Crystal Clear: The Struggle for Reliable Communications Technology in World War II
Quartz crystal-a technology that changed the tide of World War II
Some of the defining leaps in technology in the twentieth century occurred during the Second World War, from radar to nuclear energy. Often left out of historical discussions are quartz crystals, which proved to be just as pivotal to the Allied victory-and to post-war development-as other technologies. Quartz crystals provided the U.S. military, for the first time, with reliable communication on the front lines, and then went on to become the core of some of the most basic devices of the post-war era, from watches, clocks, and color televisions, to cell phones and computers.
In Crystal Clear, Richard Thompson relates the story of the quartz crystal in World War II, from its early days as a curiosity for amateur radio enthusiasts, to its use by the United States Armed Forces. It follows the intrepid group of scientists and engineers from the Office of the Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army… More >>
Crystal Clear: The Struggle for Reliable Communications Technology in World War II
Tagged with: Clear • Communications • Crystal • Reliable • Struggle • Technology • World
This is actually a history of the American production of 71 million quartz crystal oscillators for precise-frequency radios during World War II, starting from virtually no production ability in 1939. There’s a lot of story here, as the Signal Corps deals with Brazilian quartz miners (virtually all the quality quartz in the world was mined there during these years), American “can-do” businessmen trying to support themselves and make a buck, demands from Air and Armor for masses of radios, quartz shortages, company trade secrets (very few in retrospect; there was a lot of information-sharing from top-down Signal Corps researchers and bottom-up factory floor guys), more quartz shortages, crystal “aging” causing radios to drift off frequency, cooperation (and non-cooperation) with British needs, a quick look at captured Japanese and German radio equipment, and an overall summary.
A little-known story of World War II, and well worth remembering: the quartz crystals were a technical miracle at least as important to the war as the better-known atomic bomb, radar, and proximity fuses.
Highly recommended.
Just before World War II the Army Air Corp and the Armored forces ran some tests using crystal controlled radios vs. other typed of frequency control. Their conclusion, without crystals you have radios, with crystals you have communications.
The Army Signal Corp basically had no choice but to agree. Crystal controlled radios were so far superior tht there was really no decision. Except for one little point.
The production of crystals for radios in the United States (and in the rest of the world) was essentially intended for the ham radio market. In the united states this amounted to about 100,000 crystals a year. They were made by small ‘mom and pop’ companies across the US. Now every airplane was going to need from one to ten crystals, so will every tank. So will every radio from the hand held walkie-talkie up to the search radars. Let’s do some calculating, and we come up with needing 2,000,000 crystals per MONTH.
This book is the story of coming up to eventually 2.5 million crystals a month.
It’s the story of a couple of youngsters grinding five crystals and taking them for examination at the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (later to change its name to Motorola). They passed the testing and left Galvin that afternoon with an order in their pocket for 80,000 crystals.
It’s the story of the technological manufacturing miracle that went a long way to helping win the war. Think about it. When you see American soldiers in war movies, they talk to each other using radios. The Germans and the Japanese don’t.
Splendid book on a little knows aspect of World War II.