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Alfred J. Gross (February 22, 1918 – December 21, 2000) was a pioneer in mobile wireless communication. He invented and patented many important communications devices, including the first walkie-talkie, CB radio, the telephone pager and the cordless telephone. Despite the successes of these inventions, his patents expired too early to make any amount of money from them. February 22 is the 53rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ...
Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages None Flower White Trillium Tree Eastern White Pine Bird Common Loon Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Parliamentary representation - House seats - Senate seats 106 24 Area Total...
December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article is about the year 2000. ...
An inventor is a person who creates new inventions, typically technical devices such as mechanical, electrical or software devices or methods. ...
Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
February 22 is the 53rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ...
December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article is about the year 2000. ...
A walkie-talkie is a portable, bi-directional radio transceiver, first developed for military use. ...
Citizens band radio (CB) is, in the United States, a system of short distance radio communication between individuals on a selection of 40 channels within the single 27 MHz (11 meter) band. ...
A pager is an electronic device used to contact people via a paging network. ...
A portable phone or cordless phone is a wireless telephone which is associated with a fixed telephone landline (POTS) and can only be operated close to (typically less than 100 metres of) its base station, such as in and around the house. ...
A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a patentee (the inventor or assignee) for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which...
Biography
Gross was born in Toronto, Ontario, in Canada in 1918, but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. His lifelong enthusiasm for radio was sparked at age nine, when travelling on Lake Erie by a steamboat. While sneaking around the boat he ended up in the radio transmissions room. The ship's operator sat him on his lap and let him listen in on transmissions. Three years later, Gross turned the basement of his house into a radio station, built from scavenged junkyard parts. Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages None Flower White Trillium Tree Eastern White Pine Bird Common Loon Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Parliamentary representation - House seats - Senate seats 106 24 Area Total...
Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Columbus Largest city Columbus Largest metro area Cleveland Area Ranked 34th - Total 44,825 sq mi (116,096 km²) - Width 220 miles (355 km) - Length 220 miles (355 km) - % water 8. ...
Lake Erie (pronounced ) is the eleventh largest lake on Earth[2] and, of the five Great Lakes of North America, it is the fourth largest by surface area, the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume. ...
At sixteen he earned his amateur radio license, and he used his call sign (W8PAL) his whole life. Ham radio station with separate transmitter, receiver and power supply. ...
Call sign can refer to different types of call signs: Airline call sign Aviator call sign Cosmonaut call sign Radio and television call signs Tactical call sign, also known as a tactical designator See also: International Callsign Allocations, Maritime Mobile Service Identity This is a disambiguation page — a navigational...
The walkie-talkie His interest and knowledge in radio technology had grown considerably by the time he in 1936 entered the BSEE program at Cleveland's Case of Applied Sciences (now part of Case Western Reserve University). He was determined to investigate the unexplored frequency region above 100 MHz, and between 1938 and 1941 he invented and patented a mobile, lightweight, two-way communications system; the "walkie-talkie". Rough plot of Earths atmospheric transmittance (or opacity) to various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, including radio waves. ...
A walkie-talkie is a portable, bi-directional radio transceiver, first developed for military use. ...
World War II During World War II, Gross had some limited involvement in building a two-way air-to-ground communications system for the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS, a forerunner to the CIA) for use in military operations, known as the "Joan-Eleanor" system. It included a hand-held transceiver ("Joan") and a much larger aircraft-based transceiver ("Eleanor"). Gross' actual contribution to the project is unclear (he was not an OSS member), but the main developers on the project were Dewitt R. Goddard and Lt. Cmdr. Stephen H. Simpson (Goddard's wife's name was Eleanor, and reportedly Joan was an acquaintance of Simpson). The system, developed beginning in late 1942, was highly successful and very difficult to detect behind enemy lines at the time. It was marked top secret by the U.S. Military until it was declassified and made public in 1976. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime (but not direct) precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. ...
A transceiver is a device that has both a transmitter and a receiver which are combined in to one. ...
A typical classified document. ...
Citizens' Band (CB) After the war the FCC allocated the first frequencies for personal radio services; the Citizens Radio Service Frequency Band (1946). Gross formed a company to produce two-way communications system to utilize these frequencies, and his company was the first to receive FCC approval in 1948. He sold more than 100 thousand units of his system, mostly to farmers and the U.S. Coast Guard. The FCCs official seal. ...
Telephone pager Another breakthrough came in 1949 when he adapted his two-way radios for cordless remote telephonic signaling. He had effectively invented the first telephone pager system. His intention was for this system to be used by medical doctors, but was met with skepticism by doctors who were afraid the system would upset patients and interrupt them during golf. He invented the pager in New York. A pager is an electronic device used to contact people via a paging network. ...
Later years In 1950 he tried in vain to interest telephone companies in mobile telephony. Bell Telephone was uninterested, and other companies were afraid of Bell's monopoly on transmission lines. AT&T Corporate Logo, 1969-1983 The Bell System is an informal name given to the US telecommunications company American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) before AT&T divested its local exchange telephone service operating companies on January 1, 1984. ...
Gross continued inventing, and began working as a specialist in microwave and other communications systems for companies such as Sperry and General Electric. He continued working until his death at age 82. Sperry may refer to: Persons: Brett Sperry (contemporary), American video game designer Elmer Ambrose Sperry (1860–1930), American inventor and entrepreneur, founder of Sperry Gyroscope Company Joseph Evans Sperry (1854–1930), American architect Mario Sperry (1952—), Brazilian martial artist Roger Wolcott Sperry (1913–1994), American neurobiologist and Nobel laureate Place...
GE redirects here. ...
Quotes In an interview by the Arizona Republic Newspaper, he was asked about his many patents that expired too early for him to capitalize on them. He responded with a smile, saying: I was born thirty-five years too soon. If I still had the patents on my inventions, Bill Gates would have to stand aside for me.
In popular culture Cartoonist Chester Gould once visited Gross and saw his wristwatch-radio prototype. After the visit, Gould called up Gross and asked if he could use this concept for his Dick Tracy comic strip. Gross said yes, and in January, 1946, the Dick Tracy cartoon was changed forever with the introduction of the iconic two-way wrist radio. Chester Gould (November 20, 1900 – May 11, 1985) was the creator of the Dick Tracy comic strip, which he wrote and drew from 1931 to 1977. ...
Dick Tracy is a comic strip detective and a popular character in American pop culture. ...
Recognition Gross has received much recognition for his work, including, but not limited to:
Awards - 1984: Gross received the IEEE Centennial Medal for his work in VHF and UHF mobile radio.
- 2000: IEEE Millenium Medal
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE (pronounced as eye-triple-ee) is an international non-profit, professional organization incorporated in the State of New York, United States. ...
Very high frequency (VHF) is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. ...
Ultra high frequency (UHF) designates a range (band) of electromagnetic waves whose frequency is between 300 MHz and 3. ...
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE (pronounced as eye-triple-ee) is an international non-profit, professional organization incorporated in the State of New York, United States. ...
Honors - 2000: Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award for Invention and Innovation
The Lemelson-MIT Prize, endowed in 1994 by Jerome H. Lemelson, and administered through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is awarded to inventors from the United States for outstanding achievement. ...
See also Wireless is an old-fashioned term for a radio receiver, referring to its use as a wireless telegraph. ...
References - In Memorium, from IEEE (requires login)
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