death_place death_date birth_place birth_date article_title name occupation
burnaby british columbia 25 february 2004 leicester , england 6 november 1907 donald hings
 donald lewes hings inventor
donald hings

donald lewes hings , -lrb- november 6 , 1907 -- february 25 , 2004 -rrb- was a british inventor .
in 1937 he created a portable radio signaling system for his employer cm&s , which he called a `` packset '' , but which later became known as the `` walkie-talkie '' .
while hings was filing a u.s. patent for the packset in spokane , washington in 1939 , canada declared war on germany .
cm&s sent hings to ottawa to redevelop his new invention for military use , and he worked there from 1940 to 1945 .
during these years , he developed a number of models , including the successful c-58 walkie-talkie which eventually sold eighteen thousand units produced for infantry use , and for which he received the mbe in 1946 and the order of canada in 2001 .
following the war , he moved to burnaby , british columbia , where he established an electronics r&d company , electronic labs of canada .
he continued researching and creating in the fields of communications and geophysics until his retirement .
he held more than 55 patents in canada and the united states , and was the inventor of the klystron magnetometer survey system .
in 2006 , hings was inducted into the telecommunications hall of fame .
born in leicester , england , he moved to canada with his mother and father when he was three .
he died on capitol hill , burnaby british columbia in 2004 .
