Conditions Governing Access
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Biographical / Historical
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Preferred Citation
Related Materials
Scope and Contents
Conditions Governing Use
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Cyril Frank Elwell Papers
Creator:
Elwell, C. F. (Cyril Frank)
Identifier/Call Number: M0049
Identifier/Call Number: 215
Physical Description:
3 Linear Feet
(5 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1930-1961
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Audiovisual materials
are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mrs. Cyril Frank Elwell, 1963.
Biographical / Historical
Cyril Frank Elwell (1884 – 1963) was an American inventor and pioneer in the development of radio-telegraphy and long-distance
communication. Born in Melbourne, Australia in 1884 to an American father and a German mother, Elwell arrived in the United
States in 1902. He studied electrical engineering at Stanford University, graduating with an engineering degree in 1907. While
he first was involved with electric metallurgy, in 1908 he began research in wireless communication after investigating a
system for voice transmission invented by Francis Joseph McCarty (1888-1906) six years earlier. Elwell founded the Poulsen
Wireless Telephone and Telegraph Company, later renamed Federal Telegraph Company in 1909. By 1910 Elwell had sucessfully
demonstrated voice communication between Stockton and Sacramento, California. Equipment and technique rapidly improved and
by 1911 Federal Telegraph was prepared to bid on contracts to provide Navy communication to Hawaii. After a dispute with the
Federal Telegraph board of directors, Elwell resigned in 1913 but continued his research, joining the short-lived Universal
Wireless Syndicate. During World War I he was a consulting radio engineer for the French and Italian governments. Subsequently
he moved to England where in the early 1920s he established and managed the company C. F. Elwell, Ltd., originally to mainly
supply wireless apparatus for maritime communication but later manufacturing home radio receivers for the emerging radio broadcasting
service. While in England he also became involved in other electronics enterprises, including collaborating with Lee de Forest
on talking pictures with the British de Forest Phonofilms Company. He also briefly worked on motion picture sound in France.
Elwell was a founding investor in the Mullard Radio Valve Company, manufacturers of vacuum tubes. After his term as director
at Mullard, he returned to the United States in 1947 and was a consulting engineer for Hewlett Packard. He died in 1963.
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Page from catalog record https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/4082748
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Cyril Frank Elwell Papers, M0049, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Related Materials
Stanford holds a few related collections:
MSS PRINTS 0085 "600-foot tower design for Federal Telegraph Co. : blueprints and typescript, 1912"
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/5175668
MISC 1035 "Clippings about Elwell and his work, 1912-1934"
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/4703395
Scope and Contents
These papers contain several versions of Elwell's autobiography, including one written under a pseudonym and correspondence
with possible ghost writers, especially R. B. Stone. Also included are engineering papers, clippings, biographical materials,
and correspondence.
Conditions Governing Use
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not
an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission
or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Radio -- History
Electrical engineering