RankingsPrimerArbiterPhysicistMathematicianContrarianQESites logClaimsSourcesResearch notes

Related work: Tesla's radiant-energy patent; early solid-state amplifiers (Google Patents recheck; Wikipedia) - 2026-10-04

Result: positive (context for Claims 3 and 4). Sites: https://patents.google.com/patent/US685957A/en ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Losev ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Edgar_Lilienfeld .

Findings [web]

  1. Tesla, US 685,957, "Apparatus for the utilization of radiant energy" (filed 21 Mar 1901, granted 5 Nov 1901). An insulated elevated plate P and a ground connection charge a condenser C, and a circuit-controller periodically discharges C through the load R. Tesla's explanation: "when the radiations of the sun or of any other source capable of producing the effects before described fall upon the plate P an accumulation of electrical energy in the condenser C will result ... The sun, as well as other sources of radiant energy, throws off minute particles of matter positively electrified, which, impinging upon the plate P, communicate continuously an electrical charge to the same." Cited by 27 later documents, including US 4,685,047 (Phillips, 1986, "Apparatus for converting radio frequency energy to direct current"). It is the direct ancestor of Moray's antenna-ground-condenser arrangement. Moray's Beyond the Light-Rays quotes Tesla on attaching machinery "to the very wheelwork of nature" (saved IA compilation text, line 52). Mainstream reading [memory, high]: an antenna-ground capacitor of this kind collects photoelectric and atmospheric charge at power levels of microwatts to milliwatts, far below kilowatts. The reviewers should give the numbers.
  2. Oleg Losev (1923-24): biased zincite (zinc oxide) point-contact crystals showed negative resistance. Losev used them to build "solid-state versions of amplifiers, oscillators, and TRF and regenerative radio receivers" ("Crystadyne"), "25 years" before the transistor (Wikipedia). This is mainstream-accepted proof that a 1920s crystal detector with a bias battery can amplify and oscillate. That is the narrow sense in which "a solid-state valve before Bell Labs" is historically possible (Claim 4). It also shows that such devices need a DC bias source; they are not power sources.
  3. Julius E. Lilienfeld: US 1,745,175 (granted 28 Jan 1930; Canadian filing 1925) describes a field-effect "FET-like" transistor. Bell Labs' early transistor claims were partly rejected because of the Lilienfeld patents (Wikipedia). So "solid-state amplifier patented before Bell Labs" is true of other inventors in the same years as Moray's 1931 application. Moray's claim to priority is not unique, and an examiner in the 1930s would have had such prior art.

Bearing

Claim 3 (antenna-ground radiant-energy collection: Tesla's 1901 patent is the same principle in other words). Claim 4 ("first transistor": Losev 1923-24 and Lilienfeld 1925-30 set the date context; the Patent Office's 1930s "cold cathode" objection should be read against them).