Harold Henry "Bev" Beverage (October 14, 1893 – January 27, 1993) was an inventor and researcher in electrical engineering. He is known for his invention and development of the wave antenna, which came to be known as the Beverage antenna. Less widely known (outside of the community of science history researchers) is that Bev was a pioneer of radio engineering and his engineering research paralleled the development of radio transmission technology throughout his professional career with significant contributions not only in the field of radio frequency antennas but also radio frequency propagation and systems engineering.

Biography

Harold Beverage was born on October 14, 1893, in North Haven, Maine, to Fremont Beverage and his wife, Lottie Smith. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifie ...

in 1915, and went to work for

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

Company the following year as a radio-laboratory assistant to Dr.

Ernst Alexanderson Ernst Frederick Werner Alexanderson (January 25, 1878 – May 14, 1975) was a Swedish-American electrical engineer, who was a pioneer in radio and television development. He invented the Alexanderson alternator, an early radio transmitter used ...

. In 1920, he was placed in charge of developing receivers for transoceanic communications at the

Radio Corporation of America The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Com ...

in Riverhead, New York. Three years later, at the age of 30, he received the IRE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Prize "for his work on directional antennas." RCA named Beverage chief research engineer of communications in 1929, a position he held until 1940. At that time, he was promoted to vice president in charge of research and development at RCA Communications Inc., a subsidiary of the Radio Corporation of America. Beverage retired in 1958 from that position and as director of radio research, but continued to work in communications as a consultant. In 1938, the

Radio Club of America Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

presented him with it
Armstrong Medal
for his work in the development of antenna systems. The Beverage antenna, the citation said, was "the precursor of wave antennas of all types." Beverage was awarded the

IRE Medal of Honor The IEEE Medal of Honor is the highest recognition of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It has been awarded since 1917, when its first recipient was Major Edwin H. Armstrong. It is given for an exceptional contributio ...

in 1945, "In recognition of his achievements in radio research and invention, of his practical applications of engineering developments that greatly extended and increased the efficiency of domestic and world-wide radio communications and of his devotion to the affairs of the Institute of Radio Engineers

In awarding him its

AIEE Lamme Medal The initially called AIEE Lamme Medal was established in 1924 by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to recognize members for 'meritorious achievement in the development of electrical apparatus or machinery.' The medal was named i ...

in 1956 the

American Institute of Electrical Engineers The American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) was a United States-based organization of electrical engineers that existed from 1884 through 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) to form the Insti ...

cited him "for his pioneering and outstanding engineering achievements in the conception and application of principles basic to progress in national and worldwide radio communications." Beverage died on January 27, 1993, at the John T. Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson, L.I. He was 99, and lived in Stony Brook, New York.

List of patents

* Jun 7, 1921 Radio Receiving System - the Beverage antenna * Nov 7, 1922 Radio Receiving System - the bidirectional Beverage antenna * Nov 7, 1922 Radio Receiving System - using a Beverage antenna with multiple receivers * Nov 7, 1922 Radio Receiving System - a Beverage antenna with selective circuits to eliminate interference from adjacent wavelengths * Mar 18, 1924 Radio Receiving System - improvements to the directivity of the Beverage Antenna * Jan 8, 1929 Artificial transmission lines for phasing multiple antennas * Aug. 5, 1931 Means for testing recorded sound—automatic check film * Aug. 18,1931 H.H.B. % H.O. Peterson—Means for eliminating fading on high frequencies (filed1/2/26) * Mar. 15,1932 Frequency modulate or mark/space for AGC (automatic gain control) * Aug. 30, 1932 Acoustic combining system - mix reflections * Aug. 30, 1932 Method for eliminating fading—basic rectifier telegraph * Nov. 15, 1932 Differential volume control for diversity artificial line * Jul. 11, 1933 H.H.B. & H.O. Peterson—Rotating switch, diversity * Jul. 11, 1933 H.H.B. & H.O. Peterson—Artificial line pickup delay, diversity * Jun 12, 1934 Device for reducing the effects of static or fading * Jul 24, 1934 Aerial System - to be used adjacent to local noise sources * Jan. 15, 1935 H.H.B. & H.O. Peterson—Means for elimination of fading on short wavelengths * Feb 5, 1935 Method of testing recorded sound * Sept. 17, 1935 Remote control system for relay stations * Dec. 10, 1935 Aerial system—balanced bridge to reduce engine ignition noise of aircraft * Dec. 24, 1935 Multiplex signaling—commutator and frequency change for multiplex * Jan. 28, 1936 Receiving system-rectifier high frequency for C.W. Hansell electrolytic recorder * Mar. 24, 1936 Radio telegraph repeater—electronic, no relays * Jan. 12, 1937 Radio communication—frequency diversity * Feb. 9, 1937 H.H.B. & H.O. Peterson—Fading eliminator—different beat notes * Feb. 6, 1937 Multiplex cable code with diversity receivers * Apr. 6, 1937 Crystal oscillator monitor for centralized control * May 25, 1937 Television system—AGC based on density of film * June 22, 1937 System for radio spectrography, horizontal sync on oscillograph * Oct, 5, 1937 Signaling-space between carrier and sidebands, phone * Feb 1, 1938 Relay system - Ultra short radio waves * Aug. 5, 1938 Centralized control relay stations * Nov 29, 1938 Phasing and spacing antennas to eliminate undesired reflected rays * Jan, 17, 1939 Electrical energy measuring system frequency modulation * Feb 7, 1939 Warren Knotts & H.H.B. -- Frequency assignments for relay stations * Sept. 191 1939 Amplitude modulation reception—change to phase modulation * Jul 1, 1941 Broadband Uni-directional Shortwave Antenna * Sept 9, 1941 System for noise reduction - noise random, signal in phase * Feb. 3, 1942 Ultra short wave noise elimination—balance local noise vertical suppressor * Aug 20, 1946 Secrecy system for multiplex telegraphy * Mar 4, 1947 Radio receiver system for UHF frequencies that removes unintentional frequency modulation from a received signal * Nov 8, 1949 Radio Relaying System - frequency selection for a chain of relay stations

External links

Adventures in Cybersound - Harold Henry Beverage, Dr. 1893-1993IEEE History Center, Legacies, Harold H Beverage 1893-1993Harold Henry Beverage - Explorer of the Wavelengths
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070719132409/http://nrcdxas.org/articles/WaveAntenna.pdf The Wave Antenna, A New Type of Highly Directive Antenna, Proceedings of the AIEE, February 1923br>Beverage antenna projects
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beverage, Harold 1893 births 1993 deaths General Electric people IEEE Medal of Honor recipients People from North Haven, Maine University of Maine alumni People from Stony Brook, New York 20th-century American inventors