Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-15
WILL CLAIM
| E:.p|sION FIRST
Commercial Telephone Use
Studied as Experimental !.
& Stage Continues.

tcopyrisht. isat By Associated Press.l
NEW YORK, June 1S.--Televtsion Is
slowly hut determinedly swapping the
bounds that have kept 1t tied TO the
laboratory. since y thu days Of Nipkow,
inventor OF the scanning DISK, BACK IN
/. still. there are plenty Of strings tied
to, this newest Of aptMed radio arts TO
hold IL within the Experimental stage
for at least o year to come-maype
longer.
Engineers have tackled the problem
of transmitting light impulses IN the
form of electrical energy from Two
basic standpoints, one OF which 0eais
purely with its entertainment value ana
the other with its application to COM
mercia1 telephone work.
It is In the entertainment held that
television Is expected to nnd us most
immediate use. Already that Is De-
coming apparent in New York. Chicago,
Boston and few other centers. where
,"audiovision" progTams-sound ana
SIGHT synchroni1ed-are being broad
cast. This entertainment, while at
present somewhat crude, no doubt has
the effect Of enhancing sound radio.
Simpler Than Talkies.
The combined programs have none
of the obstacles of the movies in the
matter Of experimentation. 1t Is merely
question of using two tranSmitters,
one over whcih sound Is sent and the
other for the pictures. At the receiving
| end there are two receivers, one 1or
sound and the other for television.
The coIntry's pioneer audiovision sta
| lions are located In Chicago and New
York. Their transmissions, OF test
nature so far as pictures are concerned,
consist largely of televising part or the
regular sound programs. with occasion
ally something particularly adapted 70
| television thrown In.
Other governmental stations. sending
pictures only. are situated In Washing
ton, Passaic. N. j., and Boston. The
total number active In experimental
work is eight, all transmitting on the
short-wave band between 100 and $50
meters
Television telephone work in America
has been left to the Bell Telephone lab
oratories Under the direction OF DR..
Herbert E. Ives, an experimental line
approximately two and one-hah miles
long has been set up In New YORK.
over this system. which the engineers
have called the "ikonophone, one can
see the person with whom he Is talking
and at the same time be seen at the
, other end Of the line.
Catches Reflected Light.
The photoelectric cell Is the micro
phone of the television transmttter. It
picks I'D the reflected light from an
image and transforms it into an cleo
trical counterpart So that there VIII
be an INTERRUPTED signal, the light beam
is first passed through q scanning disk,
having a spiral Of tiny holes near its
outer edge.
It was this disk, still the basis Of
most television systems that was devel-
oped by Nipkow long before the days
Of modern radio equipment.
At the receiver the loud speaker Is q
neon lamp. which in a sense makes
copy Of what the photoelectric cell
picks up. It also requires . scanning
disk, which revolves in front Of 1t at
identically the same speed as that at
the transmitter. The two are kept In
step automatically.
Some of the pioneers in televieion re-
search have been c. Francis jenkins OF
Washington, U. s. Sanabria Of Chicago
Philo r. Farnsworth Of San Francisco
DR.. Vladimar Zworkyn Of Camden, N
j., and Dr. E. r. W. Alexanderson' Of
Schenectady sM
mas Deen JOIN IL. balrQ, WHO mas mAuy
accomplishments to his credit, includ-
ing "noctovision," or television without
light.
Solve DifHcuIty.
A major problem Of television has
been the elimination Of the niechatli-
cally operated scanning disk IN favor Of
some electrically controlled device which
would do the job better and without the
drawbacks of whirring motors, etc. In
this connection two names stand out.
One is DR.. Zworkyn and the other Is
Farnsworth. Both have sought to de-
velop tubes that would take the place
of the neon lamp, the scanning disk
and motor and have attained more or
less success In the laboratory.
Outdoor television, in which scenes
of such events as horse. races, base ban
games, ETC., would be broadcast, is not
yet as practicable as studio presenta-
tons with the aid Of artificial lighting
Still engineers have not hesitated to
try it. g..
Both In America and England various
experiments have been conducted, one
of the most recent having been the tele-
vising of the English Derby with the
Baird system. Tests along that line
in America this year have been made
at PaGsaic, N. j., where airplanes and
moving trains have been televised, CIV
ing a picture clear enough to diStln-
guish objects.