Internet Archive full-text search (2026-10-03)

Site: Internet Archive (archive.org), full-text search over OCR of digitised books, journals, patent indexes, the Federal Register and the US Official Gazette. Access: the "fts" search endpoint https://archive.org/services/search/beta/page_production/?user_query=...&service_backend=fts&page_type=search_results, then each hit's OCR text at https://archive.org/download/{id}/{id}_djvu.txt. Excerpts of every item used are saved in files/internet-archive-excerpts/ (one file per item, with its source URL at the top). OCR errors are left as found. Result: positive.

Tags: [web] = read on the site (URL given). [read] = from this project's own extracted text. [calc] = my arithmetic.

Queries tried (in order)

1. "Ternion" Kassner (62 hits, almost all the word "ternion" in mathematics or bookbinding)
2. "Ternion A.-G." (17 hits, all relevant ones listed below)
3. "Ternion Aktiengesellschaft" (0)
4. "Kassner, Ernst" (58)
5. "E. E. W. Kassner" (27)
6. "Kassner" Glarus (2589, noise)
7. "Ternion A. G.", "Ternion" Glarus, "Ternion" Stoffel (nothing new beyond 2)
8. "Dipol A.-G." (1, irrelevant), "Dipol A.G." Arbon (0)
9. "Vibranic" (29, all OCR noise in Italian/Portuguese)
10. "Universal Inventions" (388, nothing on Universal Inventions Ltd, London)
11. "Kassner" Arbon, "Kassner" vulcanization, "Bauch" "Ternion" (noise)
12. Kassner "dipolar substances" (12)
13. Kassner "energy content" dipolar (418, noise)
14. "Kassner" "ultrashort waves" (83)
15. "Ernst Eduard Wilhelm Kassner" (2)
16. "2,089,966" (45)
17. "Kassner" "Alien Property"
18. "Giodvad Grell" (19), "Grell" Vibranic (1)
19. "F. W. O. Bauch" (57), "Bauch" "radiation therapy" (noise), "Bauch" Marconi 1935 (0), "Ternion" Bauch (noise)

Findings

A. Two Kassner US patents not in the project folder

• The 1937 Index of Patents lists three Kassner grants: 2,089,966 (Arbon, 17 Aug 1937), 2,094,602 "Apparatus for the generation of short electromagnetic waves" (London, 5 Oct 1937) and 2,096,459 "Ultra short wave oscillation generator" (London, 19 Oct 1937) [web: https://archive.org/details/indexofpatentsis1937unit]. The 1938 index adds 2,109,843 and 2,104,697 (Universal Inventions Ltd) [web: https://archive.org/details/indexofpatentsis1938unit]. The 1934 index lists 1,951,731, "assignor to Ternion A.-G., Glarus" [web: https://archive.org/details/indexofpatentsis1934unit].
• Both new patents were then downloaded from the USPTO (see 2026-10-03-uspto-ppubs.md).

B. GB 448,418 identified, and one more Ternion patent: GB 435,043

• The Electrical Review, 10 Jul 1936, p.71, lists the published specifications 448,417, 448,418 and 448,419, all "E. E. W. Kassner, August 31st, 1933". The title of 448,418 is "Electric discharge devices and circuits for the generation of short electromagnetic waves and radiating arrangements therefor" [web: https://archive.org/details/sim_electrical-review_1936-07-10_119_3059]. The project's source-gap note lists GB448418 as missing. Its US counterpart appears to be US 2,094,602 (same filing date and priority; discharge tube with sphere, plate and ring resonators).
• The Wireless Engineer, Feb 1936, abstracts GB 435,043: "Light valve comprising two pairs of electromagnetically-excited plate resonators, one of which is provided with a light-sensitive layer. J. Y. Johnson (Ternion A-G). Application date, 15th December, 1933" [web: https://archive.org/details/sim_electronic-technology_the-wireless-engineer-and-experimental-wireless_1936-02_13_149]. This is a Ternion patent that is in neither folder. It fits the "light-relay" idea in US2089966 [read: facts.json].

C. French family members

• Annales des Postes, Télégraphes et Téléphones vol. 24 lists French patents in Kassner's name (as resident of England): FR 786,294 "Emetteur d'ondes ultra-courtes pour agir particulièrement sur les substances dipolaires"; FR 786,296 "Tube électronique, oscillatrice à boules génératrice du spectre d'ondes quasi-optiques"; FR 786,297 "Tube d'émission ... à grilles multiples pour produire des oscillations non amorties du spectre des ondes quasioptiques et ultra-courtes" [web: https://archive.org/details/annales-des-postes-telegraphes-et-telephones-vol-24-part-2]. FR 786,294 is the only one whose title names dipolar substances, so it could hold its own experimental text.

D. Contemporary citations of the Ternion patent (bears on claims 3 and 7)

• Rubber World, 1 Mar 1935, lists "417,501. Vulcanization. J. Y. Johnson, London. (Ternion A. G., Glarus, Switzerland.)" among new British rubber patents [web: https://archive.org/details/sim_rubber-world_1935-03-01_91_6].
• The Botanical Review 10(7), Jul 1944, a review of radiation effects on respiration, says: "Claim of stimulation of bacterial fermentation is made in a patent issued to Ternion A.-G. (294)", citing "Ternion A.-G. 1934. Altering the energy content of dipolar substances. Brit. Pat. 417,501" [web: https://archive.org/details/botanical-review_1944-07_10_7]. GB417501 p.10 does say "Fermentation and other processes due to bacteria can also be promoted" [read: _text GB417501 p.10]. The review reports the claim and does not test it.
• Thorpe's Dictionary of Applied Chemistry (1937 and 1945 editions) cites B.P. 417501 for converting acetylene to acetic acid [web: https://archive.org/details/thorpesdictionar0001joce]. Weissberger, Technique of Organic Chemistry (1949, 1956), cites "Ternion A.-G., Brit. Pat. 417,501 (1934); C. A., 29, 1178" [web: https://archive.org/details/techniqueoforgan03arno]. Ellis, The Chemistry of Synthetic Resins, cites the same patent and Chem. Abs. 1935, 29, 1178 [web: https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.8083]. So the patent was abstracted in Chemical Abstracts (vol. 29, col. 1178) and cited in standard chemistry reference works. This answers part of Voss's 1987 question "who was Kassner": the patent was known to chemists but cited only as a patent claim.

E. The 1945 Goodrich/Firestone purchase: who sold, and which Kassner patents (bears on claim 7 and the open question)

• The purchase was reported in Science News Letter (31 Mar 1945), Electronic Industries (Mar 1945), Chemistry (Jun 1945), Rubber World (Apr 1945) and The Paper Industry (Apr 1945). All give the same names: R. A. Dufour and H. A. Leduc of France and E. E. W. Kassner "of Switzerland". All describe the mechanism as heating ("creating uniform heat throughout the product") [web: https://archive.org/details/sim_science-news-us_1945-03-31_47_13 ; https://archive.org/details/sim_electronic-industries-1942_1945-03_4_3 ; https://archive.org/details/sim_rubber-world_1945-04-01_112_1]. Rubber World adds: "Investigations indicate that the excellent results ... are due not only to rapid uniform heating, but also may be connected in some way with electronic power itself, which creates qualities not found when present ..." (the OCR breaks off there) [web: same Rubber World URL]. This is a contemporary industry statement that hints at a non-thermal effect. It gives no data.
• The seller's agent was H. H. Giodvad Grell of New York. In 1944 The Rubber Age, Rubber World, Modern Plastics, Aviation and Power reported that licences under the Leduc and Dufour patents (US 2,129,203; 2,163,993; 2,188,625; 2,261,847; 2,280,771; 2,303,341) were available: B. F. Goodrich would license rubber applications, and Giodvad Grell (33 University Place, New York) "all other fields" [web: https://archive.org/details/sim_elastomerics_1944-04_55_1 ; https://archive.org/details/sim_rubber-world_1944-06-01_110_3]. Electronics, Jan 1945, calls Grell "the U.S. issuing agent for licenses relating to h-f heating of dielectric materials under the patents of Leduc and Dufour" [web: https://archive.org/details/sim_electronics_1945-01_18_1].
• US Alien Property Custodian, Vesting Order 679 (18 Jan 1943). It vested the Dufour and Leduc patents and the French owners' interest in "a certain option agreement dated August 27, 1941 ... and H. H. Giodvad Grell", relating also to application S.N. 176,740 (1937, "Methods and Apparatus of Heating and Vulcanizing Rubber"). An amendment of 22 Feb 1943 says Grell's own option rights were not vested [web: Federal Register 28 and 29 May 1943, https://archive.org/details/sim_federal-register-find_1943-05-28_8_105 ; https://archive.org/details/sim_federal-register-find_1943-05-29_8_106]. Kassner is not named in Vesting Order 679.
• Which Kassner patents? A 1950 B. F. Goodrich Research Center paper (R. F. Miller and W. L. Wittig, "Radio-Frequency Heat in the Rubber Industry", Rubber World, Oct 1950) cites the Dufour/Leduc patents and "The Kassner patents ... 2,089,966; 2,109,843". It comments: "The Kassner patents dating back to 1931 touch on this problem somewhat, describing means for altering the energy content of dipolar materials. However most of the work he reported specified frequencies about 150 million cycles per second" [web: https://archive.org/details/sim_rubber-world_1950-10-01_123_1]. (150 MHz is λ = 2 m [calc].) This is the first source to name the Kassner patents in the Goodrich portfolio: US 2,089,966 (the "energy content" patent) and US 2,109,843 (the apparatus). It is also the first direct assessment of them by the buyer's own research staff, who treat them as marginal heating prior art.
• Grell's other activity: the Congressional Record (1943 appendix) calls him a promoter of the Scandinavian "giro" barter-bank system [web: https://archive.org/details/sim_congressional-record-proceedings-and-debates_march-27-june-09-1943_89_appendix]. He held his own high-frequency electric-field patents (Official Gazette vol. 594, 1947, with Harry W. Richards) [web: https://archive.org/details/officialgazette594unit], was assignee of a 1951 US patent (2,560,857) by E. L. Gambetta of Saint-Mandé, France [web: https://archive.org/details/indexofpatentsis1951unit], and filed an Argentine patent in 1947 ("Herm Hans Giodvad Grell, Aparato y método p/ tratamiento eléctrico") [web: https://archive.org/details/Boletin_Oficial_Republica_Argentina_1ra_seccion_1947-11-25]. For his link to Max Stoffel and Vibranic in Glarus, see 2026-10-03-e-periodica-shab.md.

F. Court records: Kassner's patent used as prior art

• The US Patent Office Official Gazette vol. 642 (2 Jan 1951) prints the CCPA decision In re Arnold. It quotes and summarises US 2,089,966 at length [web: https://archive.org/details/officialgazette642unit]. The full opinions were then read from the Caselaw Access Project (see 2026-10-03-caselaw-access-project.md).

G. Kassner's earlier career? (unresolved identity)

• The 1928 Index of Patents lists "Kassner, Ernst, New York" and "Kassner, Ernst, Berlin, Germany" for adding-machine and cash-register mechanisms (1,676,559; 1,676,560; 1,679,905; 1,692,411) [web: https://archive.org/details/indexofpatentsis1928unit]. The Alien Property Custodian vested these patents and 1,609,119 ("Ribbon reversing mechanism", 1926) in Vesting Order 201 (Federal Register, 16 Jan 1943) [web: https://archive.org/details/sim_federal-register-find_1943-01-16_8_11]. These entries carry no middle initials and come from a different technical field. Whether this "Ernst Kassner, Berlin" is E. E. W. Kassner (whose 1931-32 address was Düsseldorferstrasse 35a, Berlin W.15) is unknown. It is a lead only.

H. Name collisions to avoid

• "E. W. Kassner" of the College of the Pharmaceutical Society, London, co-authored vitamin and calcium assays with K. H. Coward, 1936-1956 (Biochem. J. 30:1719, 1936, etc.). This person appears in Index Medicus and the Annual Review of Biochemistry 1937. Nothing ties them to E. E. W. Kassner (see 2026-10-03-europe-pmc.md). Rudolf Kassner (philosopher), Carl Kassner (meteorologist), G. Kassner (chemist, 1890s), Rudolf Kassner (Paperclip jet engines) and J. L. Kassner (cloud physics) are also unrelated.

I. F. W. O. Bauch: an early published biography (bears on claim 9)

• Wireless World, Feb 1953, "Our Authors": Bauch "studied physics at Berlin Technical University. In 1930 he became a member of the Heinrich Hertz Institute, where he did research work on supersonics. Then followed a short spell at the G.E.C. Research Laboratories, Wembley, prior to joining the Dutch Philips Co. in Berlin, where he remained for eight years. The latter years of the war were occupied with research on high-frequency pulse technique..." [web: https://archive.org/details/sim_wireless-world_1953-02_59_2]. This is 43 years earlier than the 1996 memoriam. It confirms the GEC Wembley stay. It names his Hertz Institute work as supersonics (ultrasound), not UHF. It does not mention Ternion. The memoriam's sentence remains the only source for a Ternion project.
• Funk und Ton 1951 lists a patent by Dr.-Ing. T. Schultes and F. W. O. Bauch, Jugenheim [web: https://archive.org/details/net-zeitschrift-fuer-kommunikationsmanagement_1951_5_6]. This is postwar and peripheral.
• No British patent by Bauch on radiation therapy (sold to Marconi, 1934-35) was found here.

How this bears on the claims