The Standby

This is the story of Frank E. Butler, a young man with humble beginnings and a meager education who participated in significant historic events.

From Monroeville, Ohio, the youthful Butler worked his way up to a very enviable job offer with the New York Central Railway. But after a hurried visit to the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, his life was irrevocably altered.

Lured by the demonstrations presented by the American De Forest Wireless Telegraph Co. and intoxicated by the crackles of the high voltage spark-gap arcs, the smell of ozone, and the intrigue of wireless technology, Butler left home and became an assistant to Lee de Forest.

Since 1948, this significant memoir by the editor’s grandfather has been hidden away, waiting to be resurrected from dusty files and boxed manuscripts. The author’s dying wish – “get the book published” – is now, finally, fulfilled.

Gain a new appreciation for the challenges of advancing wireless telegraphy and learn how an unlikely figure played a key role in developing technology that caught the attention of monopolistic eyes in The Standby, which chronicles the promise of a new and growing communications/electronics industry.