Robinson, James 1884 - 1956

James Robinson was an electrical engineer and inventor responsible for several inventions including a form of radio direction, a wireless altimeter and the Stenode Radiostat.

Born on 9th September 1884 he would later attend Armstrong College and then the University of Gottingen. Between 1909 and 1914 he would lecture in Maths and Physics at various universities including Armstrong College, Sheffield and London College. Also during this time, he would publish a paper on the photoelectric emission from thin films of platinum.

In 1914 he would be commissioned into the University of London officer training corps before joining the Royal Naval Reserve in 1915. After this, he would serve in the Mediterranean until 1917 when he transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service to work on wireless. From 1918 he worked as the head of research and development in wireless and photography for the Royal Air Force, initially at their laboratories at Biggin Hill and then, from 1922, at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. As part of this, he worked on a wireless compass for aircraft.

In 1925 he left the RAE to joined John Scott-Taggart’s wireless laboratory at Radio Press Limited. Here he would work as the Director of Research as well as the technical adviser for the British Radiostat Corporation and the Stenode Corporation of America. While working in this role he would patent an aircraft altimeter and the Stenode Radiostat. The Radiostat was patented between August 1928 and September 1929 and claimed to reduce the interference caused during AM broadcasting by not making use of sidebands. This was reported on in Wireless World, who witnessed a demonstration by Robinson but were sceptical of its use. The American magazine was much more enthusiastic about it but later reports were doubtful of its practical use. Later coverage would further doubt this and some authors would question whether Robinson understood the science or if this was a hoax. Despite this, the crystal filters that were part of the design would later be used by James Lamb in a communication receiver.

By 1939 James Robinson was working as a consulting engineer and appear to have stopped working on the Radiostat. It is also unclear what work he undertook during the Second World War or after.

James Robinson died on 21st October 1956.