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Nathaniel Baldwin
Summary
Nathaniel Baldwin (December 1, 1878 – January 19, 1961) was an American inventor and industrialist, known for his improved telephonic earphone, among other inventions. He was also a supporter of the early Mormon fundamentalist movement.
Nathaniel Baldwin was born in Fillmore, Millard County, Utah to Nathaniel B. Baldwin, a native of Ontario, Canada, and Margaret Oler, a native of Philadelphia. Baldwin's family were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and his mother was his father's second polygamous wife. As a child, he was interested in technology and built his own bicycle and steam engine.
Baldwin studied at Brigham Young Academy (BYA), Utah State Agricultural College, and then Stanford University, receiving a degree in electrical engineering. He then returned to BYA to teach physics and theology and remained after its name changed to Brigham Young University (BYU). Though the LDS Church had officially discontinued the practice of polygamy in 1890, and again in 1904, fellow professor John Tanner Clark convinced Baldwin the church was making a mistake. Since the LDS Church owned BYU, this led to Baldwin's firing and Clark's excommunication in 1905.
Baldwin worked at remote hydroelectric plants at the Snake Creek near Heber City and in East Mill Creek Canyon. He was also an electrician and air compressor operator while he experimented with sound amplification using compressed air. He used an idea for a telephonic feature to invent a more sensitive telephonic receiver in 1910, and later after surpassing testing standards, sold production versions on contract to the U.S. Navy. His first ones were made by hand in his kitchen and, despite the Navy's suggestion, never patented the headset assembly because he considered their invention "trivial." The earpieces were themselves patented, first in 1910, and the improved versions in 1915. "Headphones", two telephonic receivers on a headbow, were already in use by early wireless radio operators as early as 1906-1907, prior to Baldwin's telephonic receiver improvement and patent in 1910.
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