Lieutenant Harry F. Breckel, U.S.N.R., was a consultant in the commercial radio field and the author of a 1927 comment in U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings (Vol. 53/8/294, August 1927) reporting hands-on tests of Palmer H. Craig's Hall-effect device. Craig's own article had appeared in the April 1927 issue at p. 482.
The tests
Breckel tested the device at Craig's Macon, Georgia laboratory and at a large commercial laboratory, with the inventor supervising, in view of purchasing rights under the pending patents. His findings:
- The apparent rectification was a thermal junction effect from lead and copper contacts on the bismuth films, producing a unidirectional transverse current of the order of a few millivolts, with very low output-to-input efficiency.
- Current and voltage readings were largely due to inductive effects on wires and meters sitting in the strong magnetic field; readings fell to absolute zero when the meters were moved away.
- Radio reception results were zero. The assembled plates acted as a condenser, feeding antenna current through to conventional vacuum tubes that did the actual work.
Breckel concluded that the Hall effect principle as applied to radio was "entirely without merit at this time."
See also
Thermal Junction Rectification Artifact, Hall-Effect Rectification, comparisons/comparison-craig-hall-effect-claims-vs-evidence.
Source notes & attribution
- https://rexresearch.com/craig/craig.htm