envisaged. The German share of the Lamp Works had been purchased by
GEC from the Government Trustee of Enemy Property and Osram was to be
incorporated into GEC. Paterson therefore was now asked to plan an
industrial laboratory to serve the whole of the GEC, but beginning with the
problems of the Lamp Works. Clifford Paterson became the first Director of
the newly formed ‘GEC Research Laboratories’ in January 1919.
15.3.1 The Laboratories’ First Year
The original staff were housed in a wooden building at the Lamp works in
Hammersmith, previously used to make ‘valves’
14 during the war. The salary
book still exists
11 and shows that the Laboratories began with just four
members, but in March and May 1919 there was an ‘influx’ of staff who over
time, were to become senior members of the Laboratories. This initial influx
included Robert, who was invited by Paterson to join the new venture.
15
After returning from Germany, and in conversation with Chirnside in 1976
(Chap. 18), Robert described himself as ‘in the doghouse for a while’. Family,
it seems, did not talk about his internment, they were not happy with the
unwanted attention of HMG in November 1914 and again later in 1916
when his patriotism was questioned. Even so, Mr. Christopher Wilson of the
GEC ‘sought him out’ and, although other offers were available, Robert
decided to join the new Laboratories. Wilson subsequently sent him to see
Paterson who invited him to become a founder member.
During 1919, twenty-nine people (including six physicists, two chemists,
two engineers and a metallurgist) joined the staff, and even at this early stage
the Laboratories’ interests diversified and began to turn to the design and
manufacture of thermionic valves as well as the more familiar filament lamps.
In both respects there was much work for the laboratories to tackle—in
facilities described as ‘very trying for experimental work’—and in a climate of
almost total ignorance regarding the application of physics to technology in the
UK.
16 Robert’s appointment of course was ‘a natural’ for the Laboratories. He
more than most was familiar with the German side of Osram and he brought
their current understanding of the technical processes and procedures required
in the manufacture and exhaustion of high-quality filament lamps. But the old
order was changing. Reports from America during the war years showed that
there had been major developments in bulb manufacture—particularly in
reducing glass wastage and by the introduction of the ‘gettered’ filament
17
technique. Additionally, the gas filled tungsten lamp had been introduced in
America by Coolidge and Langmuir in 1914, but no tungsten wire had ever
15 The Post-war Years 1919–1930
325
GEC from the Government Trustee of Enemy Property and Osram was to be
incorporated into GEC. Paterson therefore was now asked to plan an
industrial laboratory to serve the whole of the GEC, but beginning with the
problems of the Lamp Works. Clifford Paterson became the first Director of
the newly formed ‘GEC Research Laboratories’ in January 1919.
15.3.1 The Laboratories’ First Year
The original staff were housed in a wooden building at the Lamp works in
Hammersmith, previously used to make ‘valves’
14 during the war. The salary
book still exists
11 and shows that the Laboratories began with just four
members, but in March and May 1919 there was an ‘influx’ of staff who over
time, were to become senior members of the Laboratories. This initial influx
included Robert, who was invited by Paterson to join the new venture.
15
After returning from Germany, and in conversation with Chirnside in 1976
(Chap. 18), Robert described himself as ‘in the doghouse for a while’. Family,
it seems, did not talk about his internment, they were not happy with the
unwanted attention of HMG in November 1914 and again later in 1916
when his patriotism was questioned. Even so, Mr. Christopher Wilson of the
GEC ‘sought him out’ and, although other offers were available, Robert
decided to join the new Laboratories. Wilson subsequently sent him to see
Paterson who invited him to become a founder member.
During 1919, twenty-nine people (including six physicists, two chemists,
two engineers and a metallurgist) joined the staff, and even at this early stage
the Laboratories’ interests diversified and began to turn to the design and
manufacture of thermionic valves as well as the more familiar filament lamps.
In both respects there was much work for the laboratories to tackle—in
facilities described as ‘very trying for experimental work’—and in a climate of
almost total ignorance regarding the application of physics to technology in the
UK.
16 Robert’s appointment of course was ‘a natural’ for the Laboratories. He
more than most was familiar with the German side of Osram and he brought
their current understanding of the technical processes and procedures required
in the manufacture and exhaustion of high-quality filament lamps. But the old
order was changing. Reports from America during the war years showed that
there had been major developments in bulb manufacture—particularly in
reducing glass wastage and by the introduction of the ‘gettered’ filament
17
technique. Additionally, the gas filled tungsten lamp had been introduced in
America by Coolidge and Langmuir in 1914, but no tungsten wire had ever
15 The Post-war Years 1919–1930
325