Scanning the Past: A History of Electrical Engineering from the Past

Submitted by Marc Bell, Editor

Copyright 1997 IEEE. Reprinted with permission from the IEEE publication, “

 Harold S. Black and the Negative Feedback Amplifier

Scanning the Past” which covers a reprint of an article appearing in the Proceedings of the IEEE Vol. 85, No. 8, August 1997.

Seventy years ago this month, H. S. Black (Fig. 1) of Bell Telephone Laboratories conceived the negative feedback amplifier while aboard the Lackawanna Ferry on his way to work. Thirty years later, M. J. Kelly, president of the Bell Labs, characterized Black’s invention as ranking with the de Forest audion “as one of the two inventions of broadest scope and significance in electronics and communications of the past 50 years.” Kelly credited the negative feed­back amplifier with having made possible the long-distance telecommunications networks that covered the country, as well as transoceanic telephone cables. He noted that by 1957, the application of the negative feedback principle had transcended telecommunications and had stimulated “the entire explosive extension of the area of control, both electrical and mechanical.”

Black was born in Leominister, MA, in 1898 and grad­uated in electrical engineering from the Worcester Poly­technic Institute in 1921. That year, he joined the Systems Engineering Department of the Western Electric Company in New York City, which became part of Bell Laboratories in 1925. He frequently came to the office on Sundays to peruse technical reports on projects covering the past two decades. His initial assignment was to investigate distortion in vacuum-tube amplifiers used as repeaters in telephonic carrier systems. He undertook a laborious analysis of distor­tion and linearity requirements as a function of the number of channels and designed various amplifiers in a quest for circuits suitable for multichannel amplifiers used in tandem over long distances. During the 1920’s, he worked closely with Kelly, who was in charge of vacuum-tube research.

 In March 1923, Black attended an inspiring talk by C. P. Steinmetz, which, according to Black, provided a stimulus to his invention of a “feedforward amplifier.” This invention, which he patented in 1928, utilized biconjugate networks to isolate and cancel distortion. The technique proved fairly successful in laboratory tests but required frequent adjustment of the filament current and plate voltage (more…)

IEEE NEWS

NEWS from IEEE-USA
2001 L Street, N.W., Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036-4910

 IEEE-USA Contributes to Another Successful EWeek in Nation’s Capital
WASHINGTON (28 February 2012) — From Discover Engineering Family Day to the Future City Competition National Finals, IEEE-USA played a key role in last week’s successful National Engineers Week events in the nation’s capital. The IEEE/IEEE-USA New Face of Engineering — Professional Edition was also unveiled.
Discover Engineering Family Day
Family Day got EWeek (19-25 February) started a day early when 9,596 visitors came to the National Building Museum to learn about (more…)

Special Member/ Non-Member Meeting!!! Linux Install Fest

Linux Install Fest

(updated 2/23/2012)

 Feb 25th, 2012

 Pizza provided by IEEE.

 Cost:  Complementary

Did you know that Linux operating systems runs the 10 fastest supercomputers in the world? Linux is an open source OS that runs on a variety of platforms ranging from televisions and network routers to mainframes and supercomputers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux).

Would you like to harness the power of Linux to breathe life into an old computer, (more…)

Call for speaker

The IEEE-USA conference will be held in Cincinnati, OH this year.  The program begins the evening of 3 May and continues until lunch time on 6 May 2012.  The theme for this conference is Innovation taking Flight.  The Cincinnati section is a co-sponsor with the Dayton and Columbus sections.  The main plenary program begins on Friday, 4 May.  The Cincinnati section has a 20 minute time slot assigned for a speaker at 11:00 a.m. Friday.  The Executive committee for our Cincinnati section is looking for a person that would be willing to prepare and give this short speech.  Contact Stephen Fridrick, chair, for more information.  (stephen.fridrick@ge.com, 513-243-5361)

FEBRUARY MEETING

Tour of AMP Electric Vehicles

DATE:

Thursday, February 23, 2012  (Limited)

PLACE :

Amp Electric Vehicles (see below for directions)

TIME :

5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. –  Pizza & Social

 

6:30 p.m. to ~8:00 p.m. –  Presentation/Tour

COST: 

$5 for Pizza.  (Not required to attend meeting)

 

 

MENU SELECTIONS:   Pizza and water provided, vending machine available for soft drinks

 

LOCATION:  AMP Electric Vehicles, 100 Commerce Drive

(aka Commerce Blvd and Commerce Way)  Loveland,  Ohio  45140

From Montgomery Road, turn south-east onto Union Cemetery Rd. Turn right at the first street; Commerce Blvd (it may say Commerce Drive). Do a U-Turn at the first opening in center median, then turn right into parking lot of AMP Electric Vehicles. Use the main entrance of the building. If the parking lot is full, turn right onto Union Cemetery Rd, and then turn right into the rear parking lot of AMP Electric Vehicle.

RESERVATIONS:  (LIMITED TO 30- MEMBERS ONLY FOR THIS MEETING) Please make reservations for each meeting by going to: https://ieeecincinnati.org/meetings/.  Please click on the appropriate link and complete the reservation. 

Reservations close at noon on February 16th, 2012.

DINNER RESERVATION CANCELLATION POLICY
An email to Reservations@ieeecincinnati.org prior to the close of reservations is required to properly cancel your reservation.

All Reservations must be made by noon, Thursday February 16, 2012

 PE CREDITS:  Depending on the subject matter, attendance at IEEE Cincinnati Section Meetings now qualifies the attendee for Professional Development Hours towards renewal of Professional Engineers Licenses. Required documentation will be available following the meeting!  The Section Meetings also provide a great opportunity to network with fellow engineers in the area.

 

ABOUT THE MEETING:   

This meeting will be held at the AMP Electric Vehicles manufacturing facility in Loveland, OH. Following a pizza dinner, attendees will receive a technical presentation on the vehicles, the motors and the batteries by Don Wires, Director of Engineering, of AMP Electric Vehicles. The presentation will be followed by a Question and Answer session, and a tour of manufacturing facility.

You must be an IEEE member to attend this meeting!  Space is limited to 30 attendees!

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:  

Don Wires:   Mr. Wires joined Amp Electric Vehicles after retiring from Procter and Gamble after 35 years. Mr. Wires was the first Technology Associated Director for Power, Control, & Information Systems at P&G. While at P&G Mr. Wires focused on advanced manufacturing processes across most of the company’s brands, with particular emphasis on high speed converting machine processes. Mr. Wires was responsible for the machine control direction for converting operations on a global basis, is co-author of several patents on machine automation and safety systems, and an early leader in developing a mechatronics approach to complex machine design at P&G. Mr. Wires was responsible for setting the automation direction on projects as large as one billion dollars across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia, He was instrumental in applying servo technology to high speed converting processes. He is the first Engineering Technology Distinguished Alumni Graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering and Applied Science.

MEMBERSHIP NEWS

If you are interested in upgrading your membership to Senior Member, please contact any member of the Executive Committee.

NEW MEMBERS

The following individuals are IEEE members who are new to our Section: 

 

Nick Aerni

Ken Baker

Asitha Bandaranayake

Amal Chaturvedi

James Damato

Ronald Dexter

Tyler Gaerke

Richard Harrell

Jordan Laycock

Jason Long

Chad Mclelland

Joshua Smith

Krishnan Venkat

Nathan Wendt

Xinyu Xing

 

 

 

We wish to welcome these members to the Cincinnati Section!!!

Scanning the Past: A History of Electrical Engineering from the Past

Submitted by Marc Bell, Editor

Copyright 1997 IEEE. Reprinted with permission from the IEEE publication, “Scanning the Past” which covers a reprint of an article appearing in the Proceedings of the IEEE Vol. 85, No. 7, July 1997.

Frank J. Sprague and the Electrification of Urban Transportation

Frank J. Sprague (Fig. 1), known for his pioneering contributions to electric traction, electric elevators, and other applications of electric motors, was born 140 years ago this month. In recognition of his achievements in the field of electric power, he received the Edison Medal of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) in 1910. He also served as president of the AIEE during 1892-1893.

The son of the plant superintendent of a hat factory, Sprague was born in Milford, CT, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1878, the same year that the Edison Electric Light Company was incorporated. He served for about two years on a naval ship known as the Richmond and acted as a special correspondent of the Boston Herald while General Ulysses S. Grant spent time on the ship during visits to China and Japan. Subsequently, Sprague served aboard the Lancaster, stationed in the Mediterranean, and installed an electric call bell on the ship. He managed to observe an exhibition of electric lighting systems, including that of Edison, in Paris, France in 1881.

In 1882, Ensign Sprague was granted leave to attend and report on the Crystal Palace Electrical Exhibition in London, England. He served on the awards jury for exhibits of dynamos, electric lights, and gas engines (more…)

IEEE NATIONAL NEWS

NEWS from IEEE-USA
2001 L Street, N.W., Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036-4910

White House Official, Environmental Policy Analyst to Deliver Keynotes at Carbon Management Technology Conference in Orlando in February

WASHINGTON (28 December 2011) — Katharine Jacobs of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Robert Fri, visiting scholar at Resources for the Future, will deliver keynote addresses at the first Carbon Management Technology Conference, 7-9 February 2012 in Orlando, Fla.

Jacobs, assistant director, climate adaptation and assessment in the OSTP Environment and Energy Division, will discuss “Climate Change Adaptation in the United States” on Tuesday, 7 February. Fri, who has more than 35 years experience as an administrator and analyst of energy and environmental policy, will discuss “America’s Climate Choices” the next day.

The conference, sponsored by eight engineering societies, will bring together key stakeholders to share the latest technologies, strategies and systems related to the management and (more…)

2011 Section Election Results

It was a very close election this year  and I would like to announce that Jay Perin has been elected as the Member At Large section officer serving for the terms in 2012 and 2013. The Member At Large officer is a voting member of the sections executive committee and participates in running  the section and planning its meetings. Congratulations Jay.