On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 22:07:55 +0000 (UTC), "Mike Terry"
wrote:

Obituaries
DONALD HINGS: 1907-2004

Tinkerer invented the walkie-talkie; B.C. resident won international acclaim
for developing a portable radio that forever changed battlefield
communication

TOM HAWTHORN
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Victoria BC

Donald Hings was a self-taught electronics wizard who modified his two-way
radio into the walkie-talkie that saved the lives of untold Allied soldiers
in the Second World War.

Mr. Hings, who has died at the age of 96, was credited as inventor of the
walkie-talkie, although he himself never claimed the title. By nature a
modest man, he preferred to describe his contributions as belonging to a
natural evolution of advancements in the burgeoning electronics field.

Others were not as reticent. Motorola unveiled a portable radio in the early
1930s, although it needed to run off a motorcycle battery and only
transmitted in Morse code. Some sources cite a team of U.S. Army technicians
at Monmouth, N.J. Toronto-born Al Gross claimed to have invented the two-way
portable radio in 1938, although by that time Mr. Hings's own radio was


He worked as a labourer at a plywood plant before being hired by Cominco,
where his insatiable curiosity was indulged.

Mr. Hings travelled to Spokane, Wash., in 1939 to file U.S. patents on his
portable two-way radio. After an exhausting day of lecturing a patent lawyer
on the intricacies of electronics, a tired Mr. Hings was returning to his
hotel room when interrupted by excited newsboys. Germany had invaded Poland.
His homeland was at war.

Off topic....