Radio Broadcast (May 1928-Apr 1929)

cies. The standard used should have an accuracy of 0.025 per cent., although 0.005 per cent, is within the range of practical possibility. He recommends that no licenses be granted to any who do not demonstrate that they can maintain their assigned frequencies within 0.05 per cent. A FEATURE of the Vestris disaster which has escaped general attention was the discovery that the American steamer Monloso was hardly 25 miles from the sinking ship but, being unequipped with radio, did not hear of the disaster until its arrival in Boston several days later. The Montoso, having less than the minimum number of passengers or crew required to make radio equipment compulsory, cannot be criticized for its failure to be so equipped. Nor would it be justifiable to increase the requirements so that thousands of small steamers, most of which do not venture into seas where they are likely to be of value in saving life, are required to maintain radio service. It would be possible, however, to design receiving equipment which is automatic and which would require no personnel to operate. When a characteristic distress signal is received, such a device can actuate an alarm bell and also automatically place in service a signal-recording device, built upon the principles of a picture recorder. Then, by reference to a code book, the message could be interpreted by any person, however unskilled in the radio art. Such equipment would not be excessively expensive either in installation or maintenance and could be required upon all ships above a thousand tons which travel more than fifty miles on the high seas. [News of the Radio Industry THE Radio Corporation of America has voted to form a separate communication company as a step toward the ultimate sale of its communications interests either to the International Telephone & Telegraph Company or the Western Union. It is necessary that the White Act be amended to make such a sale possible but, in view of the precedent set in England, where legislation was passed to permit merger of cable, telegraph and radio communications interests, there is considerable hope that Congress will relax its hostile attitude toward the R. C. A. sufficiently to pass such an amendment. David Sarnoff has been promoted to the title of Executive Vice-President of the Radio Corporation of America. Dr. Alfred N. Goldsmith becomes Vice President and Chief Broadcast Engineer, Manton Davis, VicePresident and General Attorney, and Elmer Bucher, Executive Vice-President of R. C. A. Photophone. Hiram S. Brown has been elected President of Radio-Keith-Orpheum. He was formerly President of the United States Leather Corporation. HPHE Jenkins Television Corporation, a subsidiary of the deForest Company, has been formed with a capitalization of ten million dollars. Two and a half million dollars' worth of the stock is offered the public. C. Francis Jenkins is Vice President in charge of engineering. Presumably the short-wave shadowgraph reproducer will be marketed by the company. The subject of transmissions is taken from silhouette films and the reproduction is enlarged by means of lenses and mirrors to about six by six inches. From what we have seen of Jenkins' apparatus, it has considerable curiosity value, but great strides must be made in detail and shading before it can be said to have entertainment value. Mr. Jenkins' long experience in television research makes progressive improvement certain, but how long it will take before the unsolved problems of channel conservation, necessary to television of educational and entertainment value, will be solved is still more a guess than a prediction. T^HE Traffic Committee of the Radio ManuJ facturers' Association has presented detailed demands for reduced and equitable freight rates applying to radio receivers, before the Joint Classification Committee of the principal railroads. Bond P. Geddes, Executive Vice-President, and W. J. M. Lahl, Manager of the R. M. A. Traffic Bureau, appeared for the R. M. A. on this question, which is of vital interest to the radio industry. THE Department of Commerce reports the value of radio output in 1927 at $191,848,665, an increase of 8.4 per cent, over 1925. The production of tube type sets fell 19.1 per cent, in number but rose 0.7 per cent, in value. Socket power devices constituted 13.4 per cent, of the total value of radio apparatus manufactured during the year. piERRE BOUCHERON, for many years advertising manager of R. C. A., has been placed in charge of the new R. C. A. southern district sales office at Atlanta. TZ OLSTER RADIO CORPORATION has ■" closed contracts with Wired Radio, Inc., a subsidiary of the North American Company, effecting a patent interchange arrangement and requiring that one-third of Wired Radio's requirements be manufactured by Kolster at cost plus 25 per cent, basis. Decisions of the Courts IN AN opinion handed down by Judge John C. Knox of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, Dubilier patent 1,497,095 and Horton patent 1,572,604, held by the Dubilier Condenser Company, were held invalid and, therefore, not infringed by the Aerovox Wireless Corporation. THE Federal District Court of New Jersey upheld R. C. A. , G. E., and A. T. & T. in their joint action against the Shamrock Manufacturing Company. The defendant unsuccessfully held that the parties in the suit represented misjoinder of action. THE Hazeltine Corporation won a decision over Atwater Kent in the Brooklyn Federal Court. Atwater Kent contended that, because of earlier patents granted Alexanderson, under which they are licensed, they did not infringe the Hazeltine patents. Judge Grover M. Moscowitz enjoined Atwater Kent from further infringement and ordered an accounting. An appeal has been entered. THE Supreme Court of the United States declined to review the injunction issued by the Federal District Court for Delaware, restraining the R. C. A. from enforcing Clause 9 of its license to receiver manufacturers, to which objection was brought by a group of vacuum tube manufacturers. E. H. F.