Call Number:

6746

Repository:

The Historical and Interpretive Collections of The Franklin Institute

Extent:

4.0 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1909-1930 (inclusive)

Creator:

McCaa, D. G. (David Galen), 1882-1954

Abstract:

D. G. McCaa (1882-1954) was a doctor and a pioneer in the field of radio engineering from the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area. He is best known today for his noise-reduction circuits in AM radio.The D. G. McCaa papers on radio, 1909-1930, consist of materials relating to McCaa's work in radio, including twenty-five assorted lab notebooks, patents and patent correspondence, and other related papers.

D. G. McCaa (1882-1954) was a doctor and a pioneer in the field of radio engineering from the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area. He is best known today for his noise-reduction circuits in AM radio.

David Galen McCaa (1882-1954) was born in Ephrata, PA to Dr. David Jenkins McCaa and Eugenia R. (Bickham) McCaa. Like his father, McCaa became a doctor, graduating from medical school and joining the staff at Philadelphia General Hospital in 1903. In 1905 he set up his own practice in Lancaster, PA and married May Estelle Yeiser in 1906. They had one son, John Robert McCaa. From 1909 to 1914 he worked in his practice as an x-ray surgeon. While attempting to improve the x-ray machine, McCaa discovered something that inspired him to experiment with transmitting the human voice over great distances without the use of wires to carry electrical impulses.

Leaving his medical practice, McCaa became a radio research engineer. After much experimentation, in 1914 McCaa was able to make a radio call from a ship in the Atlantic Ocean to the New York Herald Tribune editorial office without the use of wires. He invented the first successful ship radio phone in 1915. He started his own business called McCaa Radio Co. McCaa died in 1954.

This collection consists of materials relating to the work of early radio pioneer D. G. McCaa from 1909 to 1930, including twenty-five assorted lab notebooks, patents and patent correspondence, and other related papers.

Throughout his most active period experimenting with early radio, 1909-1930, McCaa kept detailed notebooks, describing his progress on a daily basis. These notebooks make up the largest portion of this collection and make it possible to follow the evolution of McCaa's ideas. Other materials in the collection include the design and operation of his wireless broadcasting station from 1909 to 1914, the design of the McCaa Radiotelephone apparatus, use of the latter for shipboard radio communication as exemplified by a wireless log from the steamship "Tyler" of the Old Dominion Steamship Company in 1914, and patents and patent correspondence.