Frederick A. Kolster

Frederick A. Kolster (January 13, 1883 – 1950) was a Swiss-born United States electrical engineer and inventor.

While at the NBS, he pioneered a number of developments in radio signal detection and radio compass work, including the Kolster Decremeter.

[2] Kolster also patented in 1915 a radio direction finder, used in the subsequent World War I by U.S. destroyers at sea to locate German submarines.

[3] In 1921, he left the National Bureau of Standards to join the Federal Telegraph Company as chief research engineer, as part of the company's bid to commercialize the radio compass technology to ships.

The commercial efforts failed, however, and the subsidiary of Federal Telegraph was spun off in April 1928, when the name was changed to Kolster Radio Corporation and a new stock offering was issued.