesla let other people play with it or that he built several. If he did I can't find the supporting documents. Do you have any? I am always looking for more info on Tesla.

And Rodney, Tesla was not Italian, actually he was a Yugoslavian.

 

[Ron Olson]

Eric, you and I must have been typing at the same time as I didn't see your posting until afterwards. I wish that I had a link to the info or where I remember seeing this. The time zones are different on our postings, yours is showing 7:26 PM and I'm doing this one at 6:56 PM my time.

 

[Eric Bourlet]

Ron, actualy my original post that explains who was really the first is time stamped 10:52 AM. If you do find the link let me know. One thing I have found that with the internet sometimes things get posted that are not quite true. Be careful of your sources. I got a kick out of seeing a link to the "C"ommie "N"ews "N"etwork as a way to document one of the wrong answers. It seams they are notorious for picking up a story off the wires and running with it without simple fact checking. I like to stick with verifieable sources like the US Pattent Office.

 

[MarkScott]

"C"ommie "N"ews "N"etwork

Hey, what can I say? I'm bored at work and just surf the garbage out there...

Mark..

Interesting about Tesla.. Got a few of his CD's

 

[Slideblues]

Mee Too........ :lol: :lol: :lol:

This one is lay'n round somewhere:

 

[impba3548]

I had an old Controllaire reed radio, kind of thankful for it as its what got me out of airplanes & into boats....... They operated with vibrating reeds, a signal from one of the several transmitter switches caused the apropriate reed to vibrate in the receiver causing the particular servo to operate. The engine vibration also caused the reeds to vibrate, so after two crashed planes I went to boats..........

mike

 

[Pennywizz6]

I do know that the first Radio Controlled vehicle was a boat. The person made several and let people operate them at fairs. The first R/C plane for recreational use was flown right here in Kalamazoo! That plane is now in the Smithsonian.

Hehe thats prety cool, ive never really heard of kalamazoo, but now i know its a peice of history lol :lol: All i know is whoever invented rc is a friggin genius!!!!

Phil B)