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—But that wasn’t a very practical idea.
It was then that she met a brilliant American composer at a friend’s party.
This man played jazz piano brilliantly and was eloquent, with asharp mind.
More importantly, his brother had been killed by the German army.
—George Antheil.
So, Hedy wrote down her phone number with lipstick on his windshield.
Together, they came up with three inventions. Without any engineering background, they sketched out numerous designs and wrote detailed and clear documentation.
The core component of their work was the automatic piano.
By printing different holes on a paper roll, which could be moved by a bellows, the piano would seem to play itself, with coordination and resonance far beyond ten fingers.
If the launch boat and torpedo each had identical miniature piano rolls, they could start playing the pre-recorded information at the same time, achieving frequency-hopping communication across eighty-eight different bands—
Just like the black and white piano keys being pressed on different parts, communication would jump across different frequencies.
The related documents and ideas were eventually adopted by the American Inventor’s Association and sent to the California Institute of Technology.
Professors at the institute created electronic devices based on these ideas and filed a complete patent for the entire technology.
However, many years later, Hedy was still accused by journalists of using her beauty to steal industry secrets as a female spy.
—The reason was that her first husband was an arms dealer from Austria.
They refused to believe that such a great design could have come from a woman.
The media, of course, relentlessly pursued the story, like hyenas, eager to dig up some dark secrets.
When she gave her last interview, her tone was rather calm.
"I know what I did."
"I don't care what others say."
At this point, Hedy's pen paused for a moment.
Even after all these years, as she recounted the principles behind the piano roll again, her thoughts were still flowing smoothly and clearly.
Different parts and linked structures were drawn in intuitive sketches. Though there were some grammatical and spelling errors in the Italian annotations, they were enough to help others understand the concepts further.
She picked up her pen again and suddenly felt much more at peace.
If it could be created once more, it would be a mechanical design that would change the world.
It wasn’t just a flattery gift.
It was the key to opening the door of ideals.
Medicine, engineering, military, economics—
She would have more influence, using that to transform Florence into a more stable and secure place.
Once the survival problems were completely solved, she could think about enjoying herself on vacations in other countries.
