Allen B. DuMont
Encyclopedia
Allen Balcom DuMont also spelled Du Mont, was an American scientist
and inventor
best known for improvements to the cathode ray tube
in 1931 for use in television
receivers. Seven years later he manufactured and sold the first commercially practical television set to the public. In June 1938, his Model 180 television receiver was the first all-electronic television set ever sold to the public, a few months prior to RCA
's first set in April 1939. In 1946, DuMont founded the first television network
to be licensed, the DuMont Television Network
, initially by linking station WABD
(named for DuMont) in New York City
to station W3XWT, which later became WTTG
, in Washington, D.C.
(WTTG was named for Dr. Thomas T. Goldsmith, DuMont's Vice President of Research, and his best friend.)
, New York City
. At the age of 10, he was stricken with polio and was quarantined at his family's Eastern Parkway
apartment for nearly a year. During his quarantine, his father brought home books and magazines for the young DuMont to read while bedridden. At this time, DuMont developed an interest in science, specifically wireless radio
communication, and taught himself Morse code
.
His father bought him a crystal radio receiver
which he assembled, took apart, reassembled and rebuilt several times. He improved his set each time he rebuilt it and later built a transmitter, while his father obtained the landlord's permission to erect a 30 feet (9.1 m) high transceiving
antenna on the roof.
While recuperating from polio, DuMont was advised to swim to regain the use of his legs. In 1914, the family moved to Montclair, New Jersey
, where there was an indoor year-round pool available at the local YMCA
. He graduated from Montclair High School in 1919, and went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
in Troy, New York
, where he was part of the Alpha Chapter of the Theta Xi
Fraternity.
. As the summers went by, he made his way to the Caribbean
, South America
and, after World War I
, to Europe
, where, during the summer of 1922, he was stuck in Copenhagen
for months because of a dock workers strike.
After graduating from Rensselaer in 1924, DuMont worked at the Westinghouse Lamp Company in Bloomfield, New Jersey
, in charge of radio tube
production. While there, he increased production from 500 tubes per day to an astounding 50,000 tubes per day. Management decided to give him a $500 bonus, a small raise, and the "Westinghouse Award", an award devised to recognize his accomplishments. The "Westinghouse Award" was later presented as a scholarship award to high school seniors showing promise in a field of science (and continues to this day as the Intel Science Talent Search
).
By 1928, DuMont was searching for new opportunities and was wooed by Dr. Lee De Forest
, a radio pioneer who developed the audion tube
, the original voice amplifier for radio reception. De Forest had a checkered career as an inventor and had several failed business ventures. DuMont was hired as vice president and production manager for radio tubes. He revamped the factory with newly designed machinery: "a high speed sealing machine, automatic grid winding and welding machine, base branding machine, basing and wire cutting machine, high frequency bombarder and numerous tube-characteristic test sets and life racks." Factory capacity was increased to 30,000 tube per day.
When De Forest took over the mechanical television system of C. Francis Jenkins, DuMont turned his attention to television. He was involved in the first television transmissions from W2XCD in Passaic. But DuMont realized that clear images would need the development of scanning in a cathode ray tube. DuMont worked to improve television transmission and reception and went to De Forest asking for funds to build a long lasting cathode ray tube for television reception. De Forest denied DuMont's request as De Forest's investors were demanding better returns. Subsequently, DuMont resigned at the same time DeForest sold his radio manufacturing business to David Sarnoff
at RCA.
possible. He started his own company, DuMont Laboratories
, in the basement of his Cedar Grove, New Jersey
home, building long-lasting cathode ray tubes. In 1931, he sold two tubes to two college science laboratories for $35 each.
In 1932, DuMont proposed a "ship finder" device to the United States Army Signal Corps
at Fort Monmouth
, New Jersey
, that used radio wave distortions to locate objects on a cathode ray tube screen—he had essentially invented radar
. The military asked him, however, not to take out a patent for developing what they wanted to maintain as a secret, and so he is not often mentioned among those responsible for radar. He did, however, go on to develop long-range precision radar to aid the Allies during WWII. As a consequence the French Government knighted him in 1952.
In 1937 DuMont invented the magic eye tube
, used as a tuning accessory in radios and as an inexpensive level meter in mono and stereo home reel-to-reel tape recorders.
During the early years of World War II
, DuMont received special government contracts to provide large 36" wide cathode ray tubes. These special tubes allowed scientists working on the Manhattan Project
to study the action of accelerated electrons.
DuMont produced black and white televisions in the 1940s and 1950s that were generally regarded as offering highest quality and durability. Many of these premium sets included a built in AM/FM radio and record player.
DuMont sold his manufacturing operations in 1960. The television manufacturing division was sold to Emerson Radio
. His research laboratory became part of Fairchild Camera
and later developed semiconductor
microchip
s. Robert Noyce
, founder of Intel, originally worked for DuMont as an engineer. In the late 1950s, the Dumont laboratory, now owned by Fairchild, developed the original Sony
Trinitron
color picture tube, under a subcontract.
. DuMont's partner, Thomas T. Goldsmith, remained on Metromedia's board of directors from this time all the way until Kluge sold the stations to the Fox Television Stations Group
.
DuMont died in 1965 and is buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery
in Montclair, New Jersey
. The television center at Montclair State University
bears his name.
To see Allen B. DuMont and Thomas D. Goldsmith, Jr. in 1954 on the DuMont network series What's the Story? discussing the future of color TV, see http://www.jfredmacdonald.com/avhighlights/playonutv14_whatsthestoryoncolortv.htm (Very slow buffering with dsl, cable connection recommended.)
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and inventor
Invention
An invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...
best known for improvements to the cathode ray tube
Cathode ray tube
The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
in 1931 for use in television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
receivers. Seven years later he manufactured and sold the first commercially practical television set to the public. In June 1938, his Model 180 television receiver was the first all-electronic television set ever sold to the public, a few months prior to RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
's first set in April 1939. In 1946, DuMont founded the first television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
to be licensed, the DuMont Television Network
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
, initially by linking station WABD
WNYW
WNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
(named for DuMont) in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to station W3XWT, which later became WTTG
WTTG
WTTG, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, located in the American capital city of Washington, D.C...
, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
(WTTG was named for Dr. Thomas T. Goldsmith, DuMont's Vice President of Research, and his best friend.)
Early life
DuMont was born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. At the age of 10, he was stricken with polio and was quarantined at his family's Eastern Parkway
Eastern Parkway (Brooklyn)
Eastern Parkway is a major boulevard that runs through a portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The road begins at Grand Army Plaza and extends east, running parallel to Atlantic Avenue, along the crest of the moraine that separates northern from southern Long Island, to Ralph Avenue...
apartment for nearly a year. During his quarantine, his father brought home books and magazines for the young DuMont to read while bedridden. At this time, DuMont developed an interest in science, specifically wireless radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
communication, and taught himself Morse code
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
.
His father bought him a crystal radio receiver
Crystal radio receiver
thumb|Boy listening to a modern crystal radioA crystal radio receiver, also called a crystal set or cat's whisker receiver, is a very simple radio receiver, popular in the early days of radio. It needs no battery or power source and runs on the power received from radio waves by a long wire antenna...
which he assembled, took apart, reassembled and rebuilt several times. He improved his set each time he rebuilt it and later built a transmitter, while his father obtained the landlord's permission to erect a 30 feet (9.1 m) high transceiving
Transceiver
A transceiver is a device comprising both a transmitter and a receiver which are combined and share common circuitry or a single housing. When no circuitry is common between transmit and receive functions, the device is a transmitter-receiver. The term originated in the early 1920s...
antenna on the roof.
While recuperating from polio, DuMont was advised to swim to regain the use of his legs. In 1914, the family moved to Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,977 people, 15,020 households, and 9,687 families residing in the township. The population density was 6,183.6 people per square mile . There were 15,531 housing units at an average density of 2,464.0 per square mile...
, where there was an indoor year-round pool available at the local YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
. He graduated from Montclair High School in 1919, and went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
in Troy, New York
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...
, where he was part of the Alpha Chapter of the Theta Xi
Theta Xi
Theta Xi was founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York on 29 April 1864. Theta Xi Fraternity was originally founded as an engineering fraternity, the first professional fraternity...
Fraternity.
Radio operation
In 1915, DuMont became the youngest American to obtain a first class commercial radio operator's license at age 14. The following summer, he worked as a radio operator aboard a coastal steamer making runs from New York to Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
. As the summers went by, he made his way to the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and, after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, where, during the summer of 1922, he was stuck in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
for months because of a dock workers strike.
After graduating from Rensselaer in 1924, DuMont worked at the Westinghouse Lamp Company in Bloomfield, New Jersey
Bloomfield, New Jersey
Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 47,315. It surrounds the Bloomfield Green Historic District.-History:...
, in charge of radio tube
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
production. While there, he increased production from 500 tubes per day to an astounding 50,000 tubes per day. Management decided to give him a $500 bonus, a small raise, and the "Westinghouse Award", an award devised to recognize his accomplishments. The "Westinghouse Award" was later presented as a scholarship award to high school seniors showing promise in a field of science (and continues to this day as the Intel Science Talent Search
Intel Science Talent Search
The Intel Science Talent Search , known for its first 57 years as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search is a research-based science competition in the United States for high school seniors. It has been referred to as "the nation's oldest and most prestigious" science competition. In his speech...
).
By 1928, DuMont was searching for new opportunities and was wooed by Dr. Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest was an American inventor with over 180 patents to his credit. De Forest invented the Audion, a vacuum tube that takes relatively weak electrical signals and amplifies them. De Forest is one of the fathers of the "electronic age", as the Audion helped to usher in the widespread use...
, a radio pioneer who developed the audion tube
Audion tube
The Audion is an electronic amplifying vacuum tube invented by Lee De Forest in 1906. It was the forerunner of the triode, in which the current from the filament to the plate was controlled by a third element, the grid...
, the original voice amplifier for radio reception. De Forest had a checkered career as an inventor and had several failed business ventures. DuMont was hired as vice president and production manager for radio tubes. He revamped the factory with newly designed machinery: "a high speed sealing machine, automatic grid winding and welding machine, base branding machine, basing and wire cutting machine, high frequency bombarder and numerous tube-characteristic test sets and life racks." Factory capacity was increased to 30,000 tube per day.
When De Forest took over the mechanical television system of C. Francis Jenkins, DuMont turned his attention to television. He was involved in the first television transmissions from W2XCD in Passaic. But DuMont realized that clear images would need the development of scanning in a cathode ray tube. DuMont worked to improve television transmission and reception and went to De Forest asking for funds to build a long lasting cathode ray tube for television reception. De Forest denied DuMont's request as De Forest's investors were demanding better returns. Subsequently, DuMont resigned at the same time DeForest sold his radio manufacturing business to David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff was an American businessman and pioneer of American commercial radio and television. He founded the National Broadcasting Company and throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America in various capacities from shortly after its founding in 1919 until his...
at RCA.
Later projects
DuMont had developed an improved version of the cathode ray tube which was both cheaper to produce and was longer-lasting than the German tubes used at that time; the imported tubes had a life of 25 to 30 hours. DuMont's invention of the first long-lasting cathode ray tube would later make commercially-viable televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
possible. He started his own company, DuMont Laboratories
DuMont Laboratories
DuMont Laboratories was an American television equipment manufacturer. The company was founded in 1931, by inventor Allen B. DuMont. Among the company's developments were long-lasting cathode ray tubes that would be used for television. Another product out of the lab was a DuMont invention, the...
, in the basement of his Cedar Grove, New Jersey
Cedar Grove, New Jersey
-Climate:Cedar Grove has a humid subtropical climate, with warm/hot humid summers and cool/cold winters. The climate is slightly colder overall during the summer than in New York City because there is no urban heat island effect....
home, building long-lasting cathode ray tubes. In 1931, he sold two tubes to two college science laboratories for $35 each.
In 1932, DuMont proposed a "ship finder" device to the United States Army Signal Corps
United States Army Signal Corps
The United States Army Signal Corps develops, tests, provides, and manages communications and information systems support for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of United States Army Major Albert J. Myer, and has had an important role from...
at Fort Monmouth
Fort Monmouth
Fort Monmouth was an installation of the Department of the Army in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The post is surrounded by the communities of Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Oceanport, New Jersey, and is located about 5 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The post covers nearly of land, from the Shrewsbury...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, that used radio wave distortions to locate objects on a cathode ray tube screen—he had essentially invented radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
. The military asked him, however, not to take out a patent for developing what they wanted to maintain as a secret, and so he is not often mentioned among those responsible for radar. He did, however, go on to develop long-range precision radar to aid the Allies during WWII. As a consequence the French Government knighted him in 1952.
In 1937 DuMont invented the magic eye tube
Magic eye tube
A magic eye tube gives a visual indication for audio output, radio-frequency signal strength, or other functions. It is also called a cat's eye, or tuning eye tube. These tubes were used by radio receivers from around 1936 onwards, replacing the earlier "Tuneon" neon lamp type tuning indicators,...
, used as a tuning accessory in radios and as an inexpensive level meter in mono and stereo home reel-to-reel tape recorders.
During the early years of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, DuMont received special government contracts to provide large 36" wide cathode ray tubes. These special tubes allowed scientists working on the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
to study the action of accelerated electrons.
DuMont produced black and white televisions in the 1940s and 1950s that were generally regarded as offering highest quality and durability. Many of these premium sets included a built in AM/FM radio and record player.
DuMont sold his manufacturing operations in 1960. The television manufacturing division was sold to Emerson Radio
Emerson Radio
Emerson Radio Corporation was founded in 1948. It is one of the United States’ largest volume consumer electronics distributors and has a recognized trademark in continuous use since 1912...
. His research laboratory became part of Fairchild Camera
Fairchild Camera and Instrument
Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation was a company founded by Sherman Fairchild. It was based on the East Coast of the United States, and provided research and development for flash photography equipment...
and later developed semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
microchip
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
s. Robert Noyce
Robert Noyce
Robert Norton Noyce , nicknamed "the Mayor of Silicon Valley", co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel in 1968...
, founder of Intel, originally worked for DuMont as an engineer. In the late 1950s, the Dumont laboratory, now owned by Fairchild, developed the original Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
Trinitron
Trinitron
Trinitron is Sony's brand name for its line of aperture grille based CRTs used in television sets and computer display monitors. One of the first truly new television systems to enter the market since the 1950s, the Trinitron was announced in 1966 to wide acclaim for its bright images, about 25%...
color picture tube, under a subcontract.
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network was not an unqualified success, being faced with the major problem of how to make a profit without the benefit of an already established radio network as a base. After ten years, DuMont shuttered the network and sold what remained of his television operations to John Kluge in 1956, which Kluge renamed MetromediaMetromedia
Metromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and owned Orion Pictures from 1986-1997.- Overview :...
. DuMont's partner, Thomas T. Goldsmith, remained on Metromedia's board of directors from this time all the way until Kluge sold the stations to the Fox Television Stations Group
Fox Television Stations Group
Fox Television Stations, Inc. is a group of television stations located within the United States which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Entertainment Group, part of News Corporation...
.
Awards and later life
DuMont was the first to provide funding for educational television broadcasting. He was the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards, among them the Cross of Knight awarded by the French Government, the Horatio Alger Award, the Westinghouse Award, and the DeForest Medal.DuMont died in 1965 and is buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery
Mount Hebron Cemetery, Montclair, New Jersey
Mount Hebron Cemetery is a cemetery in Montclair, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States.-Notable interments:* Shirley Booth was an Academy Award-winning American actress for the film Come Back, Little Sheba....
in Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,977 people, 15,020 households, and 9,687 families residing in the township. The population density was 6,183.6 people per square mile . There were 15,531 housing units at an average density of 2,464.0 per square mile...
. The television center at Montclair State University
Montclair State University
Montclair State University is a public research university located in the Upper Montclair section of Montclair, the Great Notch area of Little Falls, and Clifton, New Jersey. As of October 2009, there were 18,171 total enrolled students: 14,139 undergraduate students and 4,032 graduate students...
bears his name.
External links
- Allen DuMont's Photo & Gravesite
- Allen B. Dumont helps U.S. Army develop Countermeasure by reproducing a critical vacuum tube in a captured WW2 Nazi radar. Results is the sparing of thousands of U.S. and British flyers lives.
To see Allen B. DuMont and Thomas D. Goldsmith, Jr. in 1954 on the DuMont network series What's the Story? discussing the future of color TV, see http://www.jfredmacdonald.com/avhighlights/playonutv14_whatsthestoryoncolortv.htm (Very slow buffering with dsl, cable connection recommended.)