John Hays Hammond, Jr. Obituaries, Copies of Correspondence, 1963 - 1965

This series contains material relating to the long-standing feud between John Hays Hammond, Jr. and Benjamin Miessner over their competing claims for each other’s inventions and patents, mainly involving innovations in radio and electronics technology.

Material located in the collection includes but is not limited to laboratory notebooks and invention disclosures for work done by Miessner is Hammond’s employ; correspondence between Miessner, Hammond, Jr., Lloyd Espenschied, and others; legal documents for Miessner’s lawsuits involving Hammond, Jr.; the article “A History of Some Foundations of Modern Radio-Electronic Technology” written by John Hays Hammond, Jr. and Ellison S. Purington in the Proceedings of the IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers), September 1957; Lloyd Espenschied’s critique of said article, printed in the July 1959 Proceedings of the IRE; and Miessner’s critique of Hammond, Jr. and Purington’s article, first intended for printing in the Proceedings of the IRE, but later revised and published in 1964 as the book “On the Early History of Radio Guidance.”

Nearly all folders containing critiques of Hammond, Jr. and Purington’s article also contain a copy of said article. A full copy of the September 1957 Proceedings of the IRE can be found with the page proofs of “On the History of Radio Guidance.”

Additional correspondence on the topic of Miessner and Hammond, Jr.’s feud may be located in the Correspondence series. Newspaper clippings related to Hammond may be located in the Scrapbooks series.