Marconi's first commercial message

[g4tut]

Marconi's first commercial message

On Monday, we ran an article called 'Marconi Clifden Celebrations'
http://www.southgatearc.org/news....ons.htm (http://www.southgatearc.org/news/september2007/marconi_clifden_celebrations.htm)

The first paragraph of that item read:
On the 17th of October 1907 Guglielmo Marconi sent his first commercial message from the, then new, station at Clifden, Ireland.

Well, Peter Bentley G4BIM has e-mailed us with this rather interesting twist on that story. Peter writes:

News archives on the Isle of Wight confirm the following:

On the 3rd of June 1898 whilst carrying out experiments from the Royal Needles Hotel on the Isle of Wight to a location in Bournemouth on mainland England, Marconi was visited by the scientist Lord Kelvin and his wife and Lord Tennyson.

During that meeting they asked Marconi to demonstrate that he could send messages to their friends by radio to Bournemouth across the Solent water and then onward to their final destination by the already established land line telegraph. Marconi agreed and charged them both 1 English shilling for each message.

This was the first time ever that a radio message had been sent and charged for, hence establishing The Isle of Wight as 'The Birthplace of Commercial Radio'

Some nine years later, perhaps it was the first commercial message Marconi sent from 'Clifden, Ireland', but not in fact his first 'Commercial Message'



Kind regards

Peter Bentley, G4BIM






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[KG6WOU]

And the message was: "Honey, I think I left the Iron on, would you check it?"

[MM3ZJI]

Or: #I say old man, could you be a good fellow and pop into the patent office to see if our old friend Nikola has left any other good ideas!!!

[wc5cw]

G4TUT, et al...

>"News archives on the Isle of Wight confirm the following:

On the 3rd of June 1898 whilst carrying out experiments from the Royal Needles Hotel on the Isle of Wight to a location in Bournemouth on mainland England, Marconi was visited by the scientist Lord Kelvin and his wife and Lord Tennyson.

During that meeting they asked Marconi to demonstrate that he could send messages to their friends by radio to Bournemouth across the Solent water and then onward to their final destination by the already established land line telegraph. Marconi agreed and charged them both 1 English shilling for each message.

This was the first time ever that a radio message had been sent and charged for, hence establishing The Isle of Wight as 'The Birthplace of Commercial Radio'"<-- G4BIM (as reported by G4TUT)

Considering the importance of the events leading up to the Marconi transmission that took place on the 17th of October 1907 and its 100 year commemorative, certainly this is a highly significant declaration and one that should have an exact copy of the original reference documentation supporting it available to historians and other interested persons.

FWIW

Bruce
WC5CW

[KK5R]

Supreme Court awarded Tesla the invention of radio in 1936 because Tesla had a radio-controled boat that was submersible at the Chicago Exposition in 1895. In fact, Marconi sat in Tesla's lectures. Tesla was an inventor, Marconi was a marketer. Same as Edison. Want to check it out, read Nikola Tesla, Prodigal Genius by John J. O'Neil
DE KK5R

[KK5R]

Also, if you want to read other contenders for the invention of some element of radio, check Mahlon Loomis and Nathan B. Stubblefield in Wikipedia. Interesting reading, also.
DE KK5R

[KG6WOU]

Quote[/b] (KK5R @ Sep. 26 2007,11:30)]Supreme Court awarded Tesla the invention of radio in 1936 because Tesla had a radio-controled boat that was submersible at the Chicago Exposition in 1895. In fact, Marconi sat in Tesla's lectures. Tesla was an inventor, Marconi was a marketer. Same as Edison. Want to check it out, read Nikola Tesla, Prodigal Genius by John J. O'Neil
DE KK5R
Not to be a PITA, but trying to nail down who 'invented' radio is rather like trying to decide who invented the Atomic Bomb. There were lots of people involved.

Tesla did not understand his work that well, IMHO, therefore his patent for the remote control boat may or may not have included the idea of radio. But keeping in mind the times....

Besides, let us be honest: "Crank up the Marconi" sounds better than "Twist the Tesla"...<G>

Still trying to find the records of his time at my Alma Mater. There must be something in the Archives.

[wc5cw]

>"Tesla was an inventor, Marconi was a marketer. Same as Edison. Want to check it out, read Nikola Tesla, Prodigal Genius by John J. O'Neil"<-- KK5R

That's a somewhat overly simplified characterization...To be slightly more accurate and fair to the accomplishments of each, Tesla was a brilliant engineer and creative thinker who had an amazing lucidity to his earlier works and patent applications...Marconi was a determined student and quick learner of cutting edge applied science and a highly capable businessman both in organization and in finance...Edison was a hack, yet tireless inventor who--like Tesla--was a creative thinker but needed a talented and supportive engineering staff to better focus his scientific investigations...All three were marketeers by necessity...By no small measure, the least successful marketeer was Tesla...Edison, more so but not nearly as successful as Marconi who was apt to demonstrate his success in a truly global fashion...As individuals, you might say their commercial success, and hence their notoriety at the time was inversely related to their pure scientific genus (to use the term loosely).

IMHO and FWIW

Bruce
WC5CW

[N7PLC]

Tesla Smeshla