American television directory (1946)

TELEVISION PROGRESS 1800 — Alessandro Volta, led by the ex¬ periments of Galvani, invented the vol¬ taic pile, forerunner of all electric batteries. 1816 — Baron Jons Berzelius discovered the element selenium. The conductivity of this metal is affected by exposure to light. 1 81 9 — Hans Oersted discovered the prin¬ ciple of electro-magnetic induction. 1820 — Andre Ampere measured the re¬ lationship between electricity and mag¬ netism. He developed the ampere, a practical unit of current strength. 1827 — George Ohm gave his name to Ohm’s law — a standard measurement of resistance to electrical current flow. 1831 — Michael Faraday announced the laws of electro-magnetic induction and developed the first generator. 1839 — First successful methods of pho¬ tography were invented by Fox Talbot in England and Nicephore de Niepce and Louis Daguerre in France. 1840 — John Draper at New York Uni¬ versity pioneered in making portraits by photography. 1847 — Bakewell invented the “copying telegraph,” employing an elementary scanning device. 1 862 — Abbe Caselli transmitted the first electric picture, Amiens to Paris. 1873 — James Maxwell declared light to be a form of electro-magetic wave. . . . The electric motor was developed in Vienna. . . . Light-sensitive properties of selenium were discovered by a tele¬ graph operator named May. This dis¬ covery indicated that light values can be converted into equivalent electrical values. 1875 — G. R. Carey designed the first television system, imitating the human eye. 1878 — Sir William Crookes observed electric discharges in a vacuum, thus discovering the cathode-rays now known as electron beams. 1880 — Leblanc developed the principle of scanning — a method of viewing suc¬ cessively individual picture elements. A scanning device divides a picture into lines and each line into tiny sections. 1884 — Paul Nipkow invented a mechan¬ ical television scanning disc. 1886 — Heinrich Hertz, by experiment, confirmed Maxwell’s theories concerning electricity. He found the speeds of light and electricity identical, and proved that radio waves are electro-magnetic. 1888 — Photo-electric cells were built and demonstrated. 1889 — Thomas Edison filmed the first movie. 1890 — C. Francis Jenkins of Washing¬ ton began a search for new appliances needed for the success of the Nipkow scanning disk. 1895 — Guglielmo Marconi sent and re¬ ceived his first wireless signals across his father’s estate in Italy. 1897 — Sir Joseph Thompson demon¬ strated the true character of the elec¬ tron as the smallest particle of the electrical structure of the atom. 1898 — Karl F. Braun discovered that electrons can be controlled by magne¬ tism and their path traced on a fluo¬ rescent screen. 1905 — Albert Einstein announced the theory of photo-electric effects, thus de¬ fining the way in which a television camera would turn a picture into elec¬ tricity. 1907 — Boris Rosing patented a tele¬ vision system, using a receiver resem¬ bling the modern receiving set, based on the Braun cathode-ray tube. 1908 — A. A. Campbell-Swinton devel¬ oped the theory of a cathode-ray tube camera. 1909 — Hans Knudson sent the first drawing by radio. 1920 — Commercial radio stations were licensed. . . . Radio station KDKA in¬ augurated a regular broadcast schedule. 1922 — WEAF broadcast the first com¬ mercial program. . . . John B. Johnson produced the first low-voltage, gas focused, sealed off cathode-ray tube. 1923 — Vladimir Zworykin filed patent application on the first form of elec¬ tronic television camera tube, the Icono¬ scope, now in general use. 1924 — Captain Richard Ranger sent the first facsimile picture from London to New York. 1926 — C. F. Jenkins, in Washington, D.C., demonstrated apparatus which showed shadowgraphs of far-off moving objects . . . J. L. Bail’d, in England, demonstrated television transmission of half-tone pictures . . . Baird also devel¬ oped infrared ray television ... Na¬ tional Broadcasting Co. organized the first radio network . . . Warner Bros, gave the first “vitaphone” demonstra¬ tion . . . Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson, in St. Louis, demonstrated an advance in television by showing his multiple light¬ brush system and new projector. 1927 — J. L. Baird demonstrated his me¬ chanical scanning disc television system at Glasgow . . . Wire-television was demonstrated between Washington and New York . . . Radio-television was demonstrated between Whippany, N. J., and New York by Bell Telephone Lab¬ oratories . . . Congress established the Federal Radio Commission. 1 928 — Baird sent the first trans-Atlantic television picture and demonstrated the first crude systems of color and stereo¬ scopic television . . . Bell Telephone Laboratories televised outdoor scenes without the use of artificial illumination . . . At Albany, General Electric tele¬ vised the first “remote” pick-up: Gov¬ ernor Smith’s inauguration . . . Farns¬ worth developed the “image dissector” tube. 1929 — Vladimir Zworykin announced the invention of a non-mechanical receiver using a special cathode-ray tube called the Kinescope . . . Television in color was demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories over wires from one end of a room to the other; a picture about the size of a postage stamp was trans¬ mitted. 1930 — NBC television station W2XBS atop the Amsterdam Theatre, New York, opened for tests ... At RKO Proctor’s 58th St. Theatre, RCA dem¬ onstrated television on a 6-foot screen . . . Two-way wire television, on which speakers at the end of a 3-mile line saw each other as they conversed, was dem¬ onstrated by Bell Telephone Labora¬ tories. 1931 — Fifteen companies had telecast schedules in U.S. . . . Bell Telephone laboratories, to clarify television, intro¬ duced caesium photo-electric cells that “see red” . . . English Derby at Epsom Downs was televised for the first time by Baird’s system . . . Television on a 10-foot screen was shown at the Broad¬ way Theatre, New York, with 1700 at¬ tending the opening performance; a wire link was used between Theatre Guild Playhouse and the televiser . . . Dr. Alexanderson sent television across his laboratory in Schenectady on a beam of light instead of a wire or radio wave. 1932 — C. Francis Jenkins described a new television principle resulting in images estimated to be 3600 times brighter than those heretofore devel¬ oped. The image appeared on a sensi¬ tized emulsion of an “animated lanterr slide” . . . Field tests of 240-line allelectronic television were made by RCA at Camden, N. J., with signals relayed by radio from New York through Mt. Arney, N. J., for the first time. 1935 — Edwin Armstrong announced the principle of FM . . . British Postmaster General’s Committee recommended that BBC be responsible for television in England. 1936 — BBC formally opened Alexandra Palace television station, transmitting a 405-line picture. Telecasts occurred daily except Sundays . . . AT&T tested co¬ axial cable and proved it successful . . . Don Lee and Philco gave public demon¬ strations of cathode-ray tube television systems. 1937 — Television, with a 441-line pic¬ ture, was demonstrated by Philco in a 3-mile test across Philadelphia . . . Cor¬ onation procession of King George VI was telecast over 7500 square miles to an audience estimated at 50,000 . . . Vladimir Zworykin demonstrated elec¬ tron projection “gun” at IRE Conven¬ tion . . . R. R. Law projected television pictures on an 8 x 10 foot screen . . . Bell Telephone Laboratories transmit¬ ted movies over coaxial cable between 119