Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

Ultrafax Demonstrated (Continued from jmge 6) important advance in photographic art, resulted from advance equip- ment built for the armed services during the war. The Ultrafax film may be en- larged to full-sized copy by means of a high-speed continuous process- ing machine. The equipment is sim- ilar to that used during the war for V-Mail enlarging. There is no limit to the number of Ultrafa.x mes-sages which may be printed from a single film. Elmer \V. Engstrom, Vice Presi- dent in charge of re.search at RCA Laboratories, pointed out the sig- nificance of the Ultrafax demon- stration with respect to the con- struction at this time of nation-wide radio-relay networks which are capable of transmitting inter- changeably both television and Ultrafax -signals. Mr. Engstrom stated: "We have succeeded in ob- taining results which show that Ultrafax can now promise practical commercial use, and at a time when demands are greater than ever for speed, speed and more speed in com- munications." The advanced engineering and development work is under the direction of Donald S. Bond of the RCA Laboratories staff, who par- ticipated in the demonstration. Mr. Bond has spearheaded the task of putting together the known tools as developed for television, radio re- lays and facsimile, all of which have been combined as a .system to create Ultrafax. With associates in RCA Laboratories and NBC, Mr. Bond devised the electronic equipment, and in cooperation with engineers of Eastman Kodak Company, added high-speed film processing appara- tus. Credit for contributing early suggestions as to how Ultrafax could employ radio-relay and tele- vision techniques is given to C. W. Hansen of RCA Laboratories, pio- neer in developing radio-relaying systems. Historic Documents Transmitted The Library of Congress and other government agencies provided material transmitted during the proceedings, which lasted more than an hour. Among the documents sent and received by Ultrafax to demon- strate its ver.satility were: J' GONE » WITH4 ULTRAFAX CAN TRANSMIT ENTIRE BOOKS, EVEN AS I.ONC AS "CONE WITH THE WIND", IN A FEW SECONDS. [2:2 RADIO AGE] A battle map, contour map, and four pages of Xaval specifications —as examples of national security and military uses. A transportation schedule, bank draft, financial report, technical drawing, money order—as examples of u.sefulness to business and in- dustry. Personal letter with diagrammed drawing, birth announcement — in the new father's excited handwrit- ing. FBI description of a public enemy-at-large, along with finger- prints; weather map; Civil Service job application; consumer price index chart—illustrating Ultrafax's public service potential. Newspaper mastheads, cartoons, advertising layout and an index of magazine contents — pointing up numerous possibilities for the pub- lishing field, where speed and dis- tribution are prime factors. Writings in Latin, Hebrew, Rus- sian, and Japanese — the original Japanese surrender document, in the latter case—showed Ultrafax's indiscriminate handling of all lan- guages. Borrowing from the treasures of the Library of Congre.ss, Ultrafax brought to the audience these docu- ments of our American heritage: The Declaration of Independence, in the handwriting of Thomas Jeffer- -son; the battle map of the Battle of Bunker Hill; the first oflicial gov- ernment map of Washington, D. C; the first printed copy of the Na- tional Anthem; the Gettysburg Ad- dress, in Abraham Lincoln's hand- writing—the very copy he used for his delivery. And finally, marking two of the most significant affirmations of man's progress, there was tran.s- mitted a page of the Gutenberg Bible—the first printed word—and the preamble to the Charter of the United Nations. The unveiling of Ultrafax. which was televised from Washington to viewers on the NBC East Coast network, took place near the site of Professor Samuel F. B. Morse's historic demonstration of the tele- graph 101 years ago.