Harold Henry "Bev" Beverage (October 14, 1893 – January 27, 1993) was an American inventor and researcher in electrical engineering. He is known for his invention and development of the wave antenna, which came to be known as the
Beverage antenna. Less widely known (outside of the community of science history researchers) is that Bev was a pioneer of radio engineering and his engineering research paralleled the development of radio transmission technology throughout his professional career with significant contributions not only in the field of radio frequency antennas but also radio frequency propagation and systems engineering.[citation needed]
Biography
Harold Beverage was born on October 14, 1893, in North Haven, Maine, to Fremont Beverage and his wife, Lottie Smith. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the
University of Maine in 1915,[citation needed] and went to work for
General Electric Company the following year as a radio-laboratory assistant to Dr.
Ernst Alexanderson. In 1920, he was placed in charge of developing receivers for
transoceanic communications at the
Radio Corporation of America in
Riverhead, New York. Three years later, at the age of 30, he received the
IRE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Prize "for his work on directional antennas."
RCA named Beverage chief research engineer of communications in 1929, a position he held until 1940. At that time, he was promoted to vice president in charge of research and development at
RCA Communications Inc., a subsidiary of the Radio Corporation of America. Beverage retired in 1958 from that position and as director of radio research, but continued to work in communications as a consultant.
In 1938, the
Radio Club of America presented him with its Armstrong Medal for his work in the development of
antenna systems. The Beverage antenna, the citation said, was "the precursor of wave antennas of all types." Beverage was awarded the
IRE Medal of Honor in 1945, "In recognition of his achievements in radio research and invention, of his practical applications of engineering developments that greatly extended and increased the efficiency of domestic and world-wide radio communications and of his devotion to the affairs of the Institute of Radio Engineers."[1] In awarding him its
AIEE Lamme Medal in 1956 the
American Institute of Electrical Engineers cited him "for his pioneering and outstanding engineering achievements in the conception and application of principles basic to progress in national and worldwide radio communications."
Beverage died on January 27, 1993, at the John T. Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson, L.I. He was 99, and lived in
Stony Brook, New York.
U.S. patent 1,434,984 Nov 7, 1922 Radio Receiving System - the bidirectional Beverage antenna
U.S. patent 1,434,985 Nov 7, 1922 Radio Receiving System - using a Beverage antenna with multiple receivers
U.S. patent 1,434,986 Nov 7, 1922 Radio Receiving System - a Beverage antenna with selective circuits to eliminate interference from adjacent wavelengths
U.S. patent 1,487,308 Mar 18, 1924 Radio Receiving System - improvements to the directivity of the Beverage Antenna
U.S. patent 1,697,945 Jan 8, 1929 Artificial transmission lines for phasing multiple antennas
U.S. patent 1,989,965 Aug. 5, 1931 Means for testing recorded sound—automatic check film
U.S. patent 1,819,589 Aug. 18,1931 H.H.B. % H.O. Peterson—Means for eliminating fading on high frequencies (filed1/2/26)
U.S. patent 1,849,608 Mar. 15,1932 Frequency modulate or mark/space for AGC (automatic gain control)