Title
Transverter correspondence
Reference
UK0108 SC MSS 248/02
Date
1919 to 1928
Creator
Scope and Content
Correspondence and agreements related to the transverter involving; Dick, Kerr & Co; English Electric, J E Calverley, and W E Highfield. Correspondence includes;
1. Draft patent agreement between Dick, Kerr & Co, and the 'inventors' J E Calverley and W E Highfield (dated February 1919).
2. Copy of patent agreement between Dick, Kerr & Co, and the 'inventors' J E Calverley and W E Highfield (dated 11 February 1919) together with cover letter from J E Calverley to his solicitor, David Newsham.
3. Copy letter from J E Calverley to W E Highfield regarding putting in place an agreement between them to cover matters such as the split of royalties (dated 8 August 1923).
4. Letter from J S Highfield to J E Calverley regarding transverter agreements, dated 2 October 1923.
5. Copy letter from J E Calverley to J S Highfield regarding transverter agreements, dated 12 October 1923 (response to letter of 2 October).
6. Letter from J S Highfield to J E Calverley regarding transverter agreements, dated 15 October 1923 (response to letter of 12 October).
7. Copy letter from J E Calverley to J S Highfield regarding transverter agreements, dated 29 October 1923 (response to letter of 29 October).
8. Copy letter from J E Calverley to David Newsham regarding transverter agreements, dated 23 June 1925, which discuses a recent letter from J S Highfield which included a draft heads of terms for a new agreement. The original letter from J S Highfield dated 12 June 1925 is attached.
9. Handwritten 5 page letter from W E Highfield to J E Calverley, dated 19 June 1928, responding to letters from J E Calverley and which discusses the transverter agreements, technical matters and personal affairs.
Exent
1 envelope
Admin. history/Biography
Journal of the IEE obituary, vol.7, issue 79, July 1961, page 455;
"John Earnshaw Calverley who died on the 10th April 1961 was born at Bentham, Yorkshire, on the 30th November 1886. He was educated at Bentham Grammar School and part-time at Bradford Technical College. In 1907 he joined the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Co., Bradford, and after three years joined Dick, Kerr and Co., Preston, both of which companies later formed constituent members of English Electric. He continued with English Electric until his retirement in 1955. During this period he occupied the positions of chief d.c. engineer, chief engineer and manager of the traction
department, deputy chief engineer and finally special consultant to the company. He gained international reputation for his pioneer work in the design of high-voltage d.c. machines and will be remembered as the co-inventor with the late W. E. Highfield of the transverter. His activities on many national and international technical committees gained him the respect and friendship of engineers throughout the world. Among these activities may be numbered his chairmanship of International Electrotechnical Commission Committee 22 and of the high-voltage d.c. transmission study group of Conference Internationale des Grandes Reseaux Electriques. In this country he participated in the work of several technical committees of the Electrical Research Association, of the British Standards Institution and of the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association. His keen advocacy of high-voltage d.c. transmission typified his progressive thinking, and the strength of his argument lost nothing from the gentlemanly manner that characterized his life. He counted gardening high on his list of hobbies. He is survived by his widow and three sons. He joined The Institution as an Associate Member in 1920 and was elected a Member in 1926."
Persons keyword
Subject
Level of description
file
