Benjamin F. Miessner papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSP 2

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Benjamin F. Miessner papers document the working career and interests of the American inventor. It includes a large collection of patents awarded to Miessner or assigned to his company, Miessner Inventions, Inc., as well as various North American and European patents researched by Miessner; lab notebooks, blueprints, sketches, graphs, photographs, and other items documenting the experiments conducted by Miessner and his employees; correspondence between Miessner and various individuals and companies, primarily on the subject of licensing or producing Miessner’s inventions, writing articles for periodicals, or handling legal matters; legal documents related to Miessner’s inventions and litigations, including patent applications, contracts, and court cases; and various books, serials, lectures, and other publications written or collected by Miessner.

Also included in the collection are items related to Miessner’s early career in the United States (US) Navy, documents related to his involvement in US patent legislation and reform, and documentation of Miessner’s long standing feud with fellow inventor John Hay Hammond, Jr., including a series of legal disputes and various letters and publications refuting each other's claims.

A small number of personal documents also appear in the collection, including newspaper articles Miessner collected about himself, two dozen scrapbooks, and records of his charitable activities.

Dates

1862 - 1972
Majority of material found within 1910 - 1965

Creator

Miessner, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1890- (Person)

Language of Materials

Collection material is primarily in English. German, French, Spanish, Swedish, and Serbian are also present.

Access Information

The collection is open for research.

Copyright and Use Information

Some material in this collection are in the public domain, while other material copyrights are held by Purdue University. Consult with Purdue University Archives and Special Collections prior to reproduction of materials.

Biographical Information

Benjamin Franklin Miessner, radio engineer and inventor, was born in Huntingburg, Indiana on July 27, 1890. He was the son of Charles and Mary (Reutopohler) Miessner. Miessner graduated from Huntingburg High School in 1908 and enlisted in the U. S. Navy,and a year later graduated from the U.S. Naval Electrical School in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was then sent to a Naval radio station in Washington, D.C. to be a wireless operator. While there he invented the "cat whisker" detector and "inductor compass. He left the Navy in 1911 to work with John Hays Hammond, Jr. on wireless control of torpedoes. At around this time he also invented and developed a superheterodyne radio system. He left Hammond's service in 1912 and from 1913-1916 studied electrical engineering at Purdue University. he returned to the Navy in 1916 as and Expert Radio Aid for Aviation. In June 1916 Miessner married Eleanor M. Schulz in Buffalo, New York. They subsequently had two daughters. In the 1920s Miessner was associated with the Brunswick Balke Collender Company in Chicago. He worked as an acoustical expert and in its acoustical research laboratory, which he founded. He devised and entirely new system of sound recording and reproduction.

Extent

43.00 Cubic Feet

42 cubic foot boxes, 1 oversize box other_unmapped

0.00 Linear Feet

16.00 cubic_foot_boxes

0.00 Linear Feet

Additional Description

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into ten series by subject and material type.

Experiments and Inventions
Correspondence
Legal Matters
Publications
Personal Files
Navy Career
John Hays Hammond, Jr. Feud
Scrapbooks
Audio Recordings
Subject Files

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Collection donated by Eleanor M. Miessner, June 24, 1978.

Other Descriptive Information

Box 3, folder 1 includes a LS by FDR.

Processing Information

All materials have been rehoused in acid-free folders and boxes. Rusty paperclips and metal fasteners have been removed. Documents housed in patent application files and cases have been rehoused in acid-free folders for preservation purposes, and the original application cases have been discarded. Information written on the original files have been photocopied and included in folders with their associated documents. Two patent application cases have been maintained as examples and stored in separate acid-free folders. Legal-sized and over-sized documents have been stored in appropriately sized folders, and connections to letter-sized documents have been maintained through folder and file titles. Some oversized newspaper and magazine clippings have been photocopied and the originals discarded. Documents placed between the pages of books have been removed and placed in acid-free folders for preservation purposes. The books they were removed from have been noted in their files in the finding aid.