Radio
GOVERNMENT CONTROL AND PREPARATIONS
The introduction of vacuum-tube equipment promised to revolutionize radio. However, all amateur and commercial use of radio came to an abrupt halt on April 7, 1917 when, with the entrance of the United States into World War One, most private U.S. radio stations were ordered by the President to either shut down or be taken over by the government, and for the duration of the war it became illegal for private U.S. citizens to even possess an operational radio transmitter or receiver. Radio in the U.S. had become a government monopoly, reserved for the war effort. Amateur radio operators were particularly hard hit by the restrictions. Before the ban, amateurs read the monthly issues of The Electrical Experimenter in order to find out about the latest improvements in equipment design, but now that magazine was featuring articles like How the Government Seals Radio Apparatus, which appeared in July, 1917. The American Radio Relay League's July, 1917 QST magazine brought Arthur C. Young's report of What Happened at Buffalo When Closing Orders Were Received. QST also began carrying monthly reports from former amateurs who were now enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and in September, 1917, in its final issue before suspending publication for the duration of the war, mused about the uncertain future of amateur radio in Another Season Opens, But---. The war was an opportunity for some to advance beyond standard peacetime restrictions. In this heavily segregated era there were a limited number of jobs open to African-Americans, however Negroes for Army Signalmen announced that radio operator training was being established in Richmond, Virginia.
EARLY MILITARY EQUIPMENT
Radio communication played a vital role for all combatants during the war, although, in the era before mechanization, army transportation still largely depended on mules and horses. In the 1906 Manual of Wireless Telegraphy by A. Frederick Collins, the Clark Portable Army Set sections reviewed "apparatus as compact and portable as possible so that it may be transported on the backs of mules", and in the 1911 edition of Drill Regulations for Field Companies of the Signal Corps, the two main radio field units were the Pack Set, carried by a "section normally composed of 10 mounted men and 4 pack mules", and the Wagon Set, whose "section is normally composed of 18 mounted men, the Wagoner and engineer, who ride on the wagon, and one wagon wireless set, drawn by 4 mules". The October, 1916 edition of the United States Signal Corps' Radiotelegraphy manual reviewed advances in Pack and Wagon Set designs, including the adoption of quenched spark transmitters, and the reduction, by one, of the number of mules needed to carry a Field Pack set. Also included was a short section on the beginnings of mechanization, with development of transmitters carried by automobiles, plus information on an early form of spread spectrum transmission. After the entrance of the United States into the war, U.S. Signal Corps Radio Outfit in France, from the September, 1918 Electrical Experimenter, reported on field units deployed on the battlefield.
BROADCASTING EXPERIMENTATION
While radio remained off-limits for the general public during the war, there were occasional hints of what lay ahead. Wireless Music for Wounded Soldiers from the April, 1918 The Wireless Age reviewed a short-range electrostatic induction system that could be used to entertain hospitalized soldiers with music and news. And between the cessation of hostilities in November, 1918, and the end of the civilian radio restrictions in 1919, there were scattered reports of military personnel firing up transmitters in order to broadcast entertainment to the troops -- for example a February 2, 1919 "Moonlight Witches Dance" transmitted from off the coast of San Diego, California by the battleship Marblehead, reported in Music by Wireless, in the March, 1919 issue of Telephone Engineer.
CIVILIAN ACTIVITIES
During World War One, a Committee on Public Information ("Compub"), headed by George Creel, was formed to promote the United States war effort at home and abroad. In the December, 1918 Illustrated World, Donald Wilhelm recounted how the high-powered radio stations of the United States Navy were used for Sending the News to the Seven Seas -- "broadcasting the truth and the light", as provided "by the most powerful educational institution in the world, the Committee on Public Information". In the September, 1922 Popular Radio, Creel's The Battle in the Air Lanes noted that the World War had been the first to include "Public Opinion as a major force" where "moral verdicts took on all the value of military decisions", and the United States, with limited access to the international cables, had turned to radio for "reaching every country on the globe with the American message".
Although much of the fear in the United States about radio being used for spying was baseless hysteria, there were also legitimate concerns, one case reported in Remarkable Radio Outfit Built By German Spy, which appeared in the June, 1917 Electrical Experimenter. After the war ended, Pierre H. Boucheron reviewed radio espionage and counter-espionage in Guarding the Ether During the War, from the September, 1919 Radio Amateur News, and A War-Time Radio Detective, a four-part series which began in the May, 1920 issue of Electrical Experimenter.
GOVERNMENT CONTROL AND PREPARATIONS
The introduction of vacuum-tube equipment promised to revolutionize radio. However, all amateur and commercial use of radio came to an abrupt halt on April 7, 1917 when, with the entrance of the United States into World War One, most private U.S. radio stations were ordered by the President to either shut down or be taken over by the government, and for the duration of the war it became illegal for private U.S. citizens to even possess an operational radio transmitter or receiver. Radio in the U.S. had become a government monopoly, reserved for the war effort. Amateur radio operators were particularly hard hit by the restrictions. Before the ban, amateurs read the monthly issues of The Electrical Experimenter in order to find out about the latest improvements in equipment design, but now that magazine was featuring articles like How the Government Seals Radio Apparatus, which appeared in July, 1917. The American Radio Relay League's July, 1917 QST magazine brought Arthur C. Young's report of What Happened at Buffalo When Closing Orders Were Received. QST also began carrying monthly reports from former amateurs who were now enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and in September, 1917, in its final issue before suspending publication for the duration of the war, mused about the uncertain future of amateur radio in Another Season Opens, But---. The war was an opportunity for some to advance beyond standard peacetime restrictions. In this heavily segregated era there were a limited number of jobs open to African-Americans, however Negroes for Army Signalmen announced that radio operator training was being established in Richmond, Virginia.
EARLY MILITARY EQUIPMENT
Radio communication played a vital role for all combatants during the war, although, in the era before mechanization, army transportation still largely depended on mules and horses. In the 1906 Manual of Wireless Telegraphy by A. Frederick Collins, the Clark Portable Army Set sections reviewed "apparatus as compact and portable as possible so that it may be transported on the backs of mules", and in the 1911 edition of Drill Regulations for Field Companies of the Signal Corps, the two main radio field units were the Pack Set, carried by a "section normally composed of 10 mounted men and 4 pack mules", and the Wagon Set, whose "section is normally composed of 18 mounted men, the Wagoner and engineer, who ride on the wagon, and one wagon wireless set, drawn by 4 mules". The October, 1916 edition of the United States Signal Corps' Radiotelegraphy manual reviewed advances in Pack and Wagon Set designs, including the adoption of quenched spark transmitters, and the reduction, by one, of the number of mules needed to carry a Field Pack set. Also included was a short section on the beginnings of mechanization, with development of transmitters carried by automobiles, plus information on an early form of spread spectrum transmission. After the entrance of the United States into the war, U.S. Signal Corps Radio Outfit in France, from the September, 1918 Electrical Experimenter, reported on field units deployed on the battlefield.
BROADCASTING EXPERIMENTATION
While radio remained off-limits for the general public during the war, there were occasional hints of what lay ahead. Wireless Music for Wounded Soldiers from the April, 1918 The Wireless Age reviewed a short-range electrostatic induction system that could be used to entertain hospitalized soldiers with music and news. And between the cessation of hostilities in November, 1918, and the end of the civilian radio restrictions in 1919, there were scattered reports of military personnel firing up transmitters in order to broadcast entertainment to the troops -- for example a February 2, 1919 "Moonlight Witches Dance" transmitted from off the coast of San Diego, California by the battleship Marblehead, reported in Music by Wireless, in the March, 1919 issue of Telephone Engineer.
CIVILIAN ACTIVITIES
During World War One, a Committee on Public Information ("Compub"), headed by George Creel, was formed to promote the United States war effort at home and abroad. In the December, 1918 Illustrated World, Donald Wilhelm recounted how the high-powered radio stations of the United States Navy were used for Sending the News to the Seven Seas -- "broadcasting the truth and the light", as provided "by the most powerful educational institution in the world, the Committee on Public Information". In the September, 1922 Popular Radio, Creel's The Battle in the Air Lanes noted that the World War had been the first to include "Public Opinion as a major force" where "moral verdicts took on all the value of military decisions", and the United States, with limited access to the international cables, had turned to radio for "reaching every country on the globe with the American message".
Although much of the fear in the United States about radio being used for spying was baseless hysteria, there were also legitimate concerns, one case reported in Remarkable Radio Outfit Built By German Spy, which appeared in the June, 1917 Electrical Experimenter. After the war ended, Pierre H. Boucheron reviewed radio espionage and counter-espionage in Guarding the Ether During the War, from the September, 1919 Radio Amateur News, and A War-Time Radio Detective, a four-part series which began in the May, 1920 issue of Electrical Experimenter.
Bicycles
During WW1, Sunbeam, like the rest of British industry, prioritized war production. There was, of course, still a demand for bicycles at home. As well as making their military model, Sunbeam also sold their civilian models through the war years, many of which were used by soldiers; a hire-purchase scheme was available on enlistment. Apart from the Military Sunbeam, the model range didn’t change through the war, and the 1915 Sunbeam, illustrated above, was essentially the same model as this 1918 Royal.