Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (1950-1954)

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Eidophor System of Theater Television By EARL I. SPONABLE The Eidophor, or Fischer, theater television system is described in an introductory way, then as installed at the Twentieth Century-Fox home office theater a year ago for exhibition shows for exhibitors and the press. HE INITIAL CONCEPT of the Eidophor System started some thirteen years ago when Professor Dr. Fritz Fischer, working at the Swiss Federal Polytechnical Institute in Zurich, applied for a patent on a new and radically different idea for obtaining projected television pictures. His consideration of the problem led him to the conclusion — similarly reached by others — that in order to have a theater-sized picture of adequate brightness it would be necessary to employ a high-intensity arc as the light source. His thinking was thus along the lines of a standard motion picture projection unit, and the first effort to construct such a device, though the result was large and cumbersome, followed this Presented as an engineering exhibit at the theater television hearing before the Federal Communications Commission in October 1952, by Earl I. Sponable, Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp., 460 W. 54 St., New York 1 9, N.Y. The engineering exhibits were presented under the joint auspices of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc., and the National Exhibitors Theatre Television Committee. general plan. He then reviewed possible means for controlling this light beam. The modulating units which had previously been employed in similar arrangements by others had not been particularly successful, and Prof. Fischer conceived the idea of making use of optical principles first enunciated by Foucault as a means for studying the surface configurations of concave telescope mirrors. These principles had later been extended by Toepler, who observed the difference in refractive index in air caused by heat waves in the optical system. Since Toepler's work in the early 1860's, this type of optical system has been frequently referred to as the "Toepler Schlieren" or simply "schlieren" system. (Schlieren is a German word meaning "streaks" or "striae.") An understanding of these optical principles is necessary in understanding the Eidophor system, since this is the heart of the matter, and it may best be explained in terms of the earliest of Prof. Fischer's models. While this early unit was unsuccessful, it did prove April 1953 Journal of the SMPTE Vol.60 337