Archie Frederick Collins

Archie Frederick Collins (born South Bend, Indiana January 8, 1869.Died early 1950's) was an early experimenter in wireless telephony and a prolific author of books and articles on a wide range of scientific and technical subjects. cite book
last =
first =
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coauthors =
title = Who was who in America, Volume 5, 1968-1973
publisher = Marquis' Who's Who
date = 1973
location = Chicago
pages = 144
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0-8379-0205-3]

Early life

Collins was the son of Captain Thomas Jefferson Collins and Margaret Ann (Roller) Collins. He attended the public schools and the Old University of Chicago, a Baptist school which preceded the present University of Chicago.

Family life

Collins married Evelyn Bandy June 28, 1897. They were parents of one son, Virgil Dewey Collins. Collins resided at a summer home called "The Antlers" in Rockland County, New York in the hamlet of Congers, and had a second residence in Florida. His winter residence was New York City.

Radio research

Collins invented a wireless telephone, or radio transmitter and receiver in 1899. He wrote that he was "the first to connect an arc lamp with an aerial and a ground, and to use a microphone transmitter to modulate the sustained oscillations so set up. The receiving apparatus consisted of a variable contact, known as a pill-box detector, which Sir Oliver Lodge had devised, and to this was connected an Ericsson telephone receiver, then the most sensitive made."cite book
last = Collins
first = (A.) Frederick
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Radio Amateur's handbook. A Complete, Authentic and Informative Work on Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony
publisher = Thomas Y. Crowell Company
date = 1922
location =
pages =
url = http://www.bolis.com/amillar/pg/rdamh/radio-amateur-handbook.html
doi =
id =
isbn = ] He was the technician for the Collins Wireless Telephone Company from 1904 to 1910. By 1908 Collins was broadcasting voice and music, reportedly with an arc transmitter, from 51 Clinton Street in Newark, New Jersey, with a remote receiver through which interested parties could hear the transmissions. [cite book
last = Jaker
first = Bill
authorlink =
coauthors = Sulek, Frank; Kanze, Peter
title = The Airwaves of New York: Illustrated Histories of 156 AM Stations in the Metropolitan Area, 1921-1996
publisher = McFarland
date = 1998
location =
pages = 2
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=QwQfaS521mkC&dq=%22a+frederick+collins%22&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0
doi =
id =
isbn = ISBN 0786403438, 9780786403431] In 1909, Collins told the New York Times he had operated four separate wireless telephone links at the same time between Portland, Maine and a nearby island, creating an impression that wireless telephony was on the verge of replacing wired telephone systems. [cite book
last = Reich
first = Leonard S.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Making of American Industrial Research
publisher = Cambridge University Press
date = 2002
location =
pages = 156
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=ZVkZNyVI4toC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=%22a+frederick+collins%22&source=web&ots=pCAnmfQI3L&sig=2ddqzDKXIT7CMUdpcvxL0DDbN-k&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result
doi =
id =
isbn = ISBN 0521522374, 9780521522373] The Collins Wireless Telephone Company became part of the Continental Wireless Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1909. In December, 1911 Collins and other officials of the company were indicted for using the mails for stock fraud. The company had made extravagant claims for the ability of the wireless telephone equipment, given the primitive state of the art in range and selectivity. Nathan Stubblefield, another early wireless telephone experimenter, had resigned in protest from the company before the exposure of the stock promotion excesses. Collins served one year of a three year sentence. cite web
last =
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title = The Collins Wireless Telephone- A. Frederick Collins ... Tragic Genius ?
work =
publisher = Sparkmuseum
date =
url = http://www.sparkmuseum.com/COLLINS.HTM
format =
doi =
accessdate = September 16, 2008] cite web
last = White
first = Thomas
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = United States Early Radio History, Section 6:Continental Wireless prosecution.
work =
publisher = Earlyradiohistory.us
date =
url = http://earlyradiohistory.us/sec006.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = September 16, 2008]

Author

He wrote about 100 books on scientific and technical subjects, hobbies, and sports, and over 500 articles in technical and scientific magazines and journals, well into the 1940's. He wrote a great many technical articles and books on wireless telegraphy and wireless telephony in the first decade of the 20th century. [ [http://www.let.uu.nl/~Imar.deVries/personal/Artikelen/2003/mobile.pdf] Vries, Imar de, "Mobile Telephony: Realising the Dream of Ideal Communication?" in Hamill, L. & Lasen, A. (eds) "Mobile World: Past, Present, Future. London, Springer, 2005. ISBN 78-1-85233-825-1 (Print) 978-1-84628-204-1 (Online)] Many of his books, such as "The Boy Scientist," (1925) had lots of illustrations and few equations, with an emphasis on "hands-on" experimentation, at a level intended for high school students. After discussing the "Einstein Theory," Collins tells his readers how to build a spectroscope, a radio, and a x-ray machine for home experimentation. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=7oeXAV_XvB0C&pg=PA198&lpg=PA198&dq=%22a+frederick+collins%22&source=web&ots=TRF1lZ2f9t&sig=Ap-QBx0JHtVmXzyuK1kYjsTXdRY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result] Lienhard, John H. "Inventing Modern: Growing Up with X-Rays, Skyscrapers, and Tailfins." Oxford University Press US, 2003. ISBN 0195189515, 9780195189513. Pages 198, 199.] Collins encouraged his readers to use their home-built x-ray machine to examine their own bone structure with a fluoroscope. His failure to warn of the dangers of experimentation with x-rays was in line with popular interest in the invisible rays and lack of understanding of the dangers. [ [http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04172007-133407/unrestricted/Pevey_Aaron_200705_MA.pdf] Pevey, Aaron, From Superman to superbland: the Man of Steel's popular decline among postmodern youth. Thesis, Master of Arts, Georgia State University, 2007.Pages 33, 39-40. Retrieved September 25, 2008.] He was the original author of "The Radio Amateur's Hand Book" in 1922, a handbook for radio "hams" which was reprinted in at least 15 revised editions over the next 61 years. Alan MacDiarmid , who received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2000, said that Collins' 1924 book "The Boy Chemist" so inspired him as a boy that he kept renewing it after checking it out from the public library for almost a full year to complete all the experiments. [ [http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/macdiarmid.html NZEdge.com] Campbell, John "Alan MacDiarmid, Plastic fantastic." Retrieved September 25, 2008]

References

External links

*worldcat id|lccn-n50-62166
*Gutenberg author|id=A._Frederick_Collins|Name=A. Frederick Collins
** [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6935 "The Radio Amateur's Handbook"] , by (Archie) Frederick Collins, 1922. Complete with illustrations