Wilhelmina Bertha Packard

Communications Officer
Age: 61
Birthplace: Whippany, New Jersey
Parents: Lionel and Claudette Cudot

Expertise:
Whilhelmina Packard (Mrs.) Reasearch assistant and reputed mistress of Dr. Mahlon Loomis from July to November of 1875. Developed the galvanometer, and with the help of Dr. Loomis, the concept of Hertzian wave application. Worked as a research assistant and eventually as a full partner to Dr. Nathan Stubblefield, developing the vibrating telephone in 1888. Married to Dr. Stubblefield, 1891. Secured congressional appropriation of $50,000 for further development of work. Appropriation was never forthcoming, for reasons known only to Congress. Divorced Dr. Stubblefield, 1893. Traveled and worked with Gugliemo Marconi, 1898-1901. Instrumental in December transatlantic broadcast. Worked as research fellow for Victor Talking Machine, 1902-04. Developed sodion nonregenerative detector, 1902. Developed bornite movable cup perkion detector, 1903. Worked for Atwater-Kent 1904-07. Helped develop radak type R-4 regenerative circuit and holds sole patent for the for the orthosonic circuit. Worked for Magnavox 1907-12. Developed AC-3-C Battery.

Background:
The daughter of traveling performers, Wilhelmina Packard grew up on the road. At the age of sixteen, she joined the Flora Dora Girls. Toured for two seasons as an exotic dancer. First documented marriage to U.S. Cavalry Officer Dennis Whitehead June, 1870. Widowed February,1871. Married to Pennsylvania State Representative Grover Truman, May 1871. Rep. Truman arrested fro bigamy June 1871; marriage annulled. While Mrs. Packard worked variously as a waitress, dance-hall girl, and seamstress, her interests began to take her into the newfangled field of electronic communication devices. After the Dr. Loomis affair, she married no fewer than six husbands between 1896 and 1890. After Dr. Stubblefield, Mrs. Packard again married, this time to Chichester Bell, cousin of Alexander Gram Bell, 1893. Divorced later the same year. Mrs. Packard met her most recent husband while at the Bell Aerial Experiment Association in 1907. Curtis Packard coupled a passion for electronic communication with the notion of heavier-than-air flight. Mrs. Packard widowed in1912. Currently on retainer as research and development chief for Communications Division.