New-York tribune., 1920-11-15
Pictures Sent
Here by Wire
From St. Louis
Edouard Belin, the French
Scientist, Demonstrates
His Latest Invention
With Utmost Success
Ray of Light the Secret
Transmission Takes but
Ten Minutes; Noted Men
Witness the Experiments

Transmission of photographs over
an ordinary telegraph wire was demon
strated by Edouard Belin, the French
inventor, yesterday, in the sending and
receiving of photographs between New
York and St. Louis. The demonstra-
tions took place in the World Building,
at the invitation of The World, in the
presence of men interested in telegra-
ply and telephony.
1t was said that Mr.. Belins inven-
tien marks an advance over other
photograph transmission instruments
in that he is able to reproduce over
great distances actual photographs,
whereas heretofore only pictures made
by dots or lines have been transmitted.
The spectators were shown that
photograph made on q cylinder, which
resembled an old-fashioned phonograph
record, when placed on the sending in
strument in st. Louis conveyed to
receiving cylinder in New York
thickness. The thread of light falling
on the sensitized surface of the re-
ceiving cylinder left an image like
that transmitted to the fiat surface of
a photograph plate.
Required Ten Minutes
The first photograph sent over the
wire was an autographic message from
Ralph Pulitzer, in New York, to Joseph
Pulitzer, of The ST. Louis Post-Dis-
patch. Two photographs from New
York were then sent. These we're q
view of lower Manhattan taken from
an airplane and snapshot of the Yale
Princeton football game taken on Sat-
urday. From st. Louis were received
photographs of boat on the Mississippi
River and of an Indian chief.
The picture Of the Indian chief which
was sent first was received in perfect
condition. In sending the picture OF
the Mississippi River steamboat, how
ever. the microphone was cracked in
st. Louis and a new. one had to be sub
stituted. The picture came through
notwithstanding this handicap, but was
not so clear as that Of the Indian.
The winding of the thread of light
around the receiving cylinder for each
photograph required about ten minutes.
The exposed negatives were carried to
a dark room, developed and printed, and
within short time the spectators were
able to look upon the identical picture
which less than half an hour before had
been available only in St. Louis.
I'm developing his invention Mr.. Belin
discarded all instruments which repro
duced by dots and lines," said Arthur
Bennington, who explained the technical
phases of the transmission. "He worked
On the theory that as photograph can
be produced only by light, it can be re-
produced only by the same medium. That
is the secret of his invention. The pho
tograph to be sent is first turned into
monograph record.
! "The needle of the phonograph ira
verses every minute part of the record,
And the diaphragm Of the microphone,
70 which it is attached. transmit over
The wire current that varies with the
Surface over which the needle passes.
No matter how far distant the receiving
Instrument is the variations of the cur
fent arrive unchanged at the far end.
! Ray of Light the Secret
{ CAT the receiving point the current
moves a tiny mirror, which quivers in
accord with the vibrations on the dia-
phragm on the sending instrument. The
auiverirSs of this mirror send a ray of
Hight Pickering back and forth through
q small glass screen graduated from
opacity to transparency, allowing the
light to pass in varying degrees Of in
tensity.
"The effect of this is to expose the
sensitized surface to ray Of light,
which, as the cylinder revolves rapidly
and progresses slowly along the line
Of its axis, traces spiral line around
the cylinder until all it's surface has
been covered