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

RCA Laboratories in Princeton and played before the audience present at the meeting. Variety of Instruments Simulated The musical selections from which excerpts were synthesized and the musical instruments simulated in- cluded, "Well-Tempered Clavier" by Bach, clavichord; "Polonaise" by Chopin, piano; "Clair de Lune" by Debussy, piano; "Hungarian Dance No. 1" by Brahms, an engineer's conception with no instrument simulated; "Holy Night" by Adams, electric organ; "Home Sweet Home" by Bishop, an engineer's conception and no instrument simulated; medley of Foster tunes, hillbilly band; "Nola" by Arndt, imaginary piano-like instru- ment, and "Blue Skies" by Berlin, orchestra. General Sarnoff said that at his invitation Alfred Wallenstein, Conductor of the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra, had recently visited the RCA Laboratories and observed the system in operation. Mr. Wallenstein heralded the music synthesizer as "a veritable fountain of inspiration and new ideas." "Indeed, the entire world of sound can be tapped for the creation of yet unheard musical forms," he said. The Anniversary "Presents" Declaring that his own faith in the creative abilities of scientists and engineers has been boundless, General Sarnoff told also of RCA progress in three other elec- tronic developments: an electronic cooling system, an electronic light amplifier, and a television magnetic tape recorder. These, it will be recalled, are the three "anni- versary presents" which, in September 1951, he had asked scientists at the David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton to produce by September, 1956. The latter date will mark his fifty years of service in radio. General Sarnoff announced that an electronic air conditioner, designed without any moving parts, motors or compressors — in fact, a noiseless machine as re- quired in the home — is on the way and encouraging progress is being made in RCA Laboratories. In effect, he said, it is an all-electronic cooling system, and as evidence of progress he presented the film of a small electronic refrigerator, the first result of research in this new field. He declared that it is believed to be the first re- frigerator to achieve practical storage and freezing temperatures entirely by electronic means, although the principle upon which it operates was discovered by the French physicist Jean Charles Peltier more than 120 years ago. Peltier observed that passage of an electric current through the junction of two dissimilar materials produces a cooling or heating effect in the region of the junction, depending upon the direction of the current. "This so-called 'Peltier effect' has long been a scien- tific curiosity chiefly because of the lack of materials capable of producing temperatures sufficiently low for practical use in cooling or refrigeration," said General Sarnoff. "Unlike Peltier, Lord Kelvin, and others who studied this effect, the RCA scientists were able to approach the task with new knowledge provided by recent studies in solid-state physics. Their research in this field, shed new light on the behavior of electrons in solid materials, and provided new information which has led to success in creating new materials. The dis- covery of Peltier has now been translated into practical application. Our continuing search for improved mate- rials so far has revealed no evidence that a limit has been reached." In still another new field, RCA scientists and engi- neers have made substantial progress in the development of an electronic light amplifier, General Sarnoff declared. He said that he has already seen an experimental RCA light amplifier that gives light amplification in ratios of more than 20 to 1. "When that ratio reaches 100 to 1, a practical am- plifier of light will be at hand," he added. "We will also have made a significant advance in the science of illumination for lighting and for television picture reproduction." Pointing to another accomplishment in electronics, General Sarnoff said that the RCA TV magnetic tape recorder, as a major step into a new era of "electronic photography," is now being installed for field tests in the National Broadcasting Company. "This new type of tape recorder," he said, "can pro- vide useful services not only in television broadcasting but also in the motion picture and theatre industry, in home entertainment and education, and industry in general. An unlimited number of copies of tape record- ings can be made quickly and economically. The re- corded tapes can be preserved indefinitely or electroni- cally 'wiped off' and reused again and again. "Television tape recorders for home use are certain to be developed in the future. These will enable the TV set owner to accumulate a library of favorite tele- vision programs which can be seen whenever desired, in the same way that a library of phonograph records now makes it possible to hear favorite records at will." Stimulus of Competition Amplifying his philosophy that competition is as stimulating in research as in manufacturing and mer- chandising, General Sarnoff said: "As members of a profession deeply concerned with scientific research and pioneering development, you are well aware that the number of people willing to risk their money in research and pioneering is very small 8 RADIO AGE