Father Roberto Landell de Moura (January 21, 1861 – June 30, 1928), commonly known as Roberto Landell, was a Brazilian Roman Catholic priest and inventor. He is best known for his attempts in the 1880s to develop long-distance audio transmissions device that combined an improved megaphone device and a photophone (using light beams). Landell received patents in Brazil and the United States during the first decade of the 1900s in which he also included designs that he claimed could transmit voice using radio waves.

Early life

Robert Landell de Moura was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1861. His father was Ignacio de Moura, and he had five brothers: João, Edmundo and Ricardo (all apothecaries), Dr. Ignacio Landell, a physician, and Pedro Landell de Moura, a São Paulo merchant. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1886 in Rome, and also conducted studies in the physical sciences.

Experimental work

Landell began experiments in wireless communication in Campinas and São Paulo in the period 1893–1894. A biographical review recounted that he "...invented his apparatus in Porto Alegre, and as soon as he arrived in São Paulo in 1896, he began with preliminary experiments, to achieve his object — to transmit human voice through the air.

Reported demonstrations

The June 10, 1900 issue of the Jornal do Commercio reported that on June 3 Landell made a public wireless telephony demonstration in the town of Alto de Sant Anna in the city of São Paulo, and the witnesses included P. C. P. Lupton, the British Consul, and his family. Shortly thereafter, the newspaper's June 16, 1900 issue printed the text of a letter Father Landell sent to Lupton prior to the demonstration, which noted that he would only be able to demonstrate five of his numerous inventions: the "Telauxiofono", "Caleofono", "Anematofono", "Teletiton" and "Edifono". In 1907 The Brazil of To-day provided English language descriptions of these devices: In his letter Landell also proposed that, with the support of British government, he could continue research to commercially develop his inventions, being compensated only for living expenses and the funds needed to continue his studies and scientific experiments. In addition, he offered to establish two facilities in England, dedicated to providing care for the sons and daughters of soldiers recently killed in the Second Boer War. However, the British government did not take him up on his offer. In late 1900, a Rio de Janeiro newspaper carried an article about an English invention, Colonel George Edward Gouraud's "Gouraudphone" (rendered as Gouraudphono in Portuguese), which was a high-powered megaphone designed for long-distance communication. Contemporary accounts describe the Gouraudphone as a "talking foghorn": a sound amplifier that operated by "working a piston-valve in a cylinder and vibrating a current of air or gas, entering another cylinder and vibrating a large diaphragm which gives out an imitation of the original sounds. The intensity of the sound can be increased by having more than one piston and cylinder regulating air currents, so that the speech might be heard for several miles." Dr. José Rodrigues Botet took exception to this report, and the December 16, 1900 issue of the La Voz de España carried a letter from him insisting that it was actually Landell who deserved credit for developing the underlying technology used by the Gouraudphone. Botet's letter stated that over the years he had personally witnessed Landell, working alone, develop advanced wire and wireless telegraphy and telephony equipment, while never receiving the recognition he deserved as "Brazil's eminent son".

Patents

1901 Brazilian patent

Landell received his first patent, no. 3,279, from the Brazilian government on March 9, 1901. It covered a device for providing two-way "Phonetic transmission at a distance, with or without wire, through space, Earth and water". Two configurations were described: a full design, known as the "Tellogostomo", and a simpler version, called the "Telauxiophone": The names specified for transmissions made through water were Telhydrauliograph for telegraphic signalling, and Telhydrauliophone for telephonic usage.

1904 United States patents

In June 1901 Landell left Brazil and traveled to Italy, then to France, and arrived in the United States in August, even though he did not speak English. While there he applied for a U.S. patent for his wireless telephony work, a process that would take three years. Landell apparently did not make any demonstrations while in the United States. However, he was interviewed for an article reviewing photophone technology, which was published in the October 12, 1902 New York Herald. This article quoted him as saying: On October 4, 1901, Landell submitted an application to the U.S. patent office for a comprehensive patent, which included a number of additions and modifications to his Brazilian grant. A major addition was the inclusion of information about making audio transmissions using radio signals. Landell also was now asserting that "actinic rays" (ultraviolet and near-ultraviolet light) would increase transmission efficiencies. A month later an examiner replied with review notes. In particular, the examiner was dubious whether actinic rays would actually enhance transmissions. The notes also included the statement: "Attention is called to the fact that the claims cover at least two separate and independent inventions, one in wireless telephony and the other the wireless telegraph system." Responding to this, Landell then divided his application into multiple requests. Landell's response to the patent office included a summary of what he intended to patent: Ultimately, Landell was issued three U.S. patents covering his work:

Reconstructions

In 1984, Porto Alegre's Fundação de Ciência e Tecnologia rebuilt the Wave Transmitter patented in 1904 in the United States. The tests were successful in transmitting over a wide frequency range and over distances of up to 50 meters. The technicians assume that at the time of the priest the distance could have been much greater, due to the absence of the electromagnetic interference that exists today. The device severely distorted the voice, making it often incomprehensible, but its effectiveness in transmitting sound was proven. The device was publicly demonstrated in 1984, and Almeida describes the event: In 2004 Marco Aurélio Cardoso Moura, with technical support from Rolf Stephan and Alexandre Stephan, from Industrial Eletro Mecânica Apex Ltda., Made another reconstruction, also functional and also with a very distorted sound, receiving better in the range of medium waves and in FM. For Ferrareto, "the existing evidence points, therefore, to the success of Landell de Moura in the transmission and reception of voice even though the quality did not allow the immediate practical application of the devices created by the Brazilian. The improvement of these in the national territory would depend on a significant contribution of resources based on an awareness of the strategic importance of such technology. Consciousness that did not exist in Brazil then ". The qualification and stabilization of the signal would depend on technological advances that would be made a little later, mainly through John Ambrose Fleming, Reginald Fessenden, Edwin Howard Armstrong and Lee De Forest.

Later life

Landell returned to Brazil after receiving the U.S. patents. An article in the March 11, 1905 Jornal do Commercio stated that his inventions "can reach easily from 30 to 50 kilometers and even at greater distances". In December 1905 he submitted a request to the São Paulo state legislature for funding to support experimentation, however, this was not approved. After this he apparently ended research into long-distance communication. Later reports stated that he was working on ideas for a "Telephotorama", or "The Distance Vision". He also did photography research and reported effects similar to Kirlian photography. On January 21, 2011, Brazil issued a stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of Landell's birth, which shows him using a device described in one of his 1904 United States patents.

Honors