News Pictures Transferred by Wire  1930s  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2016, 02:09:50 pm
content: Neat! Thanks for the video... now if only we could finally get rid of the fax in 2016 it would be great...

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2016, 04:19:04 pm
content: Thanks, that was fun but I am not sure that the technical explanation was correct. They described how light variations altered the current travelling down the line but I am pretty sure that the light sensor frequency modulated an audio tone which was then decoded in the newspaper offices.Did anyone notice that the only protective personal equipment issued to the photographer sitting on the van roof was a trilby hat? I can't see the Health and Safety folk allowing THAT these days

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 12, 2016, 10:05:51 pm
content: Quote from: daqq on February 11, 2016, 02:09:50 pm

author: rich
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2016, 12:35:08 am
content: Quote from: German_EE on February 11, 2016, 04:19:04 pmThat would make sense so I had a read around on the history and turned up this:more info at:https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rNoDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA392&dq=Popular%20Science%201935%20plane%20%22Popular%20Mechanics%22&pg=PA392#v=onepage&q&f=falseQuoteNor the driving off whilst the photographer is still climbing the ladder. Looks fun though

author: Delta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2016, 01:02:44 am
content: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IaCfs5Xb-EI

author: uncle_bob
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 13, 2016, 02:21:08 am
content: Quote from: German_EE on February 11, 2016, 04:19:04 pmHiThe original system was loop current based. They did indeed vary the DC current. As you would expect, that fell out of favor pretty fast. Next up was an AM modulated tone. It took care of the basic problems with a giant current loop. It still did not handle distortion very well.It took them a while to get to an FM tone.Bob

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2016, 02:45:36 am
content: Quote from: Delta on February 13, 2016, 01:02:44 amMan, they used to show those over here in the US in the very early 90's and I absolutely loved them. I still remember the one about the fax machine. The way they sent the message by walking over paper and throwing flags up was genius. I think that always stuck with me, because around that time my parents got a fax for the home office and my 7 year old brain tried so hard to figure out how paper could go through tiny telephone wires. Then like a week later I saw that episode and it all clicked.

author: Delta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2016, 10:03:44 am
content: Quote from: timb on February 13, 2016, 02:45:36 amYep, you don't seem to get documentaries like that any more! I used to love that programme as a kid!

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 15, 2016, 12:17:53 am
content: I remember a detective movie "Charlie Chan at the Opera", 1936, with Boris Karloff playing the suspect, where Chan (played by the Scandinavian Warner Oland) received critical information from the Chicago police, sent by facsimile. Apparently, the technology was quite novel then, since the movie devoted a reasonable time to showing the Chicago cops mounting the photo, the two parties synchronizing the rotation, the California cops receiving the photo, and the photographic paper being developed in a darkroom.Even though Chan was not played by an Asian actor, those movies were remarkably free of anti-Asian prejudice for the time.