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'de Forest', not 'De Forest

This may seem unimportant, but people get kinda funny when it comes to names.

I believe Lee's last name is 'de Forest', not 'De Forest'. I googled around and couldn't find anything diffinitive, so I'm not making the change without posting here first. Crag 00:21, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

It may be correct in French, but I think the capital D is what he used. Arniep 21:17, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

From page 365 of Tom Lewis' 1991 book, Empire of the Air: "Perceptive readers will notice that Lee de Forest spelled his name with a lowercase d, while his father, and the De Forest family, used an uppercase letter. Lee decided upon a lower case while at Yale, but his name was often spelled 'De Forest' up to the time of his death." Also, in his 1950 autobiography, Father of Radio, a footnote on page 12 reads "My father and grandfather preferred to capitalize the D. While at Yale my brother and I resumed the style of the earlier generations." Thomas H. White 19:56, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

So out of respect for Mr. de Forest's preferences, we should switch to a lower-case 'd' when it doesn't begin a sentence, right? Crag 22:30, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Unsourced addition

I removed this until someone can provide a source.

However, it should be noted that De Forest actually, only developed a rough idea for this and that the system was actually created by Auburn, NY native Theodore Case who is now credited by many as being the true inventer of sound on film and therefore, many talking movies. Deforest, just as he did with the F.M. radio pretty much stole the idea and took all credit for it.

Arniep 21:16, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

DeForest patents

It does not do much good to post raw numbers for people who do not have TIFF software that can display US Patent images. DeForest is credited with many patents, and only the most important ones should be listed in the article. Please post bare numbers here so they can be evaluated for inclusion. If the intention is to list all of his patents, they would be better stored at Wikimedia, which is designed to archive such non-contextual data. --Blainster 17:20, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

• U.S. patent 0,926,933
• U.S. patent 0,926,934
• U.S. patent 0,926,936
• U.S. patent 0,926,937
• U.S. patent 1,214,283

Quicktime allows tiff viewing. QT is pretty common. DeForest is credited with many patents, and they all should be listed (eventually like Edison's patents and Tesla's patents). 204.56.7.1 19:28, 29 June 2006 (UTC) (PS., "lists of patents" is a legal topic and there is a category for them.)

WP must serve all its users. If you wish to continue to post patents, please also list some basic information such as title, date, and subject along with the number. (Or are you unable to view them?) --Blainster 19:35, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Audion tube

The first version of the Audion was a diode developed in 1906. It was not until a year later that DeForest came up with the triode version, which most people are referring to when they use the term. He used the same name for both types of tubes, which can be confusing. --Blainster 14:36, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

More info in PBS Documentary - lowers de Forest reputation

I recently watched "Empire of the Air", a Ken Burns documentary. Lots of DeForest information in there that definitely makes one think the introductory paragraph of this article should probably not be so pro-deforest but more independent. One point was that during testimony he couldnt explain how some of his inventions worked, not really knowing, just copying others' work, adding stuff, "hey, it did something!" and patenting it.

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/empire/

Tigerstedt's sound-on-film implementation and development of the triode vacuum valve

The Finnish inventor Eric Tigerstedt (credited with being the first to successfully implement sound-on-film) made dramatic improvements to the triode vacuum valve while working on a solution for sound amplification. While working in Berlin, Germany, Tigerstedt was awarded a German patent his for sound-on-film technology, which Lee De Forest seems to have built his subsequent sound-on-film implementation on. Does this warrant a reference in the article on Lee de Forest? --Grimne 23:47, 15 February 2007 (CET)

Parentage

I deleted the bit about his parents' being born in France, based on http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=tdowling&id=I80858 (or http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=SHOW&db=tdowling&surname=DeForest%2C+Lee, click the pedigree link) 192.88.212.44 17:57, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

moved non sequitor from article

"Charles Herrold began broadcasting music and entertainment on a regular basis between 1912 and 1917 to fellow radio enthusiasts in the San Jose, California area, using the callsigns FN and SJN, but had to abandon broadcasting when the U.S. entered World War I in 1917."

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