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I am in the process of updating my "Marconi" web site. This is a fairly time consuming process, as is with anything to do with computers. Pages that are not yet completed have the suffix (UC) "Under Construction" on the Navigation Bar. 100 years Ago
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Preview I first launched this website on the Marconi Company in 1998, at that time there was very little on the internet about the company, and almost nothing originating from Chelmsford in England, where the world's first company for the manufacture of radio kit was founded. Today the numbers of websites on Marconi go into tens of thousands, although still very little from Chelmsford. The company is no more, and the factory he built in Chelmsford will be taken over by the "developers" in 2008. I started this website just before the GEC company re-launched with the Marconi brand name. At that time the company had branches worldwide and a total staff running into many thousands. Who could have believed that in less than a decade the Company would be no more? In view of this, I decided it was time I updated this website. Over the last 9 years I have accumulated a massive amount of data on Marconi, and it will take a time to organise. For the next few months you may follow links that go to the dreaded "Under Construction" sign, for which I can only apologise. ____________________________________________ The Marconi Company I first joined the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company in 1958, at the factory in New St. to work in their test department. Here I continued until 1968 when the start of a newly formed "Space Division" covering satellite communication, gave me an opening to join their Installation department. I stayed in "Installations" for fifteen years where I initially worked on SHF transmitters, at earth stations at Goonhilly Downs in Cornwall, Jamaica, Hong Kong and Singapore. I then broadened my horizons by going into computer applications and their use in message switching. After working on computer systems at the Croydon Aeronautical Centre, Whitehall and the Met office at Bracknell, I travelled with my family to Chile in South America, where I spent three years working on message switching for the Chilean Navy. In 1983. I returned to work at the factory in Chelmsford as a Systems Engineer. Here I helped in the design of communication systems in the Falkland Islands Malaysia and Oman. I left the Marconi New Street works in July 2003 to take up contract work, bur still installing Marconi equipment. A history of The Marconi
Company in Chelmsford Radio waves form the basis Radio, Television, Satellite broadcast and Radar. The invention of radio may be contributed to the work of a number of people, Michael Faraday, who pioneered the basics of lines of force for magnets, the brilliant mathematician James Clerk Maxwell who developed the mathematical basics of the Electromagnet theory, as we know it today. Heinrich Hertz was able to put Maxwell's theories into practice and first demonstrated the production of what he then called Hertzian vibrations in 1886. The term "Hertz" (Hz.) is used to this day as the unit of frequency for an electromagnetic vibration. The young Marconi first began experimenting with the transmission of radio waves in 1894 from his home in Bologna, Italy to a receiver placed about 2 miles away, the other side of a hill. He enlisted the help of his servant Mignani to fire a rifle whenever he received the letter "S" in Morse. In 1896 Marconi moved to Hereford road in London where he filed a patent. This followed with Marconi carrying out a number of demonstrations on Salisbury Plain and then across the Bristol Channel. In July1897 the Wireless Telegraph Trading Signal Company was formed with their headquarters in Mark Lane in London. In 1898 the first wireless factory was established in Hall Street, employing around 50 people. The factory was built in what was initially a silk factory. This building still stands today and is used by the Essex and Suffolk. Water Co. In 1900 the companies name was altered to Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. The Marconi International Marine Communication Co. Ltd. was also formed. In the same year Marconi patented the use of tuned circuits enabling simultaneous transmissions from more stations. By then Marconi had his eye on transatlantic communication, despite the claims of many that over the horizon communication by radio waves was impossible. Building of the Poldhu Wireless Station commenced on October 1900, it was operational by January 1901. On December 12th of that year the letter in Morse was transmitted from Poldhu and received by Marconi personnel in St. John's. In 1902 at the invitation of the Canadian government Marconi travelled to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and begin the building of a large radio station there.
John Ambrose Fleming made the next major development with the invention of the Thermionic Diode. Working with the Marconi Wireless and Telegraph Company in 1904 this led to a much improved detection device for the electromagnetic waves. The use of the Valve detector was patented in 1905. Improvements followed in rapid succession with improved antennas, understanding of impedance matching, development of the thermionic triode valve by Lee de Forest and Fleming to be used as both an amplifier and a source of radio wave generation. By 1912 it was mandatory for large ocean-going vessels to carry radio equipment saving the lives of 705 people on board the Titanic. By
now the works at Hall Street was becoming too small and Marconis decided
to move into a new purposely built building. This was to be established
on the site of Chelmsford Athletics Ground. In spite of a strike, the
building was completed in 17 weeks in time for the International Telegraphic
Conference where a special train brought delegates to Chelmsford for
the Grand Opening; -
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