Front and back of a Western Electric Engineering Department building pass issued to Armstrong before World War One. With his growing reputation among the radio community, and his many professional contacts at The Institute of Radio Engineers and The Radio Club of America, he must have been a frequent visitor to labs such as this one.
Late in 1912 Armstrong asked his father for a loan of $150.00 to apply for a patent on the feed-back circuit, but his father refused, fearing his education at Columbia University would be jeopardized by the diversion. Under advice from his uncle, Frank Smith, Armstrong made a complete drawing of the invention and had it notarized (for 25 cents), thus establishing his claim. These checks, written barely four years later, were drawn on an account which was growing at a rate of about $500.00 a month from returns on his regeneration patent.
Armstrong would play a lifelong role in The Radio Club of America and was always the Club's favorite son. The Armstrong Medal, first awarded to Louis Alan Hazeltine in 1937, is still being awarded by the Club. There is little doubt that an applicant fortunate enough to be sponsored by Armstrong, such as this Marconi engineer, would be a shoo-in for selection as a member.
A memo sent by Armstrong (President of The Radio Club of America from 1916 to 1920) to club secretary David S. Brown, Jr. The list of members serving on these Committees contain many familiar names.
