Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-11


homemade teleyision set cost $50 or less"
z. FRANCIS Jenkins said to be the first man
IA the world to send pictures by radio, was ex-
pIaining q new plan for educational extension
work among the radio amateurs throughout tne
country His auditors were the United ScaOeS
commissioner of education and other speclahS@
from the Government ONCE Of educatlon' VINO
had called 1t his laboratory in washington TO
study some of the possibilities OF televsAon 70 the
f,,taIre of education. Now" said Dr.. jenkins
placing little impr0vised set in front OF tnem-
the kind amateurs are building-"you see square
pictures through round holes ana you oon See
the pictures IN front of your eyes, Dut on
screen back In your head" The educators
hooked slightly puzzled. Just to prove It" he
said pointing to the revolving disc, you notlce
this scanning disc has q row OF small perfor-
atoms near its edge. When I stop the dlsc you
see but one point Of light where perforation
stands in front of the glowing tube. That Is
all you are ever seeing in front Of you. Stih
Won see the pictures when the disc Is revolving
20 that proves they are in your head!
"Our purpose in educating the radio am
ateurs to build these SETS" explained DR.. Jen-
kins. lis to encourage them to help US develop
the science of radiovision and to build up
satisfactory technique. We believe these rams
will be the radio engineers of the future. The
American radio amateur has shown his re-
markable cleVerneSS in the development OF
worthless frequencies below the 2OO-meter
band and is now generally and officially &C
knowIedged. We expect great surprise In
radiovision when the amateur takes up this
new work This Is the beginning OF another
chapter in the annihilation of space. With the
simple motion picture broadcasts which we
are sending out for the benefit of the am
ateurS we hope to contribute to the rapid de-
velopment Of this new art. Their reports on
our signal strength, fading, echo images and
quality Of picture reception will be great
help"
lou see" continued Dr. Jenkins, tits just
rs easy TO send pictures by radio it is to
send sound. Sound just got started first. OF
course radio isn't sound, 1T is mercy the car
rier LightwaVes can be sent by radio quite as
easily as sound. In fact, anything which can
be sent by a copper wire can be sent by a
radio channel Today we transmit power to run
factories current TO light HOUSES heat, cold
and almost every form of energy known to
man, wires. In the near future this Will
be done by radio The long copper wire will
lose its popularity Power, for instance, can
then be delivered where wires cannot reach.
We now in pictures where we were in
sound back in the days of earphoneS. But just
IS the loudspeaker was not far behind the ear
phone so large, clear reproductions Of living
images sent through the air are not far behind
the imperfect scenes of present television.
Those who have radios are going to see what
they hearl"
1T seems to me-" said DR.. jenkins in de-
Tense of his art, that pictures always tell the
same story whereas reading seldom, II ever,
does We learn by building up pictures in the
mind, no matter what process we may use to
get them there. When word pictures are
used build forms and scenes up in our
mind on the basis of something already
know Real pictures do most Of their own
interpreting" "..t
COMMISSIONER . COOPER thought .
moment "Teleyisi0n," he aG1eed, "as 1t
relates to education tends TO remove the
necessity Of much intermediary symbolism The
alphabet, for instance. is . mechanical thing
and requires StereOtyped forms of usage. The
reticalIy pictures carry US back TO the primitive
system Of learning by direct observation. The