City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics

294 NOTES TO PAGES 88–91
35. Antoni E. Karbowiak, vita and telephone interview, Feb. 5, 1995.
36. George Hockham, interview, Dec. 6, 1994.
37. Norman R. French, US Patent 1,981,999, ‘‘Optical telephone system,’’
filed Aug. 20, 1932, issued Nov. 27, 1934.
38. Ray D. Kell and George C. Sziklai, US Patent 2,506,672, ‘‘Signal transmission
system,’’ filed Oct. 31, 1945, issued May 9, 1950. They envisioned applications
in television transmission.
39. Neither Bell Labs nor the David Sarnoff Research Center—the former RCA
Laboratories—has any records indicating anything was ever built. The technical
difficulties would have been formidable, and signals would not have gone far.
40. This appeared only in an internal memo, cited in R. Kompfner, ‘‘Optics at
Bell Laboratories—optical communications,’’ Applied Optics 11, pp. 2412–2425
(Nov. 1972).
41. C. C. Eaglesfield, ‘‘Optical pipeline: a tentative assessment,’’ Proceedings of
the IEE 109B, pp. 26–32 (Jan. 1962).
42. I could not find any of Wheeler’s calculations, and believe none survive.
I estimated theoretical transmission of light pipes using his design from standard
optical formulas, assuming ideal straight pipes and perfect optical surfaces. Theoretical
transmission is better for the metal-coated pipes Eaglesfield proposed than
for Wheeler’s glass pipes because glancing-angle reflectivity is lower from a glass
surface than from an ideal metal reflector.
43. R. W. Lomax, B. D. Fairchild, and G. I. Turner, ‘‘Attenuation measurement
of an optical pipeline,’’ Standard Telecommunications Laboratories, report 1001/
162/0051, undated but probably 1962.
44. The Czechs measured loss of 57 decibels per kilometer (about 90 decibels
per mile) in 100 meters of aluminum-coated glass pipe hung from the ceiling in
halls of a reinforced concrete building, but even they concluded the idea was
impractical. M. Prochazka, J. Pachman, and J. Muzik, ‘‘Experimental investigation
of a pipeline for optical communications,’’ Electronics Letters 3, pp. 73–74 (Feb.
1967).
45. Murray Ramsay, interview, Dec. 2, 1994.
46. C. H. Chandler, ‘‘An investigation of dielectric rod as wave guide,’’ Journal
of Applied Physics 20, pp. 1188–1192 (Dec. 1949).
47. Elias Snitzer interview, Mar. 4, 1994. The firing led to a legal battle between
the American Association of University Professors and Lowell, now the
University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
48. Snitzer described the results at a Rochester optics conference in mid-1960,
then published two detailed studies: Elias Snitzer, ‘‘Cylindrical dielectric waveguide
modes,’’ Journal of the Optical Society of America 51, No. 5, pp. 491–498 (May
1961); Elias Snitzer and Harold Osterberg, ‘‘Observed dielectric waveguide modes
in the visible spectrum,’’ Journal of the Optical Society of America 51, No. 5,
pp. 499–505 (May 1961).
49. John W. Hicks, Jr., Elias Snitzer, and Harold Osterberg, US Patent 3,
157,726, ‘‘Optical energy transmitting devices and method of making same,’’ filed
Mar. 1, 1960, issued Nov. 17, 1964.
50. Narinder S. Kapany, ‘‘Fiber optics,’’ Scientific American 203, No. 5, pp. 72–
81 (Nov. 1960).
51. Will Hicks, interview, Feb. 4, 1994.