| Description | Correspondence from Alan Archibald Campbell Swinton [1863-1930, electrical engineer], with copies of Lodge's replies.
/1 Letter from A. A. C. Swinton to Oliver Lodge, written from 66 Victoria Street, London, dated 20 June 1921. Swinton sends notes on his 'copper box' experiments and asks for advice about publication. With typescript document, 'Experiments with directional frame aerial', dated 20 June 1921.
/2 Letter from A. A. C. Swinton to Oliver Lodge, written from 66 Victoria Street, London, dated 15 August 1922. Swinton sends information about three types of loudspeaker: Magnavox, Sidney Brown's instrument, and the Johnsen-Rahbek machine.
/3 Letter from A. A. C. Swinton to Oliver Lodge, written from 66 Victoria Street, London, dated 24 October 1922. Swinton writes disapprovingly of the Radio Association. He believes professional and amateur interests in wireless are already catered for by the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Wireless Society of London.
/4 Letter from A. A. C. Swinton to Oliver Lodge, written from 66 Victoria Street, London, dated 3 March 1924. Swinton writes about the possibility of Lodge's brother (Richard Lodge) being elected to the Athenaeum.
/5 Copy of letter from Oliver Lodge to A. A. C. Swinton, dated 4 March 1924. Lodge writes that Hugh Chisholm is supporting his brother (Richard Lodge's) nomination for election to the Athenaeum.
/6 Copy of letter from Oliver Lodge to A. A. C. Swinton, dated 23 November 1925. Lodge writes that he is referring an enquiry about Hughes's work to Swinton.
/7 Letter from A. A. C. Swinton to Oliver Lodge, written from 40 Chester Square, London, dated 13 March 1928, with envelope. Swinton congratulates Lodge on receiving the freedom of his native city. He will always remember Lodge's lecture and demonstration of wireless communication at the Royal Institution 'years before the advent of Marconi into this country'. He adds that he provided Marconi with an introduction to Preece in 1896.
/8 Letter from A. A. C. Swinton to Oliver Lodge, written from 40 Chester Square, London, dated 15 March 1928. In response to Lodge's articles on television in 'Popular Wireless', Swinton writes that he suggested the use of cathode rays for transmitting and receiving as early as 1908. He understands that this system is now being tested in France, Germany and the USA.
/9 Copy of letter from Oliver Lodge to A. A. C. Swinton, dated 17 March 1928. Lodge proposes to write a supplementary letter to 'Popular Wireless' about Swinton's work on television, but points out that there is a big difference between a suggestion and its practical accomplishment. He believes that the solution lies in the development of an electrical, rather than mechanical, system. He discusses his and Muirhead's work on wireless compared to Marconi's and the subsequent legal proceedings. He regrets that Marconi's first patent was not challenged.
/9a Letter from A. A. C. Swinton to Oliver Lodge, written from 40 Chester Square, London, dated 19 March 1928. Swinton approves of Lodge's writing a supplementary letter to Nature, as there is a tendency to ascribe the first suggested use of cathode rays to a Russian Professor, Boris Rosing. He writes about his prior claim to the idea and the development of the use of cathode rays in television. He describes repreating Lodge's early wireless experiments in his office.
/10 Letter from A. A. C. Swinton to Oliver Lodge, written from 40 Chester Square, London, dated 30 June 1929. In response to Lodge's suggestion that J. L. Baird be invited to show his television apparatus at a Soiree of the Royal Society, Swinton writes that the principle of J. L. Baird's transmitter was actually patented by Nipkow in 1884. He encloses a copy of a letter he wrote to Nature about early television inventions and a copy of a letter received from A. Dauvillier (in French) confirming that Nipkow took out his patent in 1884 (enclosures included).
/11 Copy of letter from Oliver Lodge to A. A. C. Swinton, dated 2 July 1929. Lodge writes that he was generally in favour of a television demonstration at the Royal Society but has no strong opinions on the matter; Swinton's objections to Baird's system will be considered by the Committee. |