The Creative Engineer : The Art of Inventing

The economic growth and strength of a nation are directly related to the ability of its people to make discoveries and their ability to transform these discoveries into useful products. Ninety percent of the increase in output per capita in the United States from 1909 to 1949 has been held to be attributable to technological advances. In this book, we examine the ways in which a number of important new technologies came into being and review the characteristic traits of inventors who create new technologies. Ways are suggested that could enable young and old alike to become more creative, and the various benefits they can thereby reap are also discussed. A high level of creativity is an important asset for a nation, and therefore a knowledge of ways to increase inventiveness can be of great value. University of Cincinnati President Warren Bennis has noted that "creativity is something most of us seem to lose, or let atrophy, as we leave childhood."· To "rediscover it," he continues, "we must find ways of re-creating our sense of wondering why, of heightening, even altering, our consciousness." Thus the earlier in life one seeks to enhance his creativity, the more successful the results are likely to be.

1 Stimulating One’s own Creativity.- 2 The Transistor.- Early Semiconductor Research.- The Bell Laboratories Program.- Preparations for the Transistor Announcement.- Patent Precautions.- The Transistor Announcement.- The Benefits.- From Surface States to Solid State.- The Double-Dimple Transistor.- Transistor Applications.- Leaving the Beaten Track.- 3 Electronic Music.- Musical Tones.- Harmonic Analysis.- The First Electric Organ.- The Early Days of Radio.- Radio and Electronic Music.- Electronic Developments.- Pitch Stabilization.- Doctoral Research.- The Formant Concept.- Visible Speech.- Formants and Hallformanten.- Engineering Thesis.- The Baldwin Electronic Organ.- Church Organists’ Views.- Formants and Pipe Organ Mixtures.- Several Electrical Musical Analogues.- Electronic Door Chimes.- Radar and High-Frequency Loudspeakers.- Modern Electronic Music.- 4 Lasers.- The Laser.- Laser Fundamentals.- The Metastable State.- The Two-Step Process.- Gas Lasers.- Semiconductor Lasers.- Alignment.- Distance and Length Measurements.- Lasers in Machine Tool Applications.- Interferometric Detection of Footprints.- Lasers in the Supermarket.- Drilling and Welding Applications.- Identification.- Fabric Cutting.- Medical Applications.- Communicating with Light.- Video Disks.- Laser Fusion.- Interdisciplinary Innovation.- 5 Traits.- Help for the Young.- The Value of Praise and Encouragement.- The Value of Creativity for Children.- Other Traits of Creative Youngsters.- Interest in Problems.- Chess-Playing Traits.- Chess Problem Composing.- Computer Chess.- Music.- Religion.- Authorship.- Age.- Needs.- 6 Waveguides.- Early Radio Transmission.- Microwave Waveguides.- The Waveguide as a Transmission Medium.- Phase and Group Velocities.- Long-Distance Transmission.- Millimeter Wavelengths.- The Circular Electric Mode.- Recent Field Tests.- Waveguides and Coaxial Cables.- Dielectric Waveguides.- Metallic Dielectric Waveguides.- Electron Bunching.- Bunchers and Catchers.- Ideal Bunching.- Klystrons.- Velocity Modulation of Waves.- Radar Breakdown Problems.- Wave Coding.- Corrugated Sound-Wave Waveguides.- Pulse Compression Tests.- Chirp.- Natural Waveguides.- Underwater Waveguides.- The SOFAR Channel.- SOFAR Localization.- Nonexplosive Acoustic Uses.- Acoustic Atmospheric Waveguides.- Waveguide Junctions.- Tee Junctions.- Hybrid Junctions.- The Magic Waveguide Junction.- 7 Lenses.- Velocity Focusing.- A Constant-Thickness Lens.- The Metal Plate Lens.- Stepped Lenses.- Radio Relay.- Foamed Dielectric Lenses.- Wider Bandwidth Needs.- Born’s Light Wave Analysis.- The First Artificial Dielectrics.- Sphere and Disk Dielectrics.- Strip Lenses.- The Transcontinental Relay.- The Bell Transcontinental Circuit.- High Refractive Power Lenses.- Path Length Lenses.- Lenses for Loudspeakers.- Microwave Lenses for Sound.- 8 Communications Satellites.- The First Rockets.- The Intercontinental Missile.- The Reentry Problem.- Sputnik.- Initial U.S. Reactions to Sputnik.- Explorer I.- Apollo 11.- Communications.- Communications and the Space Program.- Orbiting Satellites.- Geostationary Satellites..- Domestic Satellites.- Direct Broadcast Satellite.- 9 Why Invent?.- Wherewithal.- Renown.- Helping Others.- Eminence.- The Fraternity of Doers.- 10 Radar.- Early History.- The British Beginnings.- The U.S. Beginnings.- Radar Fundamentals.- The Plan Position Display.- The A-Scope Display.- Fire Control Radars.- Other Forms of Military Radar.- Doppler Radar.- Radars for Cars.- Circular Polarization.- An Aircraft-Versus-Submarine Machiavellism.- 11 Holography.- Gabor’s Interdisciplinary Skill.- Holography Fundamentals.- Making a Hologram.- The Complete Hologram Process.- The Hologram of a Scene.- Parallax in Holograms.- Single-Wavelength Nature of Holograms.- Nonoptical Holograms.- Microwave Holograms.- Microwave Holograms and Liquid Crystals.- Ultrasonic Holograms.- Underwater Viewing.- Earth Exploration.- Phase Quadrature.- Laser Holography.- Three-Dimensional Holography.- Information Content.- The Concept of Phase in Holography.- Synthetic Aperture Radar.- Two Recent Holography Developments.- Gabor’s Clairvoyance.- 12 Picturephone.- Visible Speech.- Real Time Sound Analysis.- The Real Time Analyzer.- From Analyzer to Picturephone.- Transmission Cost.- The Experimental Movie.- The First Picturephone.- The Permanent Record Form.- The Announcement to the Press.- Additional Background Information.- Press Reaction.- The Move to Higher-Quality Pictures.- The First Commercial Service.- The Future.- Peroration.