Pioneers of Television — Philo Taylor Farnsworth

Bibliographic Reference(s)

• 1. This came from a U.S. Patent Interference #73,203 (Iams vs. Ballard vs. Farnsworth). It was from sworn Lubcke testimony, p. 9. It was also in U.S. Patent Interference #68,936 (Farnsworth vs. Vance), July 10, 1935. This was also won by Farnsworth. See also Everson George , The Story of Television, The Life of Philo T. Farnsworth , pp. 104 – 109 , W. W. Norton & Co. : New York , 1949 . EXTERNAL
• 10. “Far Off Speakers Seen as Well as Heard Here in a Test of Television,” New York Times , Apr. 8, 1927 , p. 1 :1. See also, “Television: Its Development and Accomplishment,” Bell Laboratory Record, 4 :297–325, May 1927. A. Dinsdale, “Television Demonstration in America.” Wireless World 21 :680–686, June 1, 1927. H. Winfield Secor, “Television Perfected at Last,” Science and Invention, 15 :108–109, 177, June 1927. EXTERNAL
• 11. Bell Labs Case 33089. This information was contained in a letter from P. T. Farnsworth to Dr. E. B. Craft, dated July 25, 1928: letter from Mr. Fleager to E. B. Craft, dated Sept. 4, 1928 . EXTERNAL
• 12. “Radio Television To Home Receivers,” New York Times , Jan. 14, 1928 , p. 1 :6. “Broadcasts Pictures,” New York Times , May 6, 1928, p. 3:2. “Shown at Berlin Radio Exhibition,” New York Times , Sept. 1, 1928, p. 6:8. “Television Method Shown in Chicago,” New York Times , June 13, 1928, p. 32:2. “Experiments on Television,” J. Institute of Electrical Engineers (Japan) No. 482, pp. 932–942, Sept. 1928. EXTERNAL
• 13. “Television Shows Panoramic Scene Carried by Sunlight,” New York Times , July 13, 1928 , p. 4 :1. “Radio Movies Demonstrated,” Science and Invention 16 :622–623, 666, Nov. 1928. “Smith Rehearses for Camera Men,” New York Times , Aug. 22, 1928, p. 3:4. EXTERNAL
• 14. “S. F. Man's Invention to Revolutionize Television,” San Francisco Chronicle , Sept. 3, 1928 , second front page. “New Television System,” New York Times , Sept. 4, 1928, p. 20:1. EXTERNAL
• 15. Farnsworth P. T. Lubcke H. , “Slope Wave Generator.” U.S. Patent No. 2,059,219, filed May 5, 1930: issued Nov. 3, 1936. See also P. T. Farnsworth, “Scanning System.” U.S. Patent No. 2,246,625, filed May 5, 1930: issued June 24, 1941 . EXTERNAL
• 16. This comes from a variety of sources, for example: See Bucher/RCA File “David Sarnoff,” Chap. 4, Development of Electronic Television , p. 44 . Jewkes J. Sawers D. Stillerman R. , The Sources of Invention , pp. 385 – 386 , Macmillan : London , 1958 ). Gleason L. Archer, Big Business and Radio , pp. 339–343, The American Historical Soc. Inc.: New York, 1939. Robert Sobel, RCA, p. 85, Stein and Day Inc.: New York, 1986. Eugene Lyons, David Sarnoff , pp. 156–158, Harper and Row: New York, 1966. EXTERNAL
• 17. Most of this comes from a Research Memo 6-67050-1, dated Jan. 18, 1930 from V. Zworykin to Mr. W. A. Tolson of the General Electric Co. I was given access to the Westinghouse files at East Pittsburgh that kindly furnished me this information. See V. K. Zworykin, U.S. Pat. No. 2,109,245, filed Nov. 16, 1929: issued Feb. 22, 1938. “Vacuum Tube.” It was also described in an article, “V. Zworykin demonstrates non-mechanical receiver, special cathode ray tube called ‘kinescope’.” New York Times , Nov. 19, 1929, p. 32:3. (Not only was there no demonstration at this meeting, but this article is not to be found in the New York Times for that date!) The paper was first published by V. K. Zworykin, “Television with Cathode-Ray Tube for Receiver,” Radio Engineering 9 :38–41, Dec. 1929 . See also Abramson, “Zworykin,” op. cit. , pp. 582–584. While Philo Farnsworth had a complete all-electric television system, including a camera tube (the image dissector), a vacuum tube synchronizing and blanking generator, and a magnetically focused picture tube (the oscillite) in his laboratory, his picture tube simply could not compete with Dr. Zworykin's Kinescope. This led to the conflict between them, It was not, as most television historians relate, a struggle between the image dissector and the still-to-be-born Iconoscope!. EXTERNAL
• 18. See Hofer, op. cit. , pp. 69 – 70 . Everson, op. cit. , pp. 124–127. EXTERNAL
• 19. Memorandum from Alexanderson to H. E. Dunham, Patent Dept., dated June 4, 1930. EXTERNAL
• 2. Everson, op. cit. , pp. 15 – 27 . EXTERNAL
• 20. U.S. Pat. Interference #64027, “Brief for Farnsworth.” Dr. Alexanderson's attitude towards cathode ray television was related to me by Ray Kell, his chief television engineer at General Electric, in an interview with Mr. Kell in 1977. EXTERNAL
• 21. Everson, op. cit., pp. 120 – 121 . See also P. T. Farnsworth, “An Electrical Scanning System for Television, Radio-Craft 2 : 346–347, Dec. 1930 . Hofer, op. cit., p. 67 . EXTERNAL
• 22. This is also from Everson, op. cit., pp. 124 – 125 . “A Radio Idea From the West,” New York Times X : p 6 : 14. Dec. 14, 1930, A. Dinsdale, “Television by Cathode Ray,” Wireless World 28 : 286–288, Mar. 18, 1931. It was also covered by a patent. See P. T. Farnsworth U.S. Patent No. 2,026,379, filed Dec. 4, 1930: issued Dec. 31, 1935. “System of Pulse Transmission.” To this day, no one has been able to come up with a practical solution to this problem. EXTERNAL
• 23. Dinsdale A. , “Television by Cathode Ray.” Wireless World 28 : 286 – 288 , Mar. 18, 1931. A. Dinsdale, “Television Takes the Next Step.” Science and Invention, 19 : 46–47, 72–73, May 1931. W. G. W. Mitchell, “Developments in Televising,” J. Royal Society of the Arts 79 : 761, May 29, 1931. “Visual Broadcasting Still an Experiment,” Radio News 12 : 761, Feb. 1931. P. T. Farnsworth, “Scanning with an Electric Pencil,” Television News 1 : 48–51, 74, Mar/Apr. 1931. Arthur H. Halloran, “Scanning without a Disc,” Radio News 12: 998–999, 1015, May 1931. EXTERNAL
• 24. Dr. Zworykin and Gregory Ogloblinsky were having poor results with the crude two-sided camera tubes they were building. See V. K. Zworykin and George A. Morton, Television — the Electronics of Image Transmission , p. 304, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: New York, 1940. It is known that Zworykin had Dr. Wilson of Westinghouse build several dissector tubes after his visit to the Green Street Labs in April 1930, based on Farnsworth's design, and was using them quite successfully — so successfully, in fact, that this was the main reason for Sarnoff's visit to the Green Street Labs in May 1931. This is from U.S. Pat. Interference #64,027. EXTERNAL
• 25. See Everson, op. cit., p. 199 . See also Schatzkin P. Keiger B. , “Philo T. Farnsworth: Inventor of Electronic Television,” Television 5 : 6 – 9 ; Part 2, 5: 17–20, 1977 . EXTERNAL
• 26. See U.S. Patent No. 2,051,372, filed July 14,1931, issued Aug. 18, 1936, “Scanning and Synchronizing System.” . EXTERNAL
• 27. This came from several sources. See Everson, op. cit, pp. 132 – 136 . Hofer, op. cit, pp. 71 – 72 . W. Rupert Maclaurin, Invention and Innovation in the Radio Industry , p. 208, 214, The Macmillan Co.: New York, 1949. I discussed this with Arch Brolly (Farnsworth's chief engineer in Philadelphia) in July 1977. One of the problems Mr. Brolly mentioned was the fact that Farnsworth's agile mind was always thinking ahead. He was continuously designing new, improved circuitry and devices. Unfortunately, by the time the devices were fabricated, they were often obsolete. He stated that the shelves of the laboratory were often loaded with items that could not be used. EXTERNAL
• 28. See Farnsworth P. T. , U.S. Patent No. 2,087,683: filed April 26, 1933, issued July 20, 1937. While this patent is titled an “Image Dissector,” it was not a cold cathode tube in which the entire image passed in front of a scanning aperture to create the picture signal. It described a very advanced storage-type camera tube that used a low-velocity scanning beam from a hot cathode. It used the beam to explore a target made up of a large number of insulated areas, or “islands,” of photoelectric active material. It was planned to have the beam touch the target lightly and restore the electrons lost due to photoelectric emission. The modulated beam was to return to an anode, where its output became the picture signal. While there is no proof that Philo Farnsworth ever did build a tube of this type, its features were later incorporated by Harley Iams and Albert Rose into the RCA Orthicon and Image Orthicon camera tubes that made postwar television possible. Farnsworth's patent was so powerful that it dominated the field. This was one of Farnsworth's greatest triumphs. EXTERNAL
• 29. This came from Les Flory. See Fig. 13. EXTERNAL
• 3. Ibid, pp. 31 – 46 . EXTERNAL
• 30. This information comes from U.S. Patent Interference #64,027 (Philo T. Farnsworth vs. Vladimir K. Zworykin), filed on May 28, 1932, Washington, D.C. EXTERNAL
• 31. This information came from an interview with Albert F. Murray in April 1978. It was confirmed in a letter to the author from Murray dated June 14, 1978. The most damaging information Murray brought with him was the new, still undisclosed Zworykin Iconoscope camera tube. This was revealed by Dr. Zworykin at the Chicago World's Fair on June 26, 1933 . EXTERNAL
• 32. Everson, op. cit. , p. 136 . EXTERNAL
• 33. Farnsworth Philo T. , “Television by Electron Image Scanning,” J. Franklin Institute , 218 : 411 – 444 , Oct. 1934 . EXTERNAL
• 34. “Tennis Stars Act in New Television,” New York Times , Aug. 25, 1934 , p. 14: 4. Everson, op. cit. , pp. 142 – 145 . EXTERNAL
• 35. Ballard Randall C. , U.S. Patent No. 2,152,234. Applied July 19, 1931; issued Mar. 28, 1939. This is one of the most important patents in television history. It made possible flickerless, electronic television. EXTERNAL
• 36. Everson, op. cit. , pp. 146 – 148 . EXTERNAL
• 37. “Gain in Television is Demonstrated,” New York Times , July 31, 1935 , p. 15 : 4. “Television Transmitters Planned,” Electronics, 8 :294–295, Sept. 1935. S. Kaufman, “Demonstrates High-Definition Television,” Radio News 17 : 265, 308, Nov. 1935. “A Demonstration of the Farnsworth System,” Television & Short-Wave World, 8 : 628, Nov. 1935. S. Kaufman, “Farnsworth Television,” Radio News 17 :330–331, 375, Dec. 1935. EXTERNAL
• 38. “First Details of the Farnsworth Television Camera,” Television & Short-Wave World , 9 : 395 – 396 , July 1936 . P. T. Farnsworth, “An Improved Television Camera,” Radio-Craft, 8 :92, 113, Aug. 1936. EXTERNAL
• 39. “Television of Olympic Games,” London Times , July 18, 1936 , p. 14a . “Television of the Games, Disappointing Results,” London Times , Aug. 3, 1936, p. 12a. “Fernsehen bei den Olympischen Spielen 1936,” Fernehen und Tonfilm , 7:57–59, Aug. 1936. W. Federmann, “Fernsehen wahrend der Olympischen Spielen,” Telefunken, 75 :18–22, 1937. EXTERNAL
• 4. See Ives Herbert E. , “Television: 20th Anniversary,” Bell Laboratory Record 25 : 190 – 193 , May 1947 . The story of General Electric television is in the files of Dr. Ernst Alexanderson's personal records, stored at Schafer Library, Union College, Schenectady, N.Y. I was allowed access to this information in 1978. This will be known as the Alexanderson/GE File. For information on the early activities of Dr. Zworykin, see Albert Abramson, “Pioneers of Television — Vladimir Kosma Zworykin,” SMPTE J., 90 :579–590, July 1981. EXTERNAL
• 40. “Baird Television Up-To-Date,” Television & Short-Wave World , 9 : 436 – 439 , Aug. 1936. “Technical Details of the Television Equipment Supplied by Baird Television Ltd. to the British Broadcasting Corporation at Alexandra Palace,” J. Television Society, 2 :161–168, Jan. 1935/Dec. 1938. EXTERNAL
• “First Complete Details of the Marconi-E.M.I. Television System,” Television Short-Wave World , 9 : 132 – 136 . Mar. 1936). “Marconi-E.M.I. Television Equipment at the Alexandra Palace,” J. Television Society, 2 :169–176, Jan. 1935/Dec. 1938. EXTERNAL
• The account of the poor performance of the Farnsworth “electron camera” came from Tony Bridgewater, the noted British television historian. He worked with John Baird from 1929 to 1932 and then was with the BBC from 1932 until his retirement. He was present at the opening of the London Television Service in November 1936. EXTERNAL
• 41. “Farnsworth Television,” Radio News , 18 : 654 – 5 , 679 , 688 , May 1937 . EXTERNAL
• 42. “License agreement signed by Farnsworth Television, Inc. and the American Telephone and Telegraph Co.,” New York Times , July 27, 1937 , p. 8 :4. See also Everson, op. cit. , pp. 155 – 159 . EXTERNAL
• 43. “America Makes a Start,” TV & Short-Wave World , 10 : 330 , June 1939 . O. E. Dunlap, Jr., “Ceremony is Carried by Television as Industry Makes its Formal Bow,” New York Times , May 1, 1939, p. 8:3. “Television Impresses the Public,” Broadcasting, 16:16, 65, May 15, 1939. “Inadequate Telecasts Blamed for Slow N.Y.C. Set Sales,” New York Times, IX , Aug. 27, 1939, p. 190:6. EXTERNAL
• 44. “Agree on Patents,” New York Times , Oct. 3, 1939 , p. 32 :3. “RCA-Farnsworth Pact,” Broadcasting, 17 :75, Oct. 15, 1939. Everson, op. cit. , devotes an entire chapter (27) entitled “R.C.A. Licenses,” pp. 242 – 247 . Hofer, op. cit. , pp. 82 – 83 . EXTERNAL
• 45. Everson, op. cit. , p. 254 . EXTERNAL
• 46. This is from Mrs. Farnsworth's book. See Farnsworth Elma , Distant Vision, Romance and Discovery on an Invisible Frontier . pp. 255 – 264 , Pemberly Kent Publishers, Inc. , 1990 . EXTERNAL
• 47. There is no notice of Philo Farnsworth's passing in the 1971 New York Times Index . EXTERNAL
• 5. “Television Perfected Asserts London Paper,” New York Times , Jan. 23, 1926 , p. 10 : 5. “Moving Images Sent by Wire or Wireless before Paris Experts,” New York Times , July 29, 1926, p. 1:4. A. Dauvillier, “Sur le telephote, appariel de television par tubes a vide: Resultats experimentaux preliminaires,” Comptes Rendus des Seances de l'Academie 183 :352–354 August 2, 1926. Kenjiro Takayanagi, “Experiments on Television,” J. Institute of Electrical Engineers (Japan) No. 482, p. 932–942, Sept. 1928. EXTERNAL
• 48. This comes from Mrs. Farnsworth's book. op. cit. , Addendum. EXTERNAL
• 49. This was especially true of Harley Iams, Arthur Vance, and Lesley Flory. All three of these men regretted the treatment that Farnsworth received at the hands of the RCA Patent and Publicity Depts. I can now reveal the fact that during my research, all of the engineering staff of RCA that I interviewed, who had worked on the Zworykin project from 1928 on, had nothing but the highest regard for Farnsworth and his work. They encouraged me to investigate his work and report on it objectively. This I believe I have done. EXTERNAL
• 6. Most of this comes from Everson, op. cit., pp. 53 – 73 . Philo Farnsworth applied for his first patent for a television system in January 1927. See P. T. Farnsworth, U.S. Patent No. 1,773,980 filed Jan. 7, 1927; issued Aug. 26, 1930. “Television System.” Unknown to Philo Farnsworth, a similar patent had been applied for earlier in Germany. See Max Dieckmann and Rudolf Hell, German (DRP) No. 450,187. Filed Apr. 5, 1925: issued Oct. 3, 1927. However, this patent was not granted until after Farnsworth had applied for his patent in the U.S., so Farnsworth was quite unaware of its existence. While this certainly gives Dieckmann and Hell priority of invention, they could never get their device to operate. EXTERNAL
• 7. Everson, op. cit. , pp. 74 – 100 . EXTERNAL
• 8. This is from my Alexanderson/GE File. It is included in a letter from A. G. Davis to J. A. Cranston dated May 31, 1928. Also see Stephen F. Hofer, “Philo Farnsworth: The Quiet Contributor to Television,” unpublished doctoral thesis; Bowling Green University, p. 62, June 1977. At this time magnetic focus, which was the oldest existing form of focusing an electron beam, was cumbersome and suffered from severe problems due to the action of magnetic (and electrostatic) fields on the beam. When modulated, the strength of the beam altered both its velocity and its focus. Its beam charged up the screen and after a while turned itself off. In order to get sufficient brightness, it was used mainly in very-high-voltage devices and found only in specialized laboratories. It is of interest to note that Farnsworth did not include a cathode-ray receiving tube in his first application because he felt that he could not get a patent on such a basic device. Farnsworth solved the focus problem by means of a long magnetic coil (similar to the one he used on his image dissector) that reduced the deflection sensitivity, making bright pictures very difficult to achieve. EXTERNAL
• 9. See Hofer S. , “Philo Farnsworth: Television's Pioneer,” J. Broadcasting 23 : 153 – 165 , Spring 1979. See also Alexanderson/GE File. Letter from A. G. Davis to J. A. Cranston, dated May 31, 1928 . EXTERNAL