|
Communication
Systems and Technology |
Please
Note:
The
original copy of this page was prepared and
maintained by R.
Victor Jones
Comments to: jones@deas.harvard.edu.
His
Last update was August 20, 1999
I
am making a copy of this page to share with students and make sure it
does not disappear from the WWW
Anthony
Luscre - ZTLearn.com
To jump to a
specific year press CTRL-F to search through the long document.
A
Chronology of
Communication Related Events
4004 BCE -
1996 AD
A
Statement of Purpose
References
and Sources
-4004:
According to Genesis
with dating
by Archbishop James Ussher (source-1
and source-2).
Portrait of Archbishop
Ussher (source)
"And God said
Let there
be light: and there was light."
The
first verses of Genesis give
to light an absolute precedence in Creation: precedence over the sun
which
was created on the fourth day and over man who was created on the last
day. These words imply a theory of the nature of
light which attributes to
light an existence of its own, independent of its source and of its
receiver.
-2900:
Hieroglyphics,
characters
with a recognizably graphic character, are in use.
-1200:
In
the Iliad, Homer tells
of a chain of beacon fires prearranged to signal the return of
Agamemnon's
fleet to Mycenae and, thus, gave Clytemnestra and Aegisthus time to
arrange
the assassination of Agamemnon.
Richard
Hennig, in 1908, calculated
the approximate distances (total 600 km) between the stations that
Aeschylus described the his drama Agamemnon: (source)
Location
|
Modern Name
|
Altitude (m)
|
Distance (km)
|
Troy
|
Troy
|
100
|
0
|
Mt. Ida
|
Kaz Dagi
|
1774
|
55
|
Lemnos
|
Skopia at Limnos
|
430
|
154
|
Mt. Athos
|
Athos
|
2033
|
70
|
Macistus
|
Kandilion at Euboea
|
1209
|
177
|
Messapius
|
Ktipas
|
1020
|
30
|
Cithaeron
|
Elatias
|
1410
|
25
|
Mt. Aegiplanetus
|
Mt. Jeraneia
|
1370
|
30
|
Arachnaean
|
Hgt Arna
|
1199
|
50
|
Mycenae
|
Mycenae
|
150
|
20
|
-580:
According
to Greek tradition,
Thales of Miletus (624-546 BC) is the first to have investigated
magnetic
and electric forces. In particular, he is said to have
noticed the
phenomena of static electricity acquired by amber (in Greek elektron) --
i.e.,amber
when rubbed with a
piece of silk or fur develops the ability to attract little objects
such
as feathers. (source-1,
source-2
and
source-3)
-500
Greek and
Chinese
philosophers describe the principles
of optics.
The
philosophical concepts developed
by the Greeks lie at the root of all later philosophical speculation in
the western world. The intuitive hypotheses of the 'golden
age' (fifth
and fourth centuries BC) philosophers has foreshadowed many theories of
modern science and has provided a foundation for modern scientific
thought.
The majority of the ideas of the Greek philosophers
deserve to be consider as strictly logical reasoning, carried
out not only with common sense , but even with noticeable
acumen. It was inevitable that these sages should turn their
attention to light, but they were less interested in determining the
nature of light than in explaining the mechanism of vision.
The main goal of thinkers was to learn to understand man, his functions
and his facilities. In the fifth century BC there was,
without a doubt, an unceasing attempt to determine the link between the
eye and the object seen. Nowadays we call this link
light without reservations and without thinking as if it were
an evident reality because of the studies and
of the discussions which have gone on for over two thousand
years. In
the fifth century BC this type of link between the eye and the object
seen
was rightly considered as a possible solution, but not the only
one. The Pythagoreans held that the link could be thought to
be due to 'something' (quid ) which was emitted by the eye and traveled
towards the object while the Atomists of the school of Democritus
favored a theory of an emission of
'something' which traveled towards the eye from the object.
Empedocles of Agrigentum supported the notion of the coexistence of
somethings' traveling in opposite directions. Even with these
conjectures, all the possible solutions were not exhausted, since some
other type of link could be imagined, without any motion in either
direction, but merely a modification of the medium
interposed between the eye and the object seen (Aristotle).
-490:
The first
marathon: In
the Battle of Marathon
"the Persians lost
seven ships to the Athenians.
However, Miltiades and his Athenian army realized that the Persian
fleet
could sail and attack the undefended city of Athens. He
called upon
Phidippides to run to Athens to bring the news of victory and a warning
of
the approaching Persian ships. Phidippides’ 26-mile run from
Marathon
to Athens, the first marathon ever, was successfully completed in about
three
hours. Phidippides became a martyr, dying from exhaustion
after fighting
all day and completing the run. However, he successfully
warned the
Athenians, and when the Persian fleet arrived at Athens, Athenian
soldiers
were ready to protect their land. Upon seeing the prepared
Athenian
army, the Persians turned and sailed back to Persia in defeat...." (source)
-431
to 404:
Thucydides'
(460 - 399)
History of The Peloponnesian War is replete with
references to
the use of signal fires in various military operation of the Second
Pelopennesian War. discusses in considerable detail the role of signal
fires in military operations (The
Early History of Data Networks quotes some of these
references. Richard Crawley has published an online
translation of Thucydides which is mirrored as an annotated local copy).
Scott
Rusch discusses a particularly
interesting early example of the use of signal "jaming" in the seige of
Plataea:
"...Meanwhile,
beacon fires indicating danger from
the enemy were lit by the garrison of the siege
wall and flashed towards Thebes. But the Plataeans in the
town raised
many beacon fires from their walls at the same time, having prepared
for
this action beforehand, in order that their enemy's beacon signals
might
be rendered unintelligible and the Thebans, mistaking the situation,
might
defer bringing aid until the escapees had gotten away. This
must be
one of the first attempts to jam a signal in the history of
communications.
Based on the number and position of the fires they lit, the besiegers
apparently
could send a variety of pre-arranged messages to Thebes. The Plataeans
had
seen that they could do this, but did not know the precise 'code'
arrangement,
so they simply lit a lot of fires and hoped to confuse the Thebans..." (source)
-350
or 360
As
described by the historian
Polybius (ca. 200-118 ), "Aeneas the Tactician"
develops a "hydro-optical telegraph" that is described as a
"synchronous telegraph." (images)
-330
Aristotle first
describes image projection in
terms of the camera obscura concept. As eventually applied,
the concept
is demonstrated in a "darkened box or chamber" with a small hole on one
side through which light is admitted. An inverted image of
the scene
is projected onto an interior wall, where it can be viewed and traced
by
an artist. (source-1
and source-2)
-150
Polybius,
building on ideas
of Cleoxenus and Democleitus, designs a "code book" torch telegraphy (picture; [source]).
- 65
Titus Lucretius
Carus -
( 98 - 55 BC ) 'De Rerum
Natura' - Book 4 pp. 768 - First reference to persistence of vision
..."This
(
perception c.f. movement ) is to be explained in the following way;
that when the first image passes
off, and a second is afterwards produced in another position, the
former
then seems to have changed its gesture"
also
from another source...
"Titus
Lucretius Carus, a Roman poet and
philosopher, describes frame sequential animation almost two thousand
years
before the advent of motion pictures."
BC
AD
113:
Roman
Legions may have
used signal beacons. See one of a set of three Roman guard houses depicted
on Trajan's Column (source-1
and source-2)
130:
From Ptolemy's
'Optica'
"...if a sector of a
disk be coloured, the whole will appear of that colour when rapidly
revolved
and if the sector be variously coloured at different distances from the
centre, the disk will appear ringed".
180:
Inventor Ting
Huan
perfects a device, for projecting
moving images. Similar inventions are reported in China as early as 207
B.C.
500:
It
is said that lantern
carrying kites were used as a communication vehicle during the siege of
Nanking. In any case, very early use of
"communication" kites
in China is clearly substantiated by the many other instances of
sending
"red lanterns" aloft and dispatching messages from kite lines. (source)
1030:
Abu 'Ali
Al-Hasan Ibn
Al-Haitham, or Al-Hazen,
writes the text Optical Illusion in which describes
the "Camera Obscura" and the "Persistance of
Vision." Al-Hazen's theory is that light carries
the reflection of an object to the eye, thus implying the eye's need to
focus. These concepts significantly influence the work of Italian
Rennaissance painter Brunelleschi, who applies them to his perspective
painting.
1437 :
Architect Leon
Battista
Alberti demonstrates
the art of perspective in drawings observed though a pinhole. Alberti
is
significantly influenced by the painter Brunelleschi, who is credited
with
the first paintings to manifest the concept of perspective. Alberti
honors
the artist by translating his perspective geometry into a Latin
treatise
on the subject that includes classical references, but is still simple
enough
for any painter or architect to understand.
1481:
Pigeon
Post: a
woodcut from 1481 (source)
1550 :
Geronimo
Cardano makes
the first camera lens.
1553 :
Gemma Frisius
constructs
a functional "Camera
Obscura"
1558 :
Giovanni
Battista Della
Porta, a physicist and
philosopher in Naples publishes the book 'Natural Magic'.The first
edition
is in four volumes, the second - in 1589 - is in twenty. It will be
reprinted
more than twenty-seven times. The book discusses methods for exploiting
the forces of nature to perform feats of "magic." The first
edition
describes the "camera obscura." Sections of the
book deal with
magnetism, optics and such topics of contemporary interest as
demonology
and astrology. Della Porta also publishes books on
meteorology, optics,
pneumatics, architecture, astronomy, astrology and mnemonics.
1575 :
An Englishman,
Thomas
Ruckert, devises an instrument
which records compass bearings on a paper tape.
1588:
A
system of beacon fires
successfully used to mobilize England against the onslaught of the
Spanish
Armada. (source-1
and source-2)
1600:
William
Gilbert (1544-1603), physician
to Elizabeth I James I of England, publishes the first and,
perhaps,
most significant treatise on electrical and magnetic
phenomena, De
Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure ("On
the
Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on That Great Magnet the Earth"). Widely
regarded as the founder of electrical science, he seems to be the first
person to use the terms electricity, electric force and electric
attraction and to suggest a link between static electricity and
magnetism. (source-1)
1604 :
The astronomer
Johann
Kepler publishes a work
on the optical principles involved in the study of astronomy. He
explains
how the eye focuses light and demonstrates that as light travels from
its
source, its intensity falls at a rate of the distance squared.
1609:
Galileo
Galilei (1564-1642)
designs and presents to the Venetian doge Leonardo Donà a 10-power
spyglass which is more powerful and of better quality than any
telescope
yet produced. (source)
The Dutch spectacle maker Hans Lippershey (1570-1619) is usually
credited
with making telescopes widely known.
1649:
Athansius
Kircher, a
German Jesuit, constructs
his "projector" and publishes Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae.
1650:
Otto von
Guericke (1602
- 1686) invents the air
pump and demonstrates effects of vacuum. (picture;
source)
1659:
Christiaan
Huygens
(1629-1695) constructs a "Magic
Lantern." (source)
1663:
Otto
von Guericke develops
the first frictional electric machine (picture-1
and picture-2; source-1
and source-2)
1671:
Athansius
Kircher
publishes a text on the principles
of "Persistence of Vision."
1676:
The
Danish astronomer Olaus
Roemer (1644-1710) establishes that light travels at a finite velocity.
1675:
On his way home
from the
Paris Observatory one
night, French astronomer Jean Picard discovers that the more he shakes
his mercury-filled barometer, the more it glows with an unexplainable
light.
(source)
1678:
Dutch natural
philosopher Christiaan Huygens
(1629-1695) proposes his wave theory of light in Traite de la
lumiere.
It is overshadowed by Newton's corpuscular theory, but will
finally
be recognized in the 19th century. It marks the beginning of physical
optics.
1684:
Robert
Hooke (1635-1703)
proposes a coded optical telegraph system. In a lecture
entitled On
showing a Way How to Communicate One's Mind At Great Distances Hooke
describes an optical encoding device. (source)
A dubious representation of a synchronized
telegraph system. which is based, more or less, on Hooke's
encoding scheme. (source).
1702-09:
Francis
Hauksbee
(c.1666-1713) conducts a brilliant
series of seminal experiments. Hauksbee is probable best
known for
his experiments with electroluminescence -- i.e.
making something
glow using electricity. Of particular importance and enduring
value
is his invention of a two-cylinder air pump that is a great improvement
on
von Guericke's 1650 design. (picture;
source-1
and source-2)
In
experiments before the Royal
Society in 1705, Hauksbee
establishes that sound needs a medium to support propagation by
demonstrating
that a ringing bell in an evacuated glass jar gives off no sound.
Also
in 1705, Hauksbee is able
to repeatably replicate
the glow in mercury first observed by Jean Picard in 1675. By
adding
an air valve to a barometer, he is able to demonstrate that the glow is
best when the barometer was half-filled with air. He
hypothesizes that
friction between the glass and mercury was responsible. Interestingly,
the
phenomenon is still not completely understood. (source)
In
1706, Hauksbee introduces
new, more powerful and reproducible
electrostatic generator, his so called influence machine.
It is essentially an improvement on von Guericke's friction electrical
machine wherein a glass globe is substituted for von Guericke's sulfur
sphere.
Hauksbee
describes his
extensive experiments in his book
Physico-Mechanical Experiments on Various Subjects
published 1709.
1704:
Newton's
"Optics" is
published, detailing his
"corpuscular" theory of light. Newton believes light to be a particle
phenomenon,
and accounts for its occasional wave-like behavior by conceding that
the
particles may cause vibrations in the ether - a hypothetical substance
which,
it is assumed, pervades all space.
1720 :
Louis Bertrand
Castel
invents a "clavecin oculaire"
or optical harpsichord. The keys of the instrument move colored tapes
over
a light source, creating a light show to accompany the music.
1727:
Johann Heinrich
Schulze
(1684-1744) discovers
the darkening action of light on mixtures of chalk and siver nitrate. (source)
1729:
Stephen
Gray (1666-1736)
demonstrates that the static charges of electricity can be conducted by
some materials (e.g., wet twine) for distances as
great as 765 feet
while others (e.g., silk thread) do not conduct
electricity.
His observations are published in a series of papers in the
Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society from 1731 to 1736. (source-1
and source-2)
(Also see picture of the Electric
Boy)
1745:
Ewald Georg von
Kleist
(1715-1759), the dean
of the cathedral at Cammin in Pomerania (Germany), and Pieter van
Musschenbroek
(1692-1761), a professor at the University of Leiden
(sometimes spelled
Leyden ) in the Netherlands, discover independently that a glass vessel
filled with water and charged by a friction source can store the
electric
charge for later use. The device became known as the Leyden
jar. (source-1
and source-2)
"A glass
vial is filled partly with water
and stopped with a cork that is pierced with a wire or nail that dips
into
the water. When the wire is brought into contact with a device that
produces
static electricity, the jar stores that electricity so it can be used
in
later experiments." (source)
Somewhat
later Sir William Watson
(1715-87) and Dr. John
Bevis (1693-1771) improved the jar by coating the inside and outside
with
tin foil. Shortly after the discovery of the Leyden jar
Benjamin Franklin, became the first electrical experimenter to
understand and explain how it functioned. Franklin based his
understanding on another of his observations
that electrical energy has both positive and negative charges. (source)
1748:
In Britain,
William
Watson describes watching
rays of electricity in a tube. Watson is a contemporary of Benjamin
Franklin.
Together they originate the principle of conservation of charge: the
total
quantity of electricity in an insulated system is constant.
1752:
Benjamin
Franklin proves
that lightning is electricity
through a series of experiments culminating with the famous 'flying of
a kite' during a thunderstorm. In theory ( the actual experiment is
more one of folk lore ) the lightning is drawn to the steel-tipped kite
and the electricity runs down the kite string to an iron key. The next
two people to try this experiment are electrocuted. Following this
experiment, Franklin mounts lightning rods on his own home and on two
public buildings. The steel-pointed rods draw
the lightning away from the buildings and discharge it into the ground.
Although
he does a great deal to popularize electricity, Franklin laments later
that
he has done nothing of direct use to mankind.
1753:
In a
letter,
dated February 1st and published
February 17th, to the Scots' Magazine entitled "An
expeditious method
for conveying intelligence," the mysterious C.M. (perhaps
Charles
Morrison or Charles Marshall) proposes the first practical telegraph
based
on the discharge of static electricity. (source-1
and
source-2)
1760:
Tiphaigne de la
Roche
predicts photography in
Giphantie.
1765:
Abbe Nollet
wrote in his
Lecons de Physique..."When
an object moves very rapidly before our eyes, we often attribute to it
size and shape which it does not possess".
1770:
John
Cuthbertson, an
English instrument maker
living in Amsterdam, makes an electric battery out of 135 Leyden jars.
1774:
An
electrostatic
telegraph is demonstrated in
Geneva, Switzerland by George Louis Lesage. He built a device
composed
of 24 wires separated from each other by insulators. At the
end of
the wire was a pith ball which was repelled when a current was
initiated
on that particular wire. Each wire stood for a different letter of the
alphabet. When a particular pith ball moves, it represents the
transmission of the corresponding
letter. (picture)
1775:
Count
Alessandro Volta,
physicist and Professor
of Natural Philosophy at Pavia, Italy, invents the 'Electrophorus', a
device
that produces static electricity by friction.
1781:
Painter and set
designer
Philippe Jacques de
Loutherbourg creates a device he calls the Eidophusikon. This uses
moving
pictures to represent natural phenomena. Loutherbourg, who is known for
his
collaboration with the actor and manager David Garrick, exhibits his
invention
in London.
1784:
Charles
Augustin de
Coulomb (1736-1806) invents
the torsion balance for measuring the force of magnetic and electrical
attraction. With this invention, Coulomb is able to formulate the
principle, to become known as Coulomb's law, governing the interaction
between electric charges.
From
the court at Versailles,
Seraphin's famous 'Chinese
Shadow Theatre' transferred to the Palais Royale and captivated Paris
as
a public attraction
1786:
Gilles-Louis
Chrétien
develops the 'Physionotrace'
for profile portraits
1788:
An Irish
painter, Robert
Barker, paints a panorama,
a 360° view of Edinburgh, around the wall of a circular building.
1788-91:
Luigi Galvani
(1737-98)
develops a theory of
"animal electricity" or, as it comes to be called, 'Galvanic
Electricity',
after observing that a salinated dead frog lying on a zinc surface
twitches
when touched with a scalpel. These findings will lead to the invention
of
the 'Voltaic Pile', the world's first battery. (source)
1792:
Claude Chappe
(1763-1805), a mechanic, and Abraham
Louis Breguet, a watchmaker, are the first to construct a functioning
semaphore
(T-type moving arms) optical telegraph machine. After a
successful
demonstration of the machine before representatives of the National
Convention
on July 12, 1793, the Chappe Telegraph Line will be established between
Paris
and Lille in 1794. In the wake of the French Revolution, the optical
telegraph was to acquire great military importance. The
optical semaphore telegraph system will eventually covered France with
a total of 556 stations spanning 4800 KM. (source)
1794:
Robert Barker
opens the
first 'Panorama', a prototype
of future movie houses
Volta
finds elecricity is
generated by different metals
1798:
Belgian
physicist
Etienne Gaspard Robert professionally
known as 'Robertson' develops the 'Fantasmagorie'
1800:
Inspired by
Luigi
Galvani's discovery of animal
electricity in 1786, Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), professor of natural
philosophy at Pavia, discerns that Galvani induced a twitch in a frog's
leg
by using dissimilar metals in his experiment. Volta then groups sheets
of
zinc and copper in acid to produce a continuous flow of electricity. He
calls
it a 'continuous current pile', and the marketed version - the "Voltaic
Pile." (source-1,
source-2,
source-3;
picture)
Sir William
Herschel, a
British astronomer (born
in Germany), discovers (the
existence of infrared
rays) the infrared region of
the spectrum of light.
Inauguration
of the first U.S.
optical sema-phore/telegraph
system between Martha's Vineyard and Boston.
1801:
Depillon, a
former
artillery officer in the French
Army, develops a semaphore system for a signal machine with three or
four
arms. This system has a vocabulary of 301 signals. Depillon's machines
are installed all along the French coastline to signal ships at sea.
Cambridge
scientist Thomas
Young formulates the wave theory of light.
1802:
Thomas
Wedgewood,
following experiments of Schulze
and Scheele, produces silhouettes by use of siver nitrate but is unable
to fix the images
1807:
Dr. William
Hyde
Wollaston, the London chemist
and physicist, invents the 'Camera Lucida'. This is an optical device
that
projects the virtual image of an object onto a screen.
1808:
Humfrey Davy
produces
the first electric arc
light
1808-10:
A complex
telegraphic
system, based on an electrochemical
current, is designed and demonstrated before he Munich Academy of
Science
by S.T. von Sommering (or von Soemmerring) (1755-1830).
Commissioned
by Margrave Leopold of Bavaria, an ally of Napoleon, the electrolytic
telegraph
consisting thirty-five wires, one for each letter of the alphabet and
one
for each number. At the transmitting end of his system, arrangements
are
provided for passing currents from a "voltanic pile" through any one of
the
signal wires. At the receiving end each wire is connected to
one of
a series of thirty-five electrodes that are immersed in an acid bath.
Completion
the circuit caused the evolution of bubbles of hydrogen at the
electrode
corresponds to a particular letter or a number. (picture)
1816:
A French
inventor,
Joseph Nicephore Niepce, produces
the first photograph through a process he calls heliography or sun
drawing.
Niepce's process uses an instrument like the camera obscura to record
an
image on paper coated with silver chloride. The image is only
temporary,
however. It will be another six years before Niepce is able to capture
images
permanently.
Joseph
Henry proposes a single
wire telegraph. Sir Francis
Ronalds demonstrates such a device in 1816, in his garden at
Hammersmith.
Others do not share his vision, though, and his ideas, published in
1823,
go largely ignored. In the words of the British Admiralty, to whom
Ronalds
has offered his invention, "Telegraphs of any kind are wholly
unnecessary..."
Admiral
Sir Home Riggs Popham
tests a semaphore telegraph,
mounting the semaphores on ships in the English Channel. The trial run
takes place sixteen years after the initial invention of the Popham
system. It is
a success, the Admiral receives £2000, and lines are thereafter
established between Whitehall, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Chatham and Dover.
1817:
Swedish Baron
Jons
Berzelius isolates the element
selenium and shows that its electric conductivity reacts to light.
1819-20:
Hans Christian
Oersted
(1777- l851), professor
of physics at the University of
Copenhagen, discovers the link between
electricity and
magnetism during a lecture he gives at Kiel University. A wire from the
galvanic
battery he is using accidentally falls on a compass, whose needle is
thus
deflected from the Polar North position. Inadvertently, he gives the
first
demonstration of electromagnetic induction. His discovery will lead to
William
Sturgeon's development of the electromagnet.
1820:
Davy shows that
electric
current forms a magnetic
sheath around the wire
Ampere
formulates the
right-hand rule
John
Herschel discovers the
photographic fixative, hyposulfite
of soda.
James
Bowman Lindsay conduced
experiments in communication
utilizing the conductive properties of water.
1821:
A theater for
the
display of large panoramas
is designed by showman and scene painter Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre.
Known as the Diorama, its effects are enhanced by dramatic lighting.
(In 1824 Daguerre will attempt to capture and preserve the images of
the camera obscura, unaware that Nicephore Niepce has already
accomplished this goal. In 1826, Daguerre will become aware of Niepce's
work and begin corresponding with him. In 1829, after Daguerre
overcomes Niepce's initial reluctance, they will become partners.)
Schweigger
invents the
galvanometer.
1822:
Seebeck
discovers
thermoelectricity
1823:
In England, Sir
Francis
Ronalds builds a 'telegraph'
in his garden; no one is interested.
1824:
William
Sturgeon creates
a practical application
for magnetism with the electromagnet. He discovers that by running an
electric
current through a coil of copper wire wrapped around a soft piece of
iron,
a magnetic field is produced. This discovery lays one of the
cornerstones
for Bell's invention of the telephone.
Physicist
Andre-Marie Ampere
demonstrates the galvanometer
at the National Institute of Paris, a device that uses a freely moving
needle to measure electric current. The unit of electricity known as
the ampere or
"amp," is named after him.
Peter
Mark Roget discovers
ability of retina to retain
image for 1/20 - 1/5 of a second - demonstrates the persistence of
vision
with his 'Thaumatrope'
1825:
André-Marie
Ampère
establishes
mathematical basis for electrodynamics
An
English doctor, John Ayrton
Paris, invents the 'Thaumatrope',
an optical parlor toy that exploits the phenomenon of persistence of
vision.
A small piece of cardboard with a different picture on either side is
rotated
quickly. As one image replaces the other, the eye combines the two
pictures
into one. Paris had based his idea on work by the astronomer Herschel
and
William Fritton. Thaumatropes are also referred to as 'Magic
Disks'
1826:
Joseph
Nicéphore Niépce
uses Bitumen
of Judea for photographs on metal
1827:
What is now
known as
Ohm's law appears in Die
galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet. Between 1825-27,
Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854), professor of mathematics at the Jesuit
College of Cologne, had been studying electrical conduction following
as a model Fourier's study of heat conduction.
Ohm's Law states that the strength of an unvarying
electric current is directly proportional to the electromotive force,
and
inversely proportional to the resistance of the circuit concerned. Need
it
be said, the unit of resistance is named after him. (source
1 and source
2)
The
visionary English inventor
Charles Wheatstone, increasingly
intrigued by the transmission and amplification of sound and voice,
designs
a microphone. Wheatstone's work in acoustics will win him a
professorship
of experimental physics at King's College in London in 1934. It is here
that he will conduct his groundbreaking experiments in electricity.
1829:
Niépce and
Louis Jacques
Mandé
Daguerre form a 10 year partnership to develop photography
Belgian
physicist Joseph
Plateau invents a parlor toy,
the 'Phenakistoscope'. A series of drawings showing successive stages
of
a continuous motion are displayed on a spinning disc. When the drawings
are seen one at a time through a small opening, an illusion of motion
is created.This is considered the first motion picture device.
1830:
Joseph Henry
discovers
phenomenon of electrical
self inductance. The unit of inductance known as the 'henry' is named
after
him
Michael
Faraday passes
electricity through vacuum tube.
1831:
The Englishman
Michael
Faraday and the American
Joseph Henry independently discover the phenomenon of electromagnetic
induction.
(However, Henry discovered the properties of mutual- and
self-induction)
In independent experiments, Faraday and Henry observe that an electric
current is induced in a closed coil of wire when a magnet is passed
through it.
Henry, a teacher of
mathematics in Albany, New
York, demonstrates his findings with a bell that rings when stimulated
by
an electrical impulse.
Faraday,
the son of an
English blacksmith and Professor
of Chemistry at the Royal Institute in London, discovers
electromagnetic
induction using an electromagnet. He is credited with building the
first
electrical transformer, and his findings lead directly to the
development
of electrical machinery for industry.
Faraday
proposes a single
wire telegraph based on this
discovery. The work of both men will inspire Samuel Morse to develop
the
telegraphic receiver. Further, it will play a significant role in
Bell's
invention of the telephone.
In Paris, physicist Antoine Cesar
Becquerel investigates
electromagnetic balance.
1832:
Charles
Wheatstone
invents a non-photographic
'stereoscopic viewing device' ( This is also reported as far ahead as
1838
? )
Belgian
physicist Joseph
Plateau invents a parlor toy
- the Phenakistoscope. A series of drawings showing successive stages
of
a continuous motion are displayed on a spinning disc. When the drawings
are seen one at a time through a small opening, an illusion of motion
is created. This is considered the first motion picture device. It is
marketed as the 'Phantascope' ( also called in England the 'Fantascope'
) Plateau loses his eyesight by conducting too many experiments on his
own retinae.
The
Wheel of Life, or Daedalum,
an optical toy, is introduced
by W.H. Horner. Thirty years later, the device will be patented in the
US by the Milton Bradley toy company.
Simon
Von Stampfer invents the
stroboscope, ( a phenakistiscope
in reverse ) which casts regular flashes of light on moving objects -
making
their motions appear jerky and abrupt.
William
Henry Fox Talbot begins
experiments with photogenic
drawings
On
a visit to Berlin, Tsar
Nicholas 1 saw a demonstration
of the first telegraph system which did not need a wire for each
letter.
It was developed by a Russian diplomat, Baron Schilling, based on
Oersted's
electromagnetic ideas and German inventor Samuel Thomas von Sömmering's
early experiments. Signals were sent along between one and six wires,
causing
movement in compass needles, suspended over coils, which indicated the
letters.
Carl
Friedrich Gauss, the
mathematician, physicist and
astronomer, constructs the first electric telegraph, assisted by
physics
professor Wilhelm Eduard Weber.
Scientist
S.H. Christie invents
an electrical bridge circuit for measuring the value of a resistance.
Though created by Christie, the device is named for Sir Charles
Wheatstone, who popularizes its use ten
years later.
1834:
William George
Horner
patents the 'Daedelum'
- The wheel of the Devil. Later ( around 1864 ) French inventor Pierre
Desvignes refines the device and markets it under the name 'Zoetrope' -
The Wheel of Life.
The device consists of
a drum with equally spaced
vertical slits ( peepholes ) down the side and a series of images on
strip
of paper ( showing a figure or object in graduating stages of motion )
laid
flat against the inside surface below the line of slits. As the drum
spins
and the viewer looks through the slits at the strip of spinning images
(
faster than 12 images per second ), the individual frames merge into
one sequence
and the figure or object appears to move.
This
truly was the beginning
of what we now call cinema
- a series of sequential images presented to the eye at such a rate
that
the so called persistence of vision convinces us that the images are
indeed
one continuous motion. Equally the Zoetrope introduced the concept of
'scanning'
or breaking down an image into small fragments to be re assembled
either
in the brain 'on site' or at a distant point by converting the segments
into electrical signals which themselves can be reassembled to recreate
the original scanned image.
In Scotland, James Bowman Lindsay, an
inventor and scientist without formal education, uses galvanic cells to
produce continuous electric light.
1835:
P. C. Munck af
Rosenschöld (Sweden) observes
that resistance of powdered conductors is drastically reduce by high
voltage
discharges.
1836:
A constant
electrical
current is achieved by
John Frederick Daniell, a chemistry professor in London, when he
introduces
a non-polarizing battery: the Daniell Cell.
1837:
Together with
William F.
Cooke, Sir Charles Wheatstone,
a physicist and inventor, patent an electric telegraph in England on
July
10. Their telegraph, an improved version of the Schilling electric
telegraph,
( just ) predates Samuel Morse's device. The first test of their system
is conducted in a transmission spanning the 1.2 miles between Euston
and
Camden. When it is perfected, they will offer their telegraph to the
British
Railroad System.
Working with
student
Alfred Lewis Vail, whose
father owns a small electromechanical factory, American painter Samuel
F.B. Morse develops and patents ( September 28 ) a working electric
telegraph.
Morse first conceives his system of electromagnetic communication while
returning by ship from studying art in Europe. In the course of his
journey,
he is inspired by a conversation regarding the newly discovered
electromagnet.
Electrical telegraphic
systems have already been worked on by other inventors, most notably
Sir Charles Wheatstone. It is Morse, however, who makes the significant
addition of the electromagnet
upon which his receiver is based.
Louis
Daguerre invents 'Daguerreotype'
cutting exposure time down to 20 minutes
1838:
K.A. Steinheil
of Munich
shows that one of two
wires used in overland telegraphy could be dispensed with by using an
earth
ground. He looked forward to a time that the second wire could also be
eliminated, and 'wireless' telegraphy could be used.
Samuel
F.B. Morse's telegraph
is augmented in 1838 by
a system of dots and dashes he devises, representing numbers and
letters
of the alphabet. Known as the Morse Code, this signalling strategy is
used
to communicate complete messages which can be listened to or read on a
printed tape as they are transmitted across the telegraphic wire by
electrical pulses of varied lengths. Visual signals, such as flashing
lights, can also be used to transmit coded messages.
Physicist
Sir Charles
Wheatstone invents an optical viewing
device, the stereoscope. With the aid of strategically placed mirrors,
two
slightly different pictures converge when seen through the apparatus,
thereby
giving a sense of depth to the image. In 1849, David Brewster will
improve
the stereoscope and the twin camera, enhancing the three dimensional
realism
when pictures are viewed.
1839:
Antoine César
Becquerel
examines electrochemical
effect of light.
The
Daguerreotype is publicly
announced at the Academy
of Sciences in Paris and given to the world
Hippolyte
Bayard produces
direct-positive images on sensitized
paper
1840:
Alexander
Walcott issued
first American patent
in photography for his camera
The
Austrian optician Joseph
Petzval introduces the f
3.6 Petzval photographic lens. Designed to diffuse 16 times more light
than the field lens, it is perfectly suited for portrait photography.
1841:
William Henry
Fox Talbot
patents the Calotype
process
1842:
Alexander Bain
proposes
facsimile telegraph transmission
that scans metal letters and reproduces image by contact with chemical
paper. Synchronized scanning is part of proposed transmission system.
Joseph
Henry first produced
high-frequency electric oscillations
and discovered that a condenser (Leyden Jar) discharge is oscillatory.
Samuel
Morse, artist and
pioneer of the electric telegraph
in America, directs the construction of an underwater telegraphic cable
that is laid between the Battery and Governor's Island in New York.
1843:
Alexander Bain,
patents
his 'pantelegraph', an
electrical method for transmitting images over a distance. This
facsimile
system can be said to be a primitive forerunner of television. In
Bain's
system of two synchronous pendulums with styluses attached, the
movement
of one stylus is communicated to the other, using nonconducting ink on
conductive paper on the one end, and sensitive paper on the other.
Although the system looks good on paper, it proves to be somewhat
unreliable, since the pendulums are not truly synchronized as they
should be. Others improve on Bain's invention in the years to come.
Charles
Wheatstone devises the
rheotstat, a variable resistor designed to regulate electrical current.
He uses it in experiments with the Wheatstone Bridge, an electrical
circuit invented by S.H. Christie
to measure the value of a resistance. It is named for Wheatstone
though,
as he is the first to put it to extensive and significant use.
1844 :
It has taken
Samuel
Morse several years of perseverance
to talk Congress out of the $30,000 needed for the experimental
telegraph
line between Washington and Baltimore. The decision is made with a
narrow
margin, and the line is completed. Morse's dot and dash code makes the
single wire telegraph practical. Public usage is inaugurated on the
Baltimore-Washington
telegraph line in 1844 when Morse transmits the first message, "What
hath
God wrought!" through coded interruptions of an electric current. The
dots
and dashes can be heard or recorded on paper tape. The telegraph spawns
signals communication, and the analysis thereof, called "signals
intelligence"
(SIGINT).
Arc
lights are used in the
Paris Opera House
1846:
Faraday
suggests that
light and electricity may
be different manifestations of the same force.
The
Electric Telegraph Company
is established by William
Fothergill Cooke who, with Sir Charles Wheatstone, devised an electric
telegraph nine years ago. Within a year, two networks will have been
established: one in the north, linking major cities from Edinburgh to
Birmingham, the other in the south, linking London, Dover and
Southhampton. In a six year period after its founding, the company will
lay 4000 miles of telegraph wire.
J.E. Fuller
combines his
personally designed
time telegraph with the Fuller circular slide rule to create a
computing
telegraph.
1847:
Frederick
Bakewell
improves on Bain's idea by
using tin-foil covered revolving drums ( for transmitting and receiving
recorded pictures )
1848:
Claude Felix
Abel Niépce
de Saint-Victor
uses albumen on glass plates for negatives
A Hampstead
engineer
named Francis Whishaw creates
a "speaking telegraph." The device, known as the telekouphonon, serves
as a sort of intercom for long-distance communications in dockyards or
large firms. The telekouphonon's cable is made of gutta-percha,
caoutchouc, glass or earthenware, and connects with an ivory, bone,
wood or metal mouthpiece.
The
telegraph now links New
York and Chicago.
1849:
The Continental
Telegraphen Compagnie of Berlin,
also known as the Wolff Agency, is the first telegraph news service.
Like
the Agence Havas of Paris, founded in 1835, and the Reuter Telegram
Company
of London - Reuters - founded in 1851, the Wolff Agency begins as a
service
providing financial information to bankers but soon offers world news
to
newspapers and other periodicals.
Engineer
Antonio Meucci
develops and tests an experimental
telephone while working in Havana.
1850:
Albumen
printing paper
introduced by L. D. Blanquart-Evrard
Fizeau
measures the velocity of
electricity
The
brothers W. and F.
Langenheim of Philadelphia produce
the first photographic lantern slides, used to project narrative
sequences.
These were the immediate forerunners of narrative films.
1851:
Frederick Scott
Archer
publishes wet-collodion
process
William
Henry Fox Talbot makes
first instantaneous photographs
using electric spark illumination
Morse
Code is adopted and
modified by a special conference
of European nations to produce a simpler and more precise system. Known
as International Morse Code or Continental Code, it replaces spaced
letters
with unspaced letters. Moreover, the Continental Code uses dashes of
uniform
length, as opposed to the original Morse system which used three
different
lengths. International Morse code is still used today for ship-to-shore
communications and amateur radio.
Louis
Jules Duboscq designs a
stereoscopic still camera,
based on the concepts developed two years earlier by Sir David Brewster
in England. The camera produces right and left monocular photographs
that
appear three-dimensional when viewed through a stereoscope.
1852:
The theory of
fluorescence is developed and introduced
by George Gabriel Stokes, a professor of physics and mathematics and
Fellow
of Pembroke College, Cambridge.
William
Henry Fox Talbot
patents a prototype of photo-engraphing
In
1852, there are 6500 km of
telegraph wire strung in
England. By 1862, the number is up to 24,000 km.
1853:
Duplex
telegraphy is
explored by Dr. Wilhelm
Julius Gintl, allowing simultaneous transmission of signals in opposite
directions. Moses Gerrish Farmer of Massachusetts pioneers multiplex
telegraphy, a system which increases the capacity of a telegraph line,
allowing up to six operators to share it. The system is perfected by
Emile Baudot in 1874.
1854:
The telegraph
is used in
Crimean War
French
engineer Charles
Bourseul, an expert in telegraphy,
experiments with ideas for a kind of telephone.
A
telegraph that prints letters
of the alphabet is suggested
by the designs of David Edward Hughes, an English music professor
living
in Kentucky.
Cyrus
Field invites a syndicate
of ten capitalists to
to join an venture team to undertake the laying of a transatlantic
cable.
The enterprise organized as the New York,
Newfoundland and London Telegraph
Company. The most important feature of this newly chartered
company was its exclusive cable landing rights in Newfoundland and
Labrador for the next fifty years!
1855:
German inventor
Heinrich
Geissler develops mercury
pump and produces the first good vacuum tubes.
1856:
Celluloid is
synthesized
by British chemist Alexander
Parkes, under the name "parkesine." Parks will form The Parkesine
Company,
Ltd. ten years later, but it will last only two years. The synthetic
plastic
material he creates as a prototype for celluloid will be developed as a
commercial product by John Wesley Hyatt in 1869.
1857:
Painter Leon
Scott de
Martinville designs the
phonautograph, a precursor of the phonograph. His device makes
permanent
visual records of sound waves, which can then be analyzed. Alexander
Graham
Bell observes the phonautograph at the Massachussets Institute of
Technology
in 1874.
Kirchhoff
relates static and
current electricity by the
constant velocity 'c'
German
scientist Hermann von
Helmholtz notices that he
can make the strings in his piano vibrate when he sings into it. He
then
causes a tuning fork to vibrate and produce sound by switching an
electromagnet
on and off. This principle is the basis of the audio speaker, and sets
one of the cornerstones of the invention of the telephone by Alexander
Graham Bell.
1858:
Heinrich
Geissler, a
German glass blower and
maker of scientific instruments creates the Geissler tube. A vacuum is
created in a glass container sealed with electrodes at either end.
Electrons moving through the tube are visible as patterns of light,
varying according to the shape of the tube or the type of gas
introduced into the vacuum. This invention will lead to the discovery
of cathode rays, a basic principle of video technology.
Julius
Plücker shows that
cathode rays bend under
the influence of a magnet suggesting that they are connected in some
way.
The
first trans-Atlantic
telegraph cable is laid and operates for only four weeks.
Photographer
Thomas Skaife
builds the Pistolgraph, a novelty snapshot camera that almost gets him
arrested when he aims it at Queen
Victoria.
1859:
Establishing an
important principle for the future
of electronics, the German mathematician and physicist Julius Plucker
discovers
that cathode rays ( electrons ) are deflected by a magnetic field.
Alexandre
Edmond Becquerel, a
member of the noted family
of French physicists, uses a Geissler discharge tube filled with
fluorescent
material to create the first primitive fluorescent lamp.
Thomas
Sutton, an editor of the
English publication "Photographic
Notes," is the first to develop a panoramic liquid lens, more commonly
known
as the wide angle photographic lens.
Thomas
Du Mont patents his
'camera zootropica', capable
of reproducing the phases of movement in 12 successive images
Johann
Wilhelm Ritter's
discovery of the secondary cell,
almost 60 years earlier, forms the foundation for the Frenchman Gaston
Plante's invention of the first electric storage cell: the lead-acid
storage battery.
1861:
James Clerk
Maxwell's On
the Theory of the
Three Primary Colours
Oliver
Wendell Holmes invents
the popular 'stereoscope
viewer'
American
inventor Coleman
Sellers patents the 'Kinematoscope':
posed photographs mounted on a turning paddlewheel. In picture parlors,
the Kinematoscope crudely projected the photographs for the audience by
flashing them rapidly on a screen.
Developed by
Philadelphia Coleman Sellers, this
antecedent of the cinema consisted of a series of stereoscopic pictures
printed
on glass plates which were strung together by chain mounted in a box.
The
spectator turned a crank and saw moving images.
The
Kinematoscope, a
device that takes stereoscopic
photographs, is invented in Philadelphia by Coleman Sellers. Like David
Brewster's double camera, the device simultaneously takes two pictures
of
the same subject, but at slightly different perspectives. This gives
the
resulting photographs a suggestion of depth and dimension when they are
observed
through a special viewing device.
NB: The above
"kinematoscopes" is obviously incorrectly named as the descriptions of
operation seems to represent a distinctly
different device to the two above - to be researched.
Western
Union completes construction of
a transcontinental
telegraph line. This line, which links New York and San Francisco, has
been completed despite interference by hostile Indians and Confederate
guerrillas.
German
schoolteacher Johann
Philipp Reis ( 1834-74 ) suceeds in transmitting speech and music
electrically down a wire using a device he called das Telephon - the
'telephone.' These come in various shapes
and sizes; one resembles a large wooden ear. Reis' devices are fragile
and clumsy laboratory models, never put to public use, and are sold
only to research labs or other experimenters.
1862:
In 1852, there
are 6500
km of telegraph wire
strung in England. By 1862, the number is up to 24,000 km. Signalling
distances
have been improved with the introduction of an electromagnetic receiver
that
supplements the line current with the use of local battery power,
thereby
"lengthening" the line. Italian physicist, Abbe Giovanni Caselli, is
the
first to send fixed images over a long distance, using a ( wired )
system
he calls the 'pantelegraph'.
Maxwell,
"On Physical Lines of
Force"
1863:
Using the work
of civil
engineer Henry Dircks
as a foundation, analytical chemist John Henry Pepper creates a machine
that uses mirrors and lenses to project a ghostly image. 'Pepper's
Ghost'
is demonstrated at London's Royal Polytechnic Institute.
1864:
James C.
Maxwell
theorized, in the paper entitled
"A Dynamic Theory of the Electromagnetic Field," to the effect that
electrical
disturbances should travel at light speed. The Maxwell's
Equations
are an extension and mathematical formulation of Faraday's theories of
electricity and magnetic lines of force.
In
Virginia, USA, wireless
electromagnetic waves are transmitted 14 miles
Joseph
Wilson Swan perfects the
carbon process
Around
this time French
inventor Pierre Desvignes refines
William George Horner's 'Daedelum' and markets it under the name
'Zoetrope'
- The Wheel of Life. Toy magnate Milton Bradley packages a study drum,
rotation device and supply of animations sold for $2.50
1865:
Mahlon Loomis
transmits
wireless telegraph messages
between two mountains in Virginia. Loomis used two kites
flown18 miles apart, each carrying a wire that reached to the ground.
When he interrupted
the flow of electricity from the atmosphere, through the wire, to an
earth
ground, a galvanometer on the other kites wire measured a change in
current.
He obtained a patent for this system in 1872, but never obtained
financial
backing to develop his idea.
Atlantic
cable ties Europe and
U.S. for instant communication
1866:
Cyrus
Field
has eventual success with a
Transatlantic Cable from Ireland to Newfoundland.
Varley
brothers (England)
patented a lightning surge protector based on Munck's observation that
the resistance of powdered carbon is drastically reduce by high voltage
discharges.
The
'Woodburytype' process is
patented
American
dentist Mahlon Loomis
( 1826-1886 ) uses radio
waves to send telegraph messages between two mountains in West Virginia
- a distance of 22.5km - using aerials held in the air by kites.
Western
Union Telegraph
acquires two other telegraph companies and becomes the first great
industrial monopoly in the US.
French
physicist Antoine
Becquerel develops the first
fluorescent lamp. It uses a mercury arc and a fluorescent phosphor
coating
to provide an extremely efficient light source. Becquerel is
the grandfather of Henri Becquerel, the discoverer of radioactivity.
1867:
Professor
Charles
Wheatstone, a key contributor
to the development of the English telegraph, creates the first
automatic
printing telegraph system. Messages are typed on an instrument like a
typewriter,
and automatically coded and transmitted as a series of pulses.
Siemens
invents the modern
dynamo
1868:
Amos Dolbear
while a
professor at Bethany College
invented the 'electrostatic telephone'. Dolbear also work on converting
sound waves into electrical impulses.
The
forerunner of
today's dry cell battery is developed
by French chemist Georges Leclanche. The cell is assembled inside a
glass
jar and generates about 1.5 volts.
1869:
Louis Ducos du
Hauron's
'Colors in Photography'
describes the principles of color photography using the subtractive
method
Basing
independent experiments
on Young and Helmholtz'
theories of color separation and mixing, France's Charles Cros and
Louis
Ducos du Hauron both develop a subtractive method of color photography.
Three
different color positives representing cyan, magenta and blue
respectively
are superimposed on one another to create the final picture. These
colors
are described as subtractive primaries because they each represent the
remaining
color after one primary color has been subtracted from white light.
Communications
entrepeneur
Cyrus Field completes construction
of a telegraph cable connecting the US to continental Europe for the
first
time. The cable runs from France to Duxbury, Massachusetts.
1871:
Richard Leach
Maddox
invents the 'gelatin dry
plate silver bromide' process
1872:
John W. Hyatt
begins
manufacturing 'celluloid'
Eadweard
Muybridge started his
photographic compilation
of animals in motion
Léon
Vidal combines
chromolithography with Woodburytype
printing
U.S.
patent (entitled an
'Improvement in Telegraphy')
granted to Mahlon Loomis for a wireless (probably induction) telegraph
on July 20 (or 30), 1872.
Anson
Stager, Enos Barton and
Elisha Gray found the Western
Electric Company. Their main business is selling telegraph equipment,
but
Gray is experimenting with the electrical transmission of actual sound
-
the telephone.
Australia
completes its first
telegraph network; soon
it will be linked to to Indonesia, India and Europe.
1873 :
Maxwell
publishes a text
on electricity, magnetism
and theory of radio waves
Two
English telegraph
engineers, Joseph May and Willoughby
Smith, note that the electrical conductivity of the element selenium
changes
when light falls on it. This property, called photoconductivity, will
give
inventors a way of transforming images into electrical signals.
May uses selenium to
send a signal through the
Atlantic cable
Hermann
Wilhelm Vogel increases the
spectral sensitivity
of photographic emulsions by adding dyes
First
color photographs
A
daguerreotype disk is devised
at the Astrophysical Observatory at Meudon, France by Pierre Jules
Cesar Janssen, to photograph the movement of the stars.
1874:
Karl Ferdinand
Braun
(1850-1918) discovers unilateral
or "one way" conduction (rectification) at metal wire contacts on metal
(lead) sulfide (galena) crystals.
The Irish
physicist
George Johnstone Stoney (1826-1911)
hypothesizes the existence of an "electrine" as the "atom of
electricity"
and estimates its charge to be about 10-20 coulomb (close to the modern value of 1.6021892 x
10-19
coulomb). He actually applies the term "electron" in a 1891
paper in the Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin
Society.
The
Logograph, built by W.H.
Barlow, creates a graphic
representation of the sound vibrations produced by speech.
Quadruplex
telegraphy,
introduced by Thomas Alva Edison,
allows the transmission of two messages simultaneously in both
directions,
producing a total of four messages being transmitted at the same time.
1875 :
Werner Siemens
shows
that electricity travels
along a wire with a velocity approximately equal to that of light.
George Carey
builds a
rudimentary facimile system
using dozens of tiny light-sensitive selenium cells.
1876 :
Alexander
Graham Bell
invents the "telephone"
The
radiometer, an instrument
used to detect the effect
of light radiation, is invented by Sir William Crookes.
The
first Teletypewriter is
used on Telegraph lines.
1877:
Thomas A.
Edison records
sound on cylinders.
The first recording - "Mary had a little lamb."
Working
independently, E.W.
Siemens in Germany and the
team of Cuttris and Redding in the U.S. develop the dynamic microphone.
In this device, the diaphragm is attached to a light coil that
generates
voltage through electromagnetic induction as it moves back and forth
between
the poles of a permanent magnet
Alexander
Graham Bell and his
father-in-law, Gardiner
Hubbard, found the Bell Telephone Association. Western Union
establishes
the American Speaking-Telephone Co. to compete with them, but the Bell
company is already leasing telephones at the rate of 1000 a month. The
first telephone switchboard is installed at the office of a burglar
alarm company in Boston. Local telephone exchanges go into business in
New England, Iowa, and the Great
Lakes region. Emile Berliner, a German-American inventor, develops a
loose-contact
telephone transmitter superior to Bell's. The following year, Bell buys
the
rights to the invention. By that time, Berliner is patenting an
induction
coil for use as a transmitter.
(?)The
'radiometer', an
instrument used to detect the
effect of light radiation, is invented by William Crookes.
English-American
photographer
Eadweard Muybridge used
a battery of 24 cameras to record the cycle of motion of a running
horse
for Leland Stanford.
Chemist
and railway engineer
Georges Leclanche introduces
the solid depolarizer battery, after ten years of development. Although
it is not portable, it is popularly used to power telephones and
doorbells
for many years. Today's dry cell battery is derived directly from
Leclanche's
model.
1878:
Sir William
Crookes
develops the 'cathode ray'
tube that confirms the existence of cathode rays.
Maurice
Senlacq proposes the
use of selenium in facsimile
machines to transmit paper documents.
Eadweard
Muybridge publishes
'The Horse in motion' He
goes on to invent the 'Zoogyroscope' (projector) which in turn became
the
'Zoopraxograph' and then the Zoopraxiscope, a sensation at the World's
Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago.
In
France, Emile Reynaud
invents the the 'Praxinoscope',
an optical toy and the first practical device for projecting successive
images on a screen
1879 :
The Berlin
Academy of
Sciences offers a prize
to the scientist who can show experimentally that a changing electric
field
generates a transient electric field, and vice-versa. The
challenge
is taken up by, among others...Heinrich Hertz.
In
Ireland, Denis Redmond
builds ( possibly in 1879 )
his 'Electric Telescope' transmitting an image electrically. Argueably
the first 'television' system
American,
George Carey
transmits pictures over wire bundles
Carlo
Peresino suggests the
concept of television 'scanning'.
This is the practice of breaking down an image into picture elements
which
are then reassembled on the screen of the television
receiver. In
the 1880s the idea is seconded by W. E. Sawyer and Maurice Leblanc.
Following
his photographic
series of a horse in motion,
commissioned by Leland Stanford to settle a bet, English photographer
Eadweard
(that's the way he spells it!) Muybridge develops the zoopraxiscope.
The
device reconstructs motion from series of photographs on a revolving
transparent
glass disc, and foreshadows the onset of motion pictures.
American
engineer Leroy B.
Firman invents the multiple
switchboard, capable of handling more than the fifty telephone lines
previous
switchboards were limited to. The subsequent improvement in service
will
help to quadruple the number of telephones in service in the US in the
next
ten years. In 1884 the Western Electric Company will introduce the
multiple
switchboard to England.
On
October 21, 1879, inventor
Thomas Edison demonstrates
the carbon filament light bulb, making good his bold promise to solve
the
problem of the incandescence that had been plaguing scientists for 50
years.
The lamp glows for 40 hours, powered by a special high-voltage dynamo.
The key to Edison's success is the filament material that is housed
inside the vacuum bulb: carbonized cotton thread, which demonstrates a
greater resistance than platinum wire, the material used formerly.
Edison constructs a parallel circuit of 30 lamps, supplied with current
from a special high-voltage dynamo. Each of the lamps operates
independently from the others, so that one can be turned down without
effecting the operation of the rest. Within three years,
the Pearl Street central power station in downtown New York City is
constructed,
the first of many such large-scale operations that light the cities of
the
world. The Pearl Street plant is equipped with steam-driven generators
of
900 hp, which can provide enough power for 7,200 lamps.1875
Anglo-American
inventor David
Edward Hughs demonstrated
the reception of radio signals from a spark transmitter located some
hundreds
of meters away. In these experiments, he conducted a current
from
a voltaic cell through a glass tube filled loosely with zinc and silver
fillings, which "cohered" when radio waves impinged on it.
1880:
Maurice Leblanc
suggests
'photoelectric scanning'
or transmitting a picture in segments also offers the first proposal
for
color television.
An
early scanning device was
developed by George Carey.
The image was scanned by a selenium cell which travelled across the
image
in a spiral path. The signal currents were transmitted through a single
line wire. The system lacked any synchronisation between scanning
transmission
and reception.
Denis
Redmond publishes the
first book about television,
'La Telescopie Electrique' ( The Electric Telescope ).
Piped-in
music, transmitted by
a device known as the electrophone, telharmonium or dynamophone, is
introduced by Dr. Thaddeus Cahill.
The system allows subscribers to dial in to a central switchboard in
order
to receive transmissions of musical and theatrical performances from
concert
halls and theaters.
U.S.
patent granted for a
mirror-optical telephone that
transmits speech by light rays, called the "photophone" (later
rechristened
the "radiophone") designed by Alexander Graham Bell and Sumner
Tainter.
A further patent covering fundamental improvements to this invention
was
granted to the American Bell Company in 1897. A forerunner of
today's
fiber optic communications, Bell considered the lightwave system for
sending
sound to be his greatest invention, although it had no practical
application
at the time.
1881:
The 'Scanning
Phototelegraph' is invented by
physicist Shelford Bidwell. The process uses electricity and selenium
to
transmit the image of a chart, map or photograph over a distance,
producing
a wirephoto. The telautograph, an electrical device used to transmit
handwriting
and line drawing, is invented by Elisha Gray.
French
inventor
Clément Ader builds an ultra-sensitive
microphone and, with it, discovers the stereo effect. He uses twelve of
these
microphones to transmit the sounds of the Paris Opera, via lines laid
through
the Paris sewers, to the Exhibition Hall at the Palais de l'Industrie.
Up
to 48 listeners can hear the opera using two receivers each, one for
each
ear. * Ader called his system the 'Theatrephone'. This is the first
public
broadcast entertainment.
Feedback:
Date:
Wed, 04 Mar 1998 18:15:05 +0100
From: Eole
Reply-To:
ogechter@club-internet.fr
To: russelln@netspace.net.au
Subject: Clement Ader's
phone.
Hello,
I'm
the
author of the Clement Ader's homepage.
Ader
discovered the stereo effect with his theatrophone and not with his
microphone.
If
you
want more information and pictures on Ader's phone visit my site: http://village.cyberbrain.com/musee/Eole/autresin.htm
( use an automatic translator:the english site isn't ready ) and for
the
Théatrophone: http://www.telemuseum.se/historia/teatrophon/theatro2.html
Amicalement
Olivier
Russell
Naughton answers: Yes, Ader's system
was indeed called the Theatrephone as I have added now * ( March 98 ).
The original data was taken from the excellent Arthur C. Clark site.
The discovery of the stated 'stereo effect' was however due to Ader's
use of more than one
microphone and the subsequent delivery of a number of phase different
signals
to the listeners ears. In reality, the overall sound would have,
without
implementation ( or knowlege? ) of the correct phase relationship
required
by the use of multiple microphones, been quite 'muddy' but none the
less
acoustically 'diffuse' and somewhat 'stereophonic' in nature.
The
rechargeable
battery, designed with a lead
latticework grid, is introduced.
Constantin
Senlecq, a French
lawyer, invents the teletroscope.
1882:
Professor Amos
E.
Dolbear of Tufts University
communicates over a distance of a quarter of a mile without wires and
is
issued a US patent for a wireless telegraph.
Striving
to capture the minute
details of motion, Dr.
Jules Etienne Marey, a French physiologist, develops the fusil
photographique,
or photographic pistol. It can take 12 consecutive pictures per second.
Edison's
Pearl Street station
begins operation in New
York
The
induction coil system or
"secondary generator" is
developed by Lucien Gaulard in France, and John Gibbs in the UK.
1883:
Thomas Edison
accidentally discovers what comes
to be known as the "Edison effect" while trying to find a way to keep
the
inside of his electric lights free of soot. While
experimenting with
the incandescent bulb, Edison placed a metal plate inside the evacuated
bulb and connected a wire to it creating, in effect, a vacuum
diode!
He noted a curious unidirectional or "one-way" flow of electrical
current
from the light emitting hot filament across the vacuum to the metal
wire.
This phenomenon defied immediate explanation by the inventor as well as
his
contemporaries. Unfortunately, he did not realize the
implications
- or did not take time to pursue them because of other interests at the
time.
The current flow is due to the thermionic emissionof
electrons from
the hot electrode flowing to the cold electrode. The Edison effect is
the
basis of all the vacuum tube devices, and, thus, the foundation of the
electronics
industry in the early 20th century.
Edison
patents the Fuse.
Fitzgerald
predicts the
existence of electromagnetic waves
1884 :
T.
Calzecchi-Onesti, in
Italy, carefully
studies studied how the resistance of metal filings in an ebonite or
glass
tube is effected by electrical discharges.
German
scientist Paul
Gottlieb Nipkow patents
his electric telescope a device for scene analyzation that consisted of
a rapidly rotating disk placed between a scene and a light sensitive
selenium
element. What has became known as the Nipkow disk is a
spirally perforated
disc that rotates in front of the image to be analyzed and, thus,
progressively
reveals the image to the sensor.. Although a mechanical design, it was
the first system, to propose and embody the principle of image
scanning. It is believed a working model was never built by Nipkow
himself. It would take the development of the amplification tube before
the Nipkow Disc would become practical.
A
synchronous multiplex
telegraph system is designed by Patrick Delany, allowing several
operators to use the same telegraph line
at once, instead of sharing it on a cyclic basis.
Etienne
Jules Marey develops
the 'Chronophotographe' and in the coming decade, in collaboration with
Georges Demeny, perfected techniques for both the analysis and
synthesis of movement.
Gulielmo
Marconi first
experiments with Hertzian Waves.
A
practical design for a
commercial transformer is produced
by Max Deri, Otto Blathy and Karl Zipernowsky.
1885:
J. J. Thompson
uses
magnetism to deflect Crookes'
'cathode rays'.
Edouard
Branly begins his work
investigating the transmission
of nerve impulses. His research over the next several years will result
in what will later be called the 'coherer' - a device for detecting
'Hertzian
waves'.
1886:
Eugene
Goldstein, a
German physicist, identifies
canal rays in the electric charge carriers inside the discharge tube.
The
canal rays are composed of different, positively charged ions in the
gases
formed by the discharge.
The
electric light bulb or
"bayonet cap" is marketed in the UK by the Edison & Swan United
Electric Light Co. The firm represents
the combined forces of Thomas Alva Edison, the American inventor, and
Sir
Joseph Wilson Swan, the pioneering English chemist and physicist who
made
an incandescent lamp using a carbon filament 20 years before Edison's
lamp.
The
chemical element germanium
is discovered by German
chemist Clemens Alexander Winkler. He isolates the silver-grey metal
from
the mineral argyrodite, which is a mixed sulfide of silver and
germanium.
The existence of germanium, named after Winkler's homeland, was
predicted
in 1871 in the Russian chemist Mendeleyev's periodic table,
hypothetically
named "ekasilicon." It will be used extensively in the manufacture of
semiconductor
materials and devices.
At
the Volta Laboratory in
Washington, DC, Chichester
Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter develop the graphophone, a variant of
Edison's
phonograph. They substitute wax for tinfoil as a covering for the
cylinder,
and use a sapphire stylus.
1887:
In a remarkable
series
of experiments, Heinrich
(Rudolph) Hertz (1857-1894), a professor at the Karlsruhe Polytechnic,
establishes the validity of Maxwell's theoretic analysis by showing
that a field generated by an electric spark can travel through space as
waves and that these waves have the same physical properties as
light. In particular, he demonstrated that the velocity of
these electromagnetic waves is equal to that of light. Hertz
never tried to use electromagnetic waves for communication and even
denied the practicability of such an undertaking.
Thomas
Edison starts research
work into motion pictures.
An
American Episcopalian
minister Hannibal Williston Goodwin (1822-1900) invents the use of
celluloid as an emulsion base, an essential
step in the development of cinematography. He became interested in
photography
through the magic lantern entertainments he gave for his congregation.
The
number of telephones in
service in the US reaches
200,000. Boston has over 5000 phones, Hartford and New Haven each have
more than 1000.
Oberlin
Smith imagines the tape
recorder.
1888:
German
physicist Wilhelm
Hallwachs noted that
certain substances emit electrons when exposed to light. Hallwachs
demonstrated
the possibility of using photoelectric cells in cameras. This property
called photoemission was applied in the creation of image orthicon
tubes allowing the creation of the electronic television camera.
Tired
of the unwieldy glass
plate system normally used
in his work, photographer John Carbutt commissions a celluloid
manufacturer
to provide him with thin sheets, coated with emulsion, that will roll
through
a camera. This same year, George Eastman will market a paper
photographic
film in rolls.
Up to this point, photography has been
the exclusive domain of professionals. With the introduction of the
flexible roll film camera by
a dry plate manufacturer named George Eastman, it is now made available
to
anyone who can press a button. The inexpensive, fixed-focus Kodak
camera uses
roll film with a paper base, coated with a photosensitive emulsion. One
roll
of film has the capacity for 100 circular pictures with a 2 1/4in
diameter.
The Kodak, which establishes Eastman's hold on the photographic
products
market, is made famous with the slogan "You press the button, we do the
rest."
W.
K. Laurie Dickson ( working
for Edison ) starts to
develop Kinetograph camera.
Louis
Le Prince's camera
initially uses paper roll film
but changes to the new Eastman celluloid film in 1899. Le Prince, his
films
and equipment disappeared without a trace in September 1890.
A
commercial model of the
phonograph, first devised by
Thomas Edison almost ten years earlier, is built in his Menlo Park
laboratory.
It is equipped with a clockwork motor and wax cylinders.
1889:
Lazare Weiller
scans
with mirrors on a revolving
drum.
At
the Eastman Kodak factory,
Henry Reichenbach using
a nitro-cellulose base creates celluloid roll film, an improvement on
Eastman's
earlier emulsion-coated paper variety.
Thomas
Edison and his
assistant, William Kennedy Laurie
Dickson, patent and market an electric peephole viewing machine called
the Kinetoscope. It uses 158 glass plates, later to be replaced by
Eastman and Goodwin's roll film which projected a 50ft length of film
in approximately
13 seconds. Having little faith in the Kinetoscope or motion pictures
in
general, Edison neglects extending his patent rights to England and
Europe.
Within the next five years, two Frenchmen will manufacture the portable
Cinematographe projector based on Edison's ideas, initiating the era of
motion pictures.
A
coin-operated telephone for
public use is designed by William Gray, and the prototype is installed
at the Hartford Bank. Soon
the Gray Telephone Pay Station Co. is established to rent the devices
to
merchants and businesses.
Thomas
Edison and his assistant
William Kennedy Dickson
develop the Edison camera or Kinetograph, using the phonograph as a
foundation
for the device. Dickson abandons the wax cylinders for celluloid film,
a far superior medium for motion pictures, and between 1891 and 1895,
shoots
the first films. Each averaging about 15 seconds, these films are
designed
be shown on the Kinetoscope. Edison's disinterest in the Kinetograph
and
its European patent rights opens up the field for the Lumiere brothers,
who
develop the Cinematographe in 1895.
1890:
Edouard Branly,
Physics
Professor at the Catholic
University of Paris, found that a nearby electromagnetic disturbance
can
lower the resistance of a thin layer of copper and is, thus, credited
as
the inventor of the coherer wireless detector.
Michael
Pupin studies low
pressure vacuum-tube discharges,
and invents an electrical resonator.
Charles
Driffield and Ferdinand
Hurter publish their work on emulsion sensitivity and exposure
measurement
The
Kinematograph camera and
projector are publicly demonstrated
in London. Invented by William Friese-Green, a Bristol born
photographer
and self-taught scientist, the camera is able to take pictures on
modified
celluloid film at 50 fps (frames per second) by means of parallel
sprocket
holes. Friese-Green's invention is unreliable and does not meet with
great
success.
The
High Frequency
Generator is invented by Elihu
Thomson, a US engineer and inventor, with Edward James Houston.
1891:
Thomas Edison
receives a
patent for wireless
telegraphy.
Edison
patents 'Kinetograph'
camera and 'Kinetoscope'
viewer. The Kinetoscope is not a projector. The coin-operated machines
were introduced in public parlors in New York City in 1894 and appeared
in London, Berlin, and Paris before the end of the year.
Suspecting
that his
competitor's wife - an operator at
the local telephone exchange - is redirecting business calls to her
husband's
company, Kansas City undertaker Almon Brown Strowger creates the
automatic
telephone switchboard. He patents what he calls a "girl-less,
cuss-less,
out-of-order-less, wait-less" telephone system, which is activated when
a
caller selects a number by pressing a combination of three buttons.
Also
in 1891, Strowger patents a dial telephone and founds the Automatic
Electric
Co. to promote his invention. The first automatic system will be put
into
commercial use in La Porte, Indiana the following year. The Strowger
system
can link up to 99 subscribers, and is later licensed to ATT. In 1919,
the
Bell Telephone System will adopt the automatic switchboard and the dial
phone.
In
the same year he is granted
his US citizenship, inventor
Nikola Tesla constructs what is known as the Tesla coil. This air-core
transformer converts low voltage high current to high voltage low
current at high frequencies; it is soon considered essential equipment
in research laboratories across the country, to supplement the weak
oscillations of the Hertz circuit.
1892:
William Crookes
distinctly foresaw the application
of Hertzian waves to practical telegraphy in a paper in the Fortnightly
Review in February.
Frederick
Ives invents first
complete system for natural
color photography.
Telephone
service
between New York and Chicago
commences.
1893:
The
'photoelectric cell'
is invented by German
physicists Julius Elster and Hans F. Geitel. Also called the
'photocell'
or 'electric eye', the photoelectric cell varies its electric output in
relation to the light it receives.
Thomas Edison
patents
Dickson's 'Kinetoscope'
under his own name.
The
Kinetographic Theater, a
film studio, is designed
by W.K.L. Dickson, an associate of Thomas Edison, at Menlo Park, New
Jersey.
The entire studio revolves on a pivot to follow the sunlight. It is
nicknamed
'The Black Maria'
Edweard
Muybridge projects many
of his sequences of human
beings in motion at the Chicago fair, in a specially constructed
building
of classical design, the Zoopraxographical Hall, a forerunner of the
Cinema
theatre
Electricity
wizard Nikola Tesla
has applied for and received
over 40 US patents on the AC electrical system, which will form the
basis
of electrical power distribution systems throughout the world. The
competition
between the Westinghouse - Tesla alliance and Thomas Edison is fierce.
Edison
has ignored Tesla's discoveries in favor of his own direct current
electrical
system, but the DC method ultimately fails because it is unable to
distribute
power efficiently for more than a few miles. Unwilling to accept his
competitors'
success, Edison wages a venomous smear campaign which includes the
electrocution
of small animals with AC power, to demonstrate its potential danger to
the
public. Despite such efforts, the inventor fails to turn the tide of
progress.
In 1893, Edison loses the competition to supply the Niagara Falls with
hydroelectric
power generation facilities. Westinghouse and Tesla win the contract,
and
the 15,000 hp two-phase facility is up and running by 1895.
Nicola Tesla demonstrated his system for
wireless signaling.
Tesla successfully tested a small radio controlled and powered boat on
a lake
at New York's Madison Square Gardens.
1894:
Oliver Joseph
Lodge
delivered a series of seminal
lectures entitled "The Work of Hertz and Some of His
Successors."
In particular, he emphasized that Branly's powders were "The most
astonishingly
sensitive detector of Hertz waves" and coined the term "coherer."
Guglielmo
Marchese
Marconi (1874 - 1937) embarked
on a study of the research of Hertz (who had died that year) and began
to speculate that Hertzian waves might be used in communication. His
interest
was presumably prompted by a commemorative article written by Righi,
since
he had been familiar with the mathematical conclusions of Maxwell and
Kelvin.
He had also read a description of the results obtained by Branly and
Onesti,
with detectors consisting of imperfect electrical contacts.
Marconi
started his experiments on the application of Hertzian waves to
wireless
telegraphy in late 1894 at the the family estate,Villa Griffone, in
Pontecchio
Bologna. (Source1
and
Source2)
US inventor
Charles
Francis Jenkins patents the
phantascope, one of the first practical motion picture projection
machines.
Michael
Idvorsky Pupin, a
Hungarian physicist and former
student of Hermann von Helmholtz, is now living in the United States,
where
he makes innovations in multiplex telegraphy
1895:
On May 7
Alexander Stepanovitch Popov (1859
- 1906) demonstrated a system for detecting distant electromagnetic
disturbances
(viz. lightning discharges in the atmosphere many
miles away) before
a meeting of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society in St.
Petersburg.
Popov's receiver consisted of a metal filings coherer he had developed
as the detector element together with an antenna, a relay, and a
bell.
The relay was used to activate the bell which both announced the
occurrence
of a lightning discharge and served as a "decoherer" (tapper) to ready
the coherer to detect the next lightning discharge. (Source)
The young
physicist
Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937),
newly arrived at Cambridge from New Zealand, employs an magnetic effect
to detect Hertzian waves over a distance of two miles. Only
twenty-four,
Rutherford delivers an experimental lecture on this research before the
Cambridge
Physical Society. (This lecture is later published by the Royal Society
of
London.) In fact, Rutherford's 1894 work, in New Zealand, on
the magnetic
detection of electromagnetic waves had resulted in two substantial
scientific
papers and won him a scholarship, which provided for further education
in
England. (Source)
Marconi
continued his
experiments on Hertzian waves at
Villa Grifone throughout the year. Using
oscillators similar
to those used by Hertz and Righi (although Marconi's had much greater
capacitance
and hence greater radiating power), he discovered that the distance
over
which signals could be transmitted and received, varied in proportion
to
the square of the length of the vertical wires (antenna or aerial)
attached
to the transmitter or the receiver. In particular, he found
2m antenna
gave a range of 30m, a 4m antenna 100m and an 8m antenna a range of
400m.
He also devote a great deal of effort to improving performance of
Branly's
mysterious coherer detector. Finally, in early summer (or
September
or March 30, 1995) and despite an intervening hill, Marconi achieved
signal
transmission and reception (three dots -- i.e., the
letter "S") over
a distance of about 2.4 km. (Source1
and Source2)
Captain
H. B. Jackson, a
scientifically minded officer
at the British Royal Navy's Torpedo School, constructed a wireless set
that would send Morse code signals from one end of
a ship to the other. The following year, he performed the same
experiment from ship to ship within a harbor. (In September of 1896,
Captain Jackson was an observer at Marconi's demonstration on Salisbury
Plains.) (Source)
Wilhelm
Conrad Röntgen
discovers x-rays
Louis
and Auguste Lumière
issued a patent for a device called a cinematograph capable of
projecting moving pictures and
on Dec 28, 1895, the brothers show the first motion pictures at the
Grand
Cafe on the Boulevard Des Capucines.
In
the US, Enoch Rector invents
a device to prevent motion
picture film from breaking in the camera. The device is called the
Latham
Loop, after Rector's employers, the Latham Brothers. Thomas Armat
produces
the same device independently for his Vitascope Beater Movement
projector.
May
1895 - Birt Acres
( 1854-1918 ) patents his
Kineopticon and becomes the first Englishman to successfully produce
and
publicly show animated pictures, initially at the Royal Photographic
Society
in London on 14th January the following year. The demonstration
includes
film strips of the 1895 Derby and the opening of the Kiel canal by the
German
Emperor.
Photographic
typesetting
(kinematography) is
invented by William Friese-Greene, of London. He takes out a patent but
his
system is never built for commercial use.
1896:
January:
After
eighteen months of experimentation
and development, Marconi and his family were convinced that his
wireless
telegraphy system was patentable and ready for public demonstration.
February:
Marconi and his mother
(nee Annie Jameson whose
family was the Jameson Distillers of Belfaest) travelled to Great
Britain
in pursuit of two alternative and, perhaps, conflicting
strategies.
Prior to applying for a patent he felt that he should make his
information
available to the Italian government and seek some financial help from
the
government's Post and Telegraph Service. To that end, he and
his mother contacted a family friend, General Ferrero, who was the
Italian Ambassador in London. After many months of
consideration, there apppeared to be little enthusiasm for his
invention in Italy: in fact, the appropriate Italian minister reported
that it was "not suitable for telecommunications!"
While awaiting response from the Italian government, Marconi
and his mother were using the influence of the Jameson name to provide
introductions
to important people in positions to help get support for the further
development.
In particular, she secured a hearing before Sir William Preece
(1834-1913),
then Engineer-in-Chief for the Post Office, who immediately saw the
importance
of Marconi's apparatus.
With
the help of the Jameson
family money and connections
he set up the Wireless Signal Telegraph Company which later became the
Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company. (Source)
March:
March 24, 1896
Alexander Popov demonstrated the transmission and reception of
information by wireless telegraphy before
another meeting of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society ate St.
Petersburg
University. The message "HEINRICH HERTZ" was transmitted a
distance
of over 800 feet between two campus buildings. (Source)
June:
On the basis of the
small scale trials in Bologna
and with the guidance of his cousin Henry Jameson Davis, Marconi, on
June
2nd , files the world's first patent application for a system of
telegraphy
using Hertzian waves -- British Patent number 12039. Because
of the
need to protect his patent interests, the specific details of Marconi's
equipment are not disclosed publicly until June 4, when William Preece
gaves
a public lecture at The Royal Institution in London. The lecture is
published
in the next issue of The Electrician.
July:
Marconi demonstrates
his apparatus to both the
Post Office and the War Office in a sequence of trials of in London .
September
A historic
demonstration takes place at Three
Mile Hill on Salisbury Plain on the September 2nd, with officials from
the GPO, the Navy and the Army present.
Thomas Edison,
using
Thomas Arnat's 'Vitascope',
shows the first motion pictures in the USA in Koster and Bial's Music
Hall
in New York.
Thomas
Edison's company,
General Electric, licenses Nikola
Tesla's AC (alternating current) system and in 1896 builds a
transmission
and distribution system linking the Niagara Falls Powerhouse to
Buffalo,
NY. This signals the winding down of the war between Edison and
Westinghouse
over the superiority of the electric currents, Edison having failed to
win
the public over to his own DC (direct current) system. Westinghouse,
the
first to supply the Niagara Falls with hydroelectric power generation
facilities, will eventually build seven more generating units, raising
the yield to 50,000 hp. The high-yield AC voltages make possible the
manufacture of aluminum, as Tesla had predicted, and enables the
Pittsburgh Reduction Company--later to be known as the Aluminum Company
of America (ALCOA)--to feed raw materials to the youthful aircraft
industry.
1897:
Thus, he
received from
the British government
the first wireless patent which was based, in part, on the theory that
the communication range increases substantially as the height of the
antenna
is increased. He continued through 1897 with trials over water and
reached
18 miles in November of that year.
March:
Marconi was back on
Salisbury Plain and achieved
a range of 7 miles (11.2 km). A complete patent specification
is filed on March 2, 1897.
Popov
equips a land station
at Kronstadt and on the Russian navy cruiser Africa with his wireless
communications apparatus for ship-to-shore communications.
May:
On the fourth day of a
series tests across the
Bristol Channel Marconi achieves new record range of 8.7 miles (14 km)
with
an aerial at 300 feet and a 20 inch spark coil (at a
wavelength of
1.25 m). The Morse message sent was "let it be so."
ing
the support of the Chief Engineer of
the British Post
Office, Marconi patents his system in England and, in 1897, founds the
Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company, Ltd. In 1900 the name of the
company will be changed to Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company,
Ltd.April 23, (Source1,
Source2
and Source3)In
the summer, Marconi's Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company, is
incorporated
under the laws of England. Later (1900) the name is changed
to Marconi's
Wireless Telegraph Company
One of the first practical applications of wireless came in 1898, when
Marconi followed the Kingstown Regatta in a tugboat and flashed the
results in code to the offices of a Dublin newspaper. In 1899 the value
of
wireless telegraphy in saving lives at sea was first demonstrated. The
East Goodwin Sands lightship was rammed in a fog, and aid was
summoned by wireless.
Karl Ferdinand Braun constructs the
first cathode ray
to incorporate a scanning capability.
Marconi
was granted a patent on
July 2, 1897 (
Josef
Maria Eder and Eduard
Valenta publish stereoscopic
Röntgen photographs.
At
the University of
Strasbourg, German physicist Karl
Ferdinand Braun invents the 'oscilloscope', the first cathode ray tube
(CRT). In this laboratory device ( the forerunner of television and
radar tubes )
a narrow stream of electrons traces patterns on the fluorescent screen
of
the tube. Braun is also the inventor of the crystal rectifier, a device
that
allows current to flow in only one direction and improves radio
transmission. He will share the 1909 Nobel Prize with Guglielmo Marconi
for the development of radio.
The
British Ministry gives
Marconi money and technicans
to continue his work. Marconi signals reached 5, 8, 15, 30 and 100 km.
In July Marconi formed the Wireless Telegraph Trading Signal Co. Ltd.
J.
J. Thomson, head of the
experimental physics program
at Cambridge University in England, discovers and identifies units of
electrical
current--electrons-- in cathode rays. Thomson believes that these units
are a fundamental part of all matter. He suggests that in a model of
atomic
structure, the negatively charged subatomic particles, electrons, are
embedded
in a sphere of positive electricity, and that the two charges
neutralize
each other. Thomson's findings revolutionize the study of physics, and
win
him the Nobel Prize 1906. The strength of his gift as a researcher and
a
teacher is evidenced by the fact that seven of his research assistants,
and
his son George, will win Nobel prizes, and he will lead his country to
the
forefront of the field of subatomic particles in the early 20th century.
The
oscillograph is invented by
William du Bois Duddell,
a British engineer.
The
American Mutoscope and
Biograph Company (later to
be known as Biograph) produces the mutoscope, a peep-show viewer
developed
to rival Edison's Kinetoscope. The device uses large cardboard
photographs
that flip when a hand crank is rotated, and outperforms the Kinetoscope
with its electrically driven film strip. Mutoscopes can still be found
at
some carnivals, amusement parks and penny arcades.
1898:
May:
Lloyds of London, the
marine underwriters's association, invites Marconi to install an
experimental wireless link between Rathlin Island and Ballycastle (on
the coast of Ireland) as part of a maritime intelligence
network. George Kemp reports having received "a
few V signals" from Rathlin Island on July 6th (source).
July:
As one of
the first practical applications
of wireless, Marconi radio reports the Kingston Yacht Regatta for
Dublin's
Daily Express.
September:
Marconi comes to the
US, where he demonstrates
for the Navy a telegraph link between the cruisers New York and
Massachusetts.
John G. Pickard (for American Wireless
Telephone and Telegraph Company), Lee de Forest (for Wireless Telegraph
Company of America) and Guglielmo Marconi (for Marconi Wireless
Telegraph and Signal Company, Ltd.) battle to
cover the America Cup Race in September and October.
Marconi was
called back
to Italy by the minister
of the Italian navy. As a naval officer, he conducts some of his most
important
experiments aboard naval ships.
Lodge
invents a means of radio
tuning (the sintonic circuit)
and is granted a patent in the USA.
The
Bellowing Telephone (a
speaker phone) is developed
by Sir Oliver Lodge, Professor of Physics at University College,
Liverpool.
The
loudspeaker is invented by
Horace Short of London.
The compressed air "Auxetophone" is first used to broadcast records of
operatic arias from the tops of the Blackpool Tower in England and the
Eiffel Tower in France.
December
1 - Danish electrical
engineer and inventor Valdemar Poulsen ( 1869-1942 ) patents the first
practical magnetic sound recorder, the 'Telegraphone', using magnetised
piano wire as the recording medium. Poulsen demonstrates his device at
the Paris Exhibition of 1900, and
later adapts it to create a recording telephone.
1899:
The first
wireless
telegraph message is sent
across the English Channel by Marconi in March.
The
Marconi's Wireless
Telegraph Company of America is
formed on November 22nd and, eventually becomes the Radio
Corporation
of America in 1919.
After
being rammed by a
freighter the East Goodwin Sands
Lightship, on the evening of March 3rd sent the first recorded maritime
radio request for help. (Source)
Nikola Tesla,
gazing at
the Colorado Springs
skies during a Fourth of July electrical storm, makes what he believes
to
be his most important discovery. By studying the movement of clouds, he
perceives the existence of terrestrial stationary waves that transmit
energy, and is thereby assured of the possibility of wireless
telegraphy (which he has suspected for some time). Even more
fantastic is the fact that using the earth as a conductor will make
possible the transmission of unlimited power to any
location on the planet. This means, among other things, that
the modulations
of the human voice can be heard around the world. Tesla builds a
magnifying
transmitter and, in one experiment, lights 200 incandescent lamps from
a
distance of 26 miles without the use of wires. In the most spectacular
demonstration
of his career, he creates a bolt of lightning 135 feet long, the crack
of
which can be heard 15 miles away from his laboratory. The experiment is
cut
short only by the Colorado Springs Electric Company who, complaining of
a
burned out generator, crisply informs him that his service is thereby
terminated.
It is during this same year that Tesla receives what he believes to be
communications
from Venus or Mars. Public reaction ranges from the polite to the
incredulous,
but sixty years later scientists will acknowledge the fact that radio
signals
from beyond our atmosphere are indeed often picked up by earthbound
receivers.
Valdemar
Poulsen of Denmark
invents a sound recording
device, forerunner of the modern tape recorder. Poulsen's invention,
which
he calls the telegraphone, records sound on a magnetic wire. Poulsen
demonstrates
his device at the Paris Exhibition of 1900, and later adapts it to
create
a recording telephone.
In
the US, Michael Idvorsky
Pupin, an immigrant Hungarian
physicist and inventor, devises the so-called Pupin "loading" coil - a
system for extending the range of long distance telephone service by
placing inductance coils around the transmitting wires. AT&T
patents the invention in 1901.
A
photoelectric cell designed
for practical use is invented
by German physicists Julius Elster and Hans Friedrich Geitel.
Originally
introduced in 1893, photoelectric cells permit the conversion of
luminous
flux into an electric current. Thereafter, variations in light are
transmitted
by an electric current and then turned back into identical light
variations
upon arrival. The end result is the successful transmission of static
or
luminous imagery.
November:
The Marconi's Wireless
Telegraph Company of America is formed on November 22nd (it
became the Radio Corporation of
America in 1919).
1900:
Reginald Arbrey
Fessenden is hired by Weather
Bureau to work out means to obtain weather reports from and to provide
forecasts to offshore light vessels and isolated locations.
He became
interested in voice transmission and, as a result, developed the
concepts
of amplitude modulation (AM). Fessenden theorizes that an
alternator,
as developed by Tesla, could generate an electromagnetic wave able to
carry
voice and music. He uses a spark generator to send the human
voice
the distance of about one mile.
Marconi
filed for the
now-famous (or infamous) patent
No. 7777 for an "oscillating sintonic circuitÖ" -- the basis for
frequency
multiplexing.
The
crew of the battleship
General-Admiral Apraksin is
saved in the Gulf of Finland as a result of distress call relayed by
Popov's
radio system (variously reported as 1899 or 1901).
A
"car radio" is invented by
Guglielmo Marconi.
The radio is installed inside a fully equipped Thornycroft steam wagon,
and used for wireless telegraphy experiments.
In 1901 Marconi achieved a dramatic success when he transmitted signals
across the Atlantic Ocean by wireless. Other scientists had thought this
impossible, believing that radio waves traveled only in straight lines.
Marconi, however, thought that the long waves he used would follow the
curvature of the Earth. This was proved when, on Dec. 12, 1901, he
received signals in St. John's, Newf., sent from a transmitter in
Poldhu
at
the southwestern tip of England.
First
mass-marketed camera,
'The Kodak Brownie'
The
Wireless Telegraph Trading
Signal Co. Ltd changes
its name to the 'Marconi Telegraph Co.' Marconi gets his English patent
for his tuning equipment.
1901:
On December 12
the first
transatlantic communication,
which involved sending the Morse-code signal for the letter "S" from
Poldhu,
Cornwall in southwest England, 2170 miles across theAtlantic to an
aerial
device suspended from a kite in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada,
England,
to Saint John's, Newfoundland. John A. Fleming was at the
transmitter
in England.
Karl
Ferdinand Braun introduces
the use of a crystal detector
as part of a wireless receiver.
1902:
The magnetic
detector is
invented by Marconi.
The
DeForest Wireless Telegraph
Company is formed.
Valdemar
Poulsen invents the
arc converter as a generator
of continuous-wave radio signals.
Fessenden
developed and
demonstrated the heterodyne principle.
Fessenden forms the National Electric Signaling Company.
Arthur
E. Kennelly and Oliver
Heaviside independently
discover a reflective layer (i.e. the ionosphere or Kennelly-Heaviside
layer) in the upper atmosphere (at about 100 miles).
Marconi
station on Nantucket
Shoals Lightship refused
to accept message to President Roosevelt from Prince Henry of Prussia
on
the SS Deutschland.
Arthur
Korn transmited pictures
over wire before devising
a system for broadcasting them by radio
Otto
von Bronk
applies for German patent on color
television
Trans-Pacific
telephone cable connects Canada and
Australia
Marconi
builds a
radio station at Glace Bay, Nova
Scotia It is during the trip that he discovers the harmful influence of
solar radiation on tramissions. Thus the creation of the Magnetic
Detector.
The
station at Glace
Bay was set up as the transmitting
station, while the station in Europe at Poldhu was the receiving
station.
They would use the cable line as a means to verify communications
between
the two stations. On December 15th the first offical messages came
through
from Table Head to Poldhu saying 'we have received some signals'.
The
layer of the
earth's atmosphere known as the
ionosphere is perceived simultaneously by Arthur Edwin Kennelly,
Professor
of Electrical Engineering at Harvard University in Cambridge,
Massachusetts,
and physicist Oliver Heaviside at the Great Northern Telegraphy Company
in England. The discovery explains Marconi's success in making radio
contact
over the curved surface of the earth; it is the upper ionized layer of
the atmosphere that reflects radio waves. Signals are clearer at night
because during the day the sun's heat expands the air and pushes the
layer
upward, making the signal weaker.
1903:
Marconi
establishes the
first press agency between
Europe and America. Jaunary 18th the first two-way transatlantic
transmission
between Poldhu, England and Cape Code Mass. USA.
The
First International Radio
Telegraphic Conference,
Berlin.
Fessenden
generated continuous
electromagnetic waves with
an alternator and patented the electrolytic barretter which was the
first
practical continuous-wave detector.
Marconi's
South Wellfleet (Cape
Cod), Massachusetts station
linked to his Poldhu (Cornwall), England station on January 19, 1903
(some
specs: wavelength 1500 to 1800 meters; 30,000 watts; 2200 volt
alternator
stepped up 25,000 volts by transformer).
1904:
Fessenden
invents
'Heterodyne reception'.
John
Ambrose Fleming
(University College, London) serves
as a scientific consultant to the Marconi company, and designs many
pieces
of early wireless apparatus. In particular, he is charged to develop
a
new detector for wireless signals and devises the two-element "Fleming
Valve" (or as he calls it..an Oscillation Valve) thermionic rectifier
based
on the "Edison effect" which had been known since 1883. His
valve
is a two element rectifier, made by inserting a metal plate in one of
Edison's
electric light bulbs.The diode, a two-terminal electron tube, is
patented
by Marconi's British colleague John Ambrose Fleming. Working from
Edison's
discovery that heated metal (cathode) will give off electrons which, in
a vacuum tube, will move in one direction only toward an unheated plate
(anode), Fleming constructs a tube in which he places a cathode, an
anode
and two electrodes. His discovery, the first radio wave detector, (
capable
of 'rectification' ) opens the door to advanced radio communication.
Fessenden
commissions General
Electric to develop a frequency
alternator as a source of high-power, continuous-wave radio-frequency
radiation
for transoceanic radiotelegraphy. Ernst F. W. Alexanderson
(an engineer
for General Electric and, later, Radio Corporation of America) was
assigned
to the project .
Christian
Hulsmeyer (Germany)
developed and patented a
primative form of radar.
First colour
television
system is proposed based
on the principle of scanning three primary colours.
Guglielmo
Marconi buids the
'Rotating Oscillator' and
discovered the directive properties of horizontal antennas. Starts to
use
the Fleming thermionic valve.
The
answerphone, an automatic
telephone answering machine,
makes its debut. Based on Valdimir Poulsen's Telegraphone, the first
practical
tape recorder, it answers phone calls and records messages.
1905:
Guglielmo
Marconi
patented his directive horizontal
antenna.
Italian
physicist Guglielmo
Marconi develops the concept
of the bent ( or directive horizontal ) antenna; that is, that the best
reception is achieved when the free end of an antenna wire laid on the
ground points away from the transmitting station. The "aerial" antenna
is first tested at Marconi's Glace Bay Station in Canada, markedly
broadening
its reception range. Marconi's findings will prove particularly
valuable
in World War I, as they lead to the development of techniques in radio
direction finding.
The
Pathe Company
devises a stencil system for film
coloring that makes it possible to color a black and white film at high
speed. This efficient system replaces the painstaking method of
handcoloring
each frame which, at the rate of 1,000 frames per minute of film, is
extremely
tedious and time consuming. Pathe's automated film coloring system will
be used with great success for the next 25 years.
1906:
First wireless
communication of human speech
(and music) on December 24, 1906. Fessenden spoke and
broadcasted
music by radio from Brant Rock, Massachusetts, to ships in the Atlantic
Ocean using a two kilowatt (100 kHz) alternator developed by
Alexanderson.
Fessenden modulates continuous wave.
Lee
DeForest develops the
'Audion', a three element (
three electrode or triode ) vacuum tube. This made amplification of
video
signals created by photoconductivity and photoemission possible.
also...
The
triode vacuum
valve, a three-electrode vacuum
tube, is invented by Lee De Forest in New York. Adding a third valve to
Sir Ambrose Fleming's diode, produced two years earlier, de Forest's
"Audion"
can generate, detect and amplify radio waves. The triode revolutionizes
radio communications, providing the first technology for loud and clear
radio transmission of the human voice. The earliest receivers or
crystal
sets pick up single wavelength transmissions, which are listened to
through
headphones.
Boris
Rosing of
Russia develops the world's first
working television system combining the cathode ray with a Nipkow disc.
The
'Alexanderson
Alternator' is delivered to Fessendon's
station.
On Christmas Eve, 1906 he broadcasts
speech and music
to surprised
shipboard operators. He broadcasts on 42
Kilohertz at
1 kilowatt. The
programming includes a female voice
singing a Christmas
carol, a violin
solo by Fessenden, and an invitation to
report on reception.The
first radio program of speech and music ever broadcast is the work of
Reginald
Aubrey Fessenden, a Canadian-born American physicist and electrical
engineer.
The transmission originates on Christmas Eve from the National
Electrical
Signaling Company's radio station in Bryant Rock, Massachusetts.
Featured
on the program are a violin rendition of Gounod's "O Holy Night," and
verses
from St. Luke's Gospel along with a Christmas greeting read by
Fessenden
himself. The wireless broadcast reaches ships over a radius of more
than
100 miles.
Greenleaf
Whittier Pickard uses
a fused silicon detector
Max
Wien uses cooled gaps and
quenched gaps in his spark
transmitters.
American
Henry H.C. Dunwoody
patents the carborundum crystal
radio detector, an integral element in the new wireless industry. The
earliest
method for detecting radio waves, the carborundum crystal allows
current
to flow in one direction, so that only the upper half of the modulated
wave is allowed to pass. Dunwoody's work will lead to the advent of the
crystal set in 1910, making it possible for amateurs to build their own
wireless receivers and hear early radio transmissions. Carborundum is
the
trademark for silicon carbide and other abrasives.
The
Bell Telephone
Laboratories install a dial telephone
switching system in telephone exchanges across the US. The automatic
system
was originally devised by American undertaker Almon Brown Strowger in
1889,
and will remain in wide use through the 1980s.
1907:
Financial panic
delays
many developments in radio
technology.
Edouard Belin
(France)
invented a procedure for
the transmission of photographs by telegraph and radio.
The
first 'Broadcasts' of
records are done to aid in testing,
so the
operator didn't have to talk.
Boris
Rosing transmits black
and white silhouettes of
simple shapes, using a mechanical mirror-drum apparatus as a camera and
a cathode-ray tube as a receiver.
The
cathode ray tube ( CRT ),
first produced in 1897 by
Ferdinand Braun, is the subject of significant experiments by Russian
physicist
Boris Rosing. Professor Rosing is the first to suggest that the
electrical
signals from a mechanical transmitter might be transformed into visual
images when sent to a cathode ray tube receiver. Working in his St.
Petersburg
laboratory over the next five years, Rosing uses a rotating mirror drum
to scan geometric shapes, which he is able to crudely reproduce on the
CRT. His studies will have a strong influence on the work of John Logie
Baird, who is to give the first public demonstration of television in
1926.
Lumière
Brother's
market the 'Autochrome'
color process
Alfred
Korn announces
Fac-Simile telegraphy
G.W.
Pickard perfects
the crystal detector and takes
out a patent for the use of silicon in detectors.
A
photograph of King
Edward VII becomes the first
newspaper wire photo, transmitted by radio telegraph. London's Daily
Mirror
publishes the picture, which is flashed from Paris over a 12 minute
period.
A
year after the first radio
broadcast by Fessenden, engineer
Ernst Alexander designs a high frequency radio alternator able to
generate
frequencies up to 100 kHz. This device, built for the General Electric
Company, significantly broadens the range of radio transmission.
Alexander
will go on to invent both a magnetic and an electronic amplifier, as
well
as a mutiple-tuned antenna. At the end of World War I, President
Woodrow
Wilson will refuse the U.K.'s request to buy one of the powerful
Alexander
alternators.
U.S.
patent granted to Lee de
Forest for a "Device for
Amplifying Feeble Electric Currents." on January 15, 1907. He
called
it the "audion." More sensitive version granted U.S. patent
on February
18, 1908.
The
Marconi Wireless, Telegraph
and Signal Company produces
transmitters and receivers for the military for use with telegraph
decoding
apparatus. Marconi establishes a commercial radio telegraph service
across
the Atlantic.
The
worlds first Trans-Atlantic
commercial wireless service
is established by Marconi with stations at Clifden, Ireland and Glace
Bay,
Nova Scotia. Marconi begins to use rotary synchronous gaps in his spark
transmitter.
1908 :
Radio played a
key role
in limiting the loss
of life in collision of the White Star liner Republic and the Italian
SS
Florida on January 22, 1908. A radio distress signal brings
help
in time to rescue all but five passengers when the U.S. Republic
collides
with the Florida, an Italian ocean liner. In all, 1700 lives are saved.
English
inventor A.A.
Campbell-Swinton and Russian
Boris Rosing independently suggested using a cathode ray to reproduce
the
television picture on a phosphorous coated screen. This suggested that
the electronic scanning system used in the CRT could replace the
mechanical
Nipkow disk.
also...
Outlining
what will
become the fundamental theory
behind the television tube, Scottish scientist A.A. Campbell-Swinton
proposes
a method of electronic scanning where the cathode ray tube is used at
the
camera as well as the receiver end of the system. Swinton explains how
the image is focused on a mosaic screen of photoelectric elements
located
in the camera, storing it there as an electric charge. The image is
then
reproduced on a picture tube by a scanning cathode ray beam that
creates
the TV signal. The scan is traced out line by line in the receiver to
form
the picture. Campbell-Swinton's theory forms the essential features of
today's television system, although the primitive technology of the
time
does not allow it to be borne out in a practical demonstration. Not
until
1923 will a stored-charge camera tube be patented. Gabriel Lippmann
wins
a Nobel Prize for his method of reproducing color by photography
Motion
picture color
is pioneered by G.A. Smith
with a system called Kinemacolor. In this two-color process, film is
both
taken and projected through red and green segments on a rotating wheel.
An unfortunate drawback is that fast-moving objects are severely flawed
by color fringing; kinemacolor therefore works best when focused on
static
objects, making it a less than perfect solution for color in movies.
The
De Forest 4th
Avenue Radio Telephone Company
in New York begins a program of regular radio broadcasts, consisting
entirely
of gramophone music.
also...
Lee
De Forest makes
the first radio broadcast from
the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
At
a rate of fifteen
cents per word, the public
can send messages across the Atlantic. This is made possible by the
first
transatlantic radio-telegraph stations, based in Glace Bay, Canada and
Clifden, Ireland.
1909:
Steel radio
transmitter
masts are tested in rural
Chelmsford, England. The 200 ft structures will extend
telecommunications
across the Amazon rainforest as well as the cities of Europe.
The
mother-in-law of
one of America's leading radio
experts gives the first radio "talk" in broadcast history. Harriet
Stanton
Black bases her remarks on the controversial subject of women's
suffrage.
Recognizing
the need
for uniformity to avoid conflict
between films and equipment, an international conference of motion
picture
producers selects the 35 mm film format as the standard for the motion
picture industry. This important decision will open the door to the
development
of still cameras that use perforated film.
Charles
'Doc' Herrold begins a
regular schedule of broadcasts
from his "Herrold College of Wireless and Engineering" at San Jose, CA.
Marconi
shares the Nobel Prize
in Physics, with Karl Ferdinand
Braun for their work in the development of wireless telegraphy.
1910:
In Sweden, Elkstrom
invents 'flying spot' camera
light beam
The
Italian tenor Enrico Caruso
broadcasts a concert from
the Metropolitan Opera House over the radio. The few receivers able to
pick up this first-ever outside broadcast are those on board ships in
New
York Harbor, in large hotels on Times Square, and at the De Forest
Radio
Laboratory.
The
first commercial radios are
sold by Lee De Forest's
Radio Telephone Company in the demonstration room at the Metropolitan
Life
Building in New York City. De Forest's company both manufactures and
retails
these radios.
In
the US, John
McCurdy, a pilot working for seaplane
pioneer Glen Curtiss, transmits radio messages from his plane to the
ground,
pioneering air-to-ground communications.
The
French Pathe
Brothers, Charles and Emil, begin
production of the "Pathe Gazette," their pioneer newsreel. The Gazette
is shown regularly in theaters in ther United States and Britain. The
Pathe
Brothers have film crews at work in Italy, Germany, Russia and Japan as
well.
Boris
Rosing (Russia) exhibited
a television system which
used mechanical scanner in the transmitter and cathode ray tube of
Braun
in the receiver.
1911:
On July 1, 1911
the
Radio Ship Act of 1910 became
effective.
Young radio
amateurs are
building receivers with
whatever parts are
available. Although headphones can be
purchased...many
public telephone
booths become inoperative.
G.
W. Pickard files
'catwhisker' detector patent
Scottish
scientist A.A.
Campbell-Swinton proposed a method
of electronic scanning where the cathode ray tube is used at the camera
as well as the receiver end of the system. Swinton explains how the
image
is focused on a mosaic screen of photoelectric elements located in the
camera, storing it there as an electric charge. The image is then
reproduced
on a picture tube by a scanning cathode ray beam that creates the TV
signal.
The scan is traced out line by line in the receiver to form the
picture.
Campbell-Swinton's theory forms the essential features of today's
television
system, although the primitive technology of the time does not allow it
to be borne out in a practical demonstration. Not until 1923 will a
stored-charge
camera tube be patented.
Filmmakers
experiment
with electrically synchronizing
motion pictures with sound recordings. Hepworth's "Vivaphone" and
Walturdaw's
"Singing Pictures" both feature actors lip-synching to current records.
The
Cavalry Brigade
of the British Army forms a
wireless company to handle communications in the field. The unit's
equipment
comprises an engine, a generator and a 50 ft collapsible antenna that
weighs
two tons and can be set up in 20 minutes. When all the gear is in
place,
it allows the company to communicate over distances of 50 miles.
Direct
telephone
links from New York to Denver,
Colorado are established.
1912:
Professor
R.A.
Fessenden of Canada invents
the heterodyne radio receiver. When it receives a signal, it generates
another identical signal of its own. The two signals beat in synchrony
and the resulting combined signal, called intermediate or modulated, is
then amplified by circuits which suppress other frequencies, reducing
noise.
This system becomes standard by 1918 and is the basis for all modern
radio
reception.
American
electrical
engineer Edwin Armstrong, while
still a college student, invents the regenerative or "feedback" radio
receiver.
The feedback circuit compresses radio signals, amplifying the weaker
and
suppressing the stronger ones to achieve balanced reception. This
receiver
is much more effective over long distances than the crystal sets in
domestic
use. Armstrong's claim to the invention is contested by Lee De Forest
as
well as by a German scientist named Meissner. The dispute is eventually
resolved in favor of De Forest and company.
The
American chemist Irving
Langmuir develops an improved
vacuum tubes that will be employed in the new radio receivers.
1912
- 1916. Max
Wertheimer and Hugo Muensterberg
show that illusion of continuous action is due, not to the optical
properties
of the retina, but to brain's inability to distinguish the difference
between
separate images at speeds 24 frames per second or more.
Guglielmo
Marconi
invents a new way to generate
a continuous wave, known as the 'Multiple Spark System'
The
Morse code
sequence SOS (. . .---. . .) has
been used by some fleets since 1909, when the shipwrecked ocean liner
Slavonia
first used it to summon two steamers to its aid. Now it is adopted as a
universal distress signal by the navies of the world. It will be used
frequently
in World War I as military and civilian shipping alike fall prey to
naval
warfare.
As
a publicity stunt,
Wanamaker's Department Store
has 20 year-old Russian-American wireless operator David Sarnoff sit in
the front window, demonstrating the telegraph. Sarnoff is at his post
when
he receives the SOS from the sinking Titanic. He contacts a steamer in
the North Atlantic which wires back that it is picking up survivors.
Motion
picture pioneer Leon
Gaumont experiments with improved
sound and color in motion picture film. "Chronochrome" is the first
full
three color process to be commercially developed. "Chronophone," a
sound
system, uses discs to play synchronized sound. The Chronophone
demonstrations
are highly popular and Gaumont is encouraged to combine the two
innovations
in the first public showing of color "talkies."
London
installs its
first automatic telephone exchange.
The 480 lines make it possible for Londoners to communicate by
telephone
without the delays and interruptions that have heretofore plagued the
system.
The British telephone industry is nationalized by an Act of Parliament.
The other European powers have already nationalized their telephone
services.
Meanwhile in the US, there is demand to nationalize AT&T.
1913 :
British
scientist John
Gott invents a system that
uses current reversals for telegraph transmission. This solves the
persistent
problem of breaks in transmission where cables meet land lines, a
problem
that had made wire communication unreliable.
1914
:
Guglielmo
Marconi
experiments successfully using
the triode thermionic valve, the birth of radiophony.
also...
Marconi
produces the
type 16 balanced-crystal receiver.
Two crystals are connected so that one picks up Morse Code signals
while
the other screens out atmospheric interference. This enables ships at
sea
to transmit messages clearly, even during thunderstorms. This
innovation
proves to be of great importance in wartime emergencies.
US physicist
R.A. Heising
demonstrates the modulation
of high frequency radio waves. The modulated wave can be separated by
filters
into a carrier wave and two sidebands, making it possible to transmit a
more complex signal, improving the fidelity of broadcast sound.
In
the US, Langmuir
invents a vacuum pump 1000 times
more efficient than existing models. With this pump he is able to
perfect
the triode valve originally invented by Lee de Forest. The improved
triode
valve is to play an important role in the future development of radio.
A telephone line between New York and Denver is "loaded", meaning that
power is modulated on the line so that conversations can be heard very
clearly. This line, which covers a distance of 2000 miles (3200 km) is
the largest such line in use. Designer John Ambrose Fleming predicts
the
technology can be applied to distances as great as that between
California
and London.
German-American
inventor Edward Kleinschmidt introduces
the teletype machine. It is no longer necessary for a telegraph
operator
to transcribe the messages as they come over the wire. The teletype
uses
the telegraph signal to power a typewriter which types the message
automatically.
By 1928 Kleinschmidt will have merged his company with that of his only
competitor. In 1930, AT&T will buy th business for $30 million.
1915
:
Ray
Kellog invents the
The electric ( moving coil
) loudspeaker.
American
physicist
Manson Benedicks discovers that
the germanium crystal can be used to convert alternating current into
direct
current. This discovery will be the basis of the integrated circuit.
Speech
is transmitted
across the Atlantic by radio-telephone.
B. Webb of AT&T in Arlington, Virginia talks to Lt. Col.
Ferries of
the French Government using relay points in Canada and at the Eiffel
Tower
in Paris.
Direct
wireless
telegraph communication begins between
Japan and the US.
Direct
telephone
communication is established between
New York and San Francisco.
Arnold
and Carson of
AT&T prove that each sideband
of a modulated wave can carry a separate channel. This demonstration of
single sideband radio increases the potential of telecommunications by
making multi-channel transmissions possible.
1916
:
David
Sarnoff envisions
radio as 'a household utility'
and submits his famous 'Radio Music Box' memo to executives at Marconi.
Guglielmo
Marconi
started to develope the first
VHF radios.
Dénes
Mihály, captain
of hussars,
registered a Hungarian patent on a writing mirror
with which he
incsribed sound vibrations on a strip of photographic.
The
development of
aerial communication is given
a boost when Major C.E. Prince demonstrates his wireless telephone, the
Mark I, for Lord Kitchener, Britain's Secretary of State for War, by
conversing
with the pilot of an overhead plane.
1917
:
The
condenser
microphone, introduced to America
by E.C. Wente, produces a clearer, more uniform sound than ever before.
After some improvements, this state-of-the-art equipment will make high
quality recordings and broadcasts possible.
Edward
Howard Armstrong
develops the superheterodyne
circuit and applies for a patent. This new electronic circuit
significantly
improves the sensitivity and selectivity of radio receivers over a wide
range of frequencies, making amplifier tuning unnecessary. Fundamental
to all AM radio receivers, it allows them to be tuned to different
stations
in a simple and straightforward manner.
1918
:
The
imbalance that
plagues hi-frequency reception
is corrected by Prof. L.A. Hazeltine's welcome invention of the
neutrodyne
circuit. Stablility is achieved when the current feeds back into the
circuit
at the right strength.
1919
:
The
British Marconi
radio company has put in a bid
to General Electric for the high-frequency Alexanderson alternator, an
indispensable aid to long-distance wireless communication. The
government
is convinced this technology must remain in American control. In
response
to a request by President Woodrow Wilson, Rear Admiral W.H.G. Bullard
of
the US Navy and Owen D. Young of General Electric (GE) form the Radio
Corporation
of America (RCA) . It is initially established to function as a rival
to
British Marconi, which dominates radio communications, and is formed by
taking over the assets of Marconi's American subsidiary. General
Electric
replaces British Marconi as the parent company, eliminating foreign
influence
over US broadcasting. To retain some control over the technology used
so
effectively for military communications and intelligence during the
war,
the US Navy holds a place on RCA's Board of Directors. Young is
designated
RCA's first president and Chairman. In 1920 AT&T will become an
RCA
partner, along with Westinghouse and United Fruit. The alliance
represents
the pooling of some 2000 electronics patents. An anti-trust action will
soon split GE and RCA apart, leaving RCA to grow into a radio industry
giant.
The
superheterodyne
radio receiver goes into mass
production, and will dominate the luxury item market in America for the
next decade. The device makes uniform reception over a wide range of
station
frequencies possible for the first time, counterbalancing the incoming
frequency against a second one to determine a precise fine-tune. As a
result,
the "superhet" is particularly sensitive to weak signals, and can tune
into stations more selectively.
American
Telephone
& Telegraph (AT&T) in
Norfolk, Virginia introduces dial telephones to the general public.
AT&T
had rejected the idea earlier, but a threatened strike by telephone
operators
forces them to reconsider. Theodore Gary, owner of the Almon Strowger
patents
for dial telephone technology, acquires the Automatic Electric Company.
Gary becomes rich manufacturing telephones for the Bell System; he
eventually
licenses Western Electric Company to make the dial phones.
American
manufacturer Nicholson
introduces the crystal
microphone to the US. Soon to be widely used in home tape recorders and
public address systems, the mike works on the piezo-electric principle
where small voltages are produced on the surface of the crystal. While
the economically attractive mike produces good sound quality, it is
sensitive
to heat, humidity, and rough handling.
1912: H. D
Arnold
(Western Electric) developed
mercury-vapor discharge amplifier.
In April of 1912, David Sarnoff
broadcasts first news
about SS Titanic.
On October 30/31 of 1912, John Stone and
Lee de Forest
demonstrate a complete audion based audio amplifier to Bell officials.
Edwin H. Armstrong explained the
operating principles
of de Forest's audion: with this better understanding of amplifier
operation,
Armstrong applied "feedback" to obtain "regeneration" on signals or
continuous
oscillations (patented in 1913 and licensed to the Marconi company in
1914).
1912: Fessenden's patents heterodynes
1913: Armstrong invented the
superheterodyne circuit
1914: Vacuum tube amplifiers used on
transcontinental
telephone lines in July of 1914.
1915: On February 10th of 1915, R. V. L.
Hartley disclosed
his famous vacuum tube oscillator circuit. The "Colpitts
oscillator"
demonstrated a month later.
1916: Marconi's 200 kilowatt timed-spark
continuous-wave
(21.5 kHz) transmitter at Caernarvon (Wales) was put into service.
Sarnoff proposes idea of a radio music
box
1912
Edwin Armstrong invents regeneration.
The ocean liner, "Titanic" hits an
iceberg and sinks.
The wireless distress
call was heard 58 miles away by the liner
"Carpathia". Those who made it into
lifeboats were rescued
3 1/2 hours
later. There were 705 lives saved.
John H. Hammond, Jr. develops equipment
to remotely control
vessels by
radio up to three miles away. Later,
many of his patents
were sold to the
U.S. military for use in radio guidance
in weapons delivery
systems.
1913
Armstrong applies for a patent to use a
vacuum tube as
an oscillator.
A station in Nauen, Germany begins
broadcasting on 16,900
meters...or about
18 kilocycles (just above the range of
hearing!) Station
FL, broadcasting
from the Eiffel tower begins
broadcasting on 10,000 meters.
1914
Hiram Percy Maxim founds the A.R.R.L.
American Radio
Relay League.
War breaks out in Europe, and Amateur
licenses are suspended
in almost all
foreign countries.
1915
Human voices are first broadcast across
the Atlantic
ocean, between
Arlington, Virginia and the Eiffel Tower
in Paris.
1916
David Sarnoff, an employee of the
Marconi Company proposes
'radio music boxes' for the home as a potential business opportunity.
He
was ignored.
Wireless is used by the New York city
police department.
Wireless telegraphy is made compulsory
on all British
vessels over 3,000
tons.
1917
America enters the First World War, and
all patent protection
is set aside
for the duration. Many advances are made
in manufacturing
and design due to
this measure.
Amateur radio experimenters pull down
their antennas
and pack away their
equipment by government order.
1918
Radio technology is used in detection of
submarines,
and by the US Signal
Corps in France.
5700 ships are now equipped with
wireless telegraphy
worldwide.
Special 'Hard' high vacuum tubes are
designed for the
Navy.
1919
The War is over!
Spark transmitters are being replaced by
vacuum tube
oscillators, and amateurs are beginning to switch to phone operation
from
CW (code)
Owen D. Young starts the Radio
Corporation of America
(RCA) - an offshoot
of General Electric. Within the year he
has an agreement
with GE, RCA, and
AT&T for sharing all radio
patents between themselves.
Dr. Frank Conrad , a Westinghouse
engineer, broadcasts
a regular schedule
of records from his garage in
Pittsburgh, and begins
to take requests from
the avalanche of mail he receives. A
local department
store mentions those
broadcasts in one of their newspaper
advertisements,
and promptly sells out
of its radio equipment. Westinghouse
takes notice, and
begins to see the
possibilities for broadcasting.
1912:
H. D Arnold (Western
Electric) developed mercury-vapor
discharge amplifier.
In April of 1912, David Sarnoff
broadcasts first news
about SS Titanic.
On October 30/31 of 1912, John Stone and
Lee de Forest
demonstrate a complete audion based audio amplifier to Bell officials.
Edwin H. Armstrong explained the
operating principles
of de Forest's audion: with this better understanding of amplifier
operation,
Armstrong applied "feedback" to obtain "regeneration" on signals or
continuous
oscillations (patented in 1913 and licensed to the Marconi company in
1914).
1912: Fessenden's patents heterodynes
1913: Armstrong invented the
superheterodyne circuit
1914: Vacuum tube amplifiers used on
transcontinental
telephone lines in July of 1914.
1915: On February 10th of 1915, R. V. L.
Hartley disclosed
his famous vacuum tube oscillator circuit. The "Colpitts
oscillator"
demonstrated a month later.
1916: Marconi's 200 kilowatt timed-spark
continuous-wave
(21.5 kHz) transmitter at Caernarvon (Wales) was put into service.
Sarnoff proposes idea of a radio music
box
1920:
Westinghouse Electric and
Manufacturing Company
inaugurated commercial broadcasting service on KDKA in Pittsburgh on
November
2, 1920 (some specs: transmission at a wavelength of 360 meters and a
power
of 100 watts).
1922: WBAY, a "toll broadcast" station
of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company, began "time shared" operation on the
830
kHz (360 meter) channel in the New York City area on July 25,
1922.
Because of poor performance operations were switched to station WEAF.
Marconi perfected a parabolic antenna
for use in short
wave communication systems
1923: Patent for iconoscope
1924: Hull creates the 4-electrode tube
Begining in 1924, Professor Hidetsugu
Yagi and his assistant,
Shintaro Uda, designed and developed a sensitive and highly-directional
multi-element antenna.
Alexanderson transmitted the first
facsimile message
across the Atlantic on June 5, 1924.
1926: Philo Farnsworth produced the
first all-electronic
television image.
Tellegen adds suppressor (fifth) grid to
create the pentode
1927: Establishment of first short wave,
transatlantic
telephone link.
1928: Alexanderson gave first public
demonstration of
television on January 13, 1924.
The Detroit Police Department commenced
regular one-way
radio communication with its patron cars (2 MHz) on April 7, 1928.
1929: Vladimir Zworykin demonstrated a
television receiver
including his "kinescope" -- a special cathode ray tube.
1920 :
KDKA,
a small radio
station in Pittsburgh begins
broadcasting on November 2. The world's first commercial radio station,
it is built in one of the taller buildings owned by the Westinghouse
Co.,
and equipped with a 100w transmitter built by engineer Frank Conrad.
The
antenna runs from a steel pole on the roof to one of the powerhouse
smokestacks.
Broadcasting begins at 8:00 pm and continues until midnight with
reports
of the Harding-Cox presidential election returns. The news that Warren
Harding has won the race marks a dramatic end to an historic day in
America's
broadcasting as well as political history. Westinghouse will continue
with
regular daily broadcasts, at first only from 8:30 to 9:30 in the
evening.
Financed by advertisements and the sale of 'Music Box' receivers, the
programming
will include musical concerts staged on the roof of the KDKA building,
where the acoustics are optimal. KDKA's success, and the success of the
stations that follow, lead the way to the development of broadcasting
as
an advertising medium.
also...
Through
the first
commercial radio station KDKA,
RCA establishes an international message service with France, Germany
and
Argentina. Experimental radio stations are on the uprise in the U.S. as
wartime constraints are abolished, and by the end of 1922 there will be
over 500 licensed commercial broadcasting stations in the US, compared
to the eight in operation only a year earlier.
A
year after Marconi
opens the first British public
radio station at Chelmsford, Essex, the British Post Office places a
ban
on the two half-hour daily broadcasts eminating from the six kilowatt
transmitter.
The broadcasts, one of them a concert by opera singer Dame Nellie
Melba,
have been widely enjoyed; nevertheless, the fear of commercialization
of
the new medium, coupled with the military's claim on uncongested
airwaves,
leads to the P.O.'s ruling that experimental broadcasts must be
individually
licensed.
Russian
immigrant
David Sarnoff, commercial manager
of the restructured American Marconi company known as RCA, reiterates a
four year-old idea for marketing "radio music boxes." This time, Owen
D.
Young of General Electric listens, but the members of the RCA alliance
are distracted by international concerns and only placate the young
idea-man
with a $2000 grant to develop a prototype.
Ernst
Belin works on
and introduces wireless transmission
of photographs
An
automatic exchange
in Leeds makes it possible
to complete local calls in Britain without the intervention of an
operator.
This is accomplished through the innovation of the dial telephone,
which
triggers electrical pulses that alert the designated line.
1921
:
Within
a year after
the first commercial radio broadcast
in the US, the first sports events are transmitted over the radio
waves,
including tennis, boxing and baseball. These contests, along with
musical
programs, accelerate the popularity of radio entertainment so that by
the
end of 1921, eight radio stations are established and operating in the
United States.
In
the attempt to
consolidate the rights to radio
parts and receivers, Westinghouse buys patents from American
experimenters
Edwin H. Armstrong and Lee de Forest, rivals themselves in certain
patent
suits. De Forest, an admitted failure as a businessman, sells his
patents
at bargain prices. Armstrong will become a millionaire. Both inventors
reserve the right to sell equipment to amateurs, though - a provision
which
will plague the RCA allies (GE Westinghouse, AT&T). All across
the
country, the radio boom will see 'amateurs' cutting into their business
by assembling their own receivers and transmitters.
Medium-wave
radio
broadcasts are transmitted for
the first time in the US as amateurs begin to discover the
possibilities
of short wave. A trial short wave broadcast is transmitted across the
Atlantic
to Britain, proving that it has long-distance potential as well.
Interference
in short wave transmissions will be reduced with the introduction of
Franklin's
directional antenna.
Quartz
crystal
oscillators are built to bring added
stability to the radio signal. The mineral prevents frequencies from
overlapping
at the receiver.
The
Marconiphone
Crystal Junior V1 and V2 models
are the first ready-made home radio sets to appear in Britain. They are
distributed by the Marconi Company in response to the burgeoning
popularity
of radio, though many consumers still prefer to build their own
receivers
from scratch.
1922
:
Alexander
Graham Bell
dies in Nova Scotia on August
22. On the day of his funeral, every U.S. and Canadian telephone is
temporarily
disconnected to honor the man who revolutionized human communication.
On
August 28, WEAF in
New York (later WNBC) becomes
the first "toll" radio station when it broadcasts a commercial message
during the 5:00 p.m. program. The Queensboro Corporation's ad for
apartments
in Jackson Heights on Long Island seems to work; there are reports of
increased
sales as a result, and commercials are thereafter a regular feature. If
the commercial trend pleases advertisers and station managers, it
causes
some radio purists considerable despair. "What have you done with my
child?"
cries Lee De Forest, the inventor of the triode and a staunch
individualist
who is often called the "father of radio." "You have sent him out on
the
street... to collect money from all and sundry... [and] made of him...
a stench in the nostrils of the gods of the ionosphere." Once
stabilized,
commercial radio thrives in the US, while advertisements on
public-owned
radio are banned for some time to come in Great Britain and France.
The
Marconi company
gets permission from the British
Post Office to broadcast musical programs - about 15 minutes' worth per
week. Transmitted from the Marconi research station at Chelmsford,
Essex,
the first of these authorized broadcasts takes place on Valentine's
Day,
1922. Soon thereafter, another experimental station is set up in
London.
Others follow, and as the British observe the growth of radio in the
US,
they realize the potential of broadcasting in their own country, as
well
as the need for its regulation. On October 18, 1922, the BBC (British
Broadcasting
Company, Ltd.) is established to monitor the development of the
industry.
also...
The
British
Broadcasting Company (BBC) transmits
the first regularly scheduled radio broadcasts intended purely for
entertainment
and certified with the government's official stamp of approval. Radio
licenses
are distributed by the British Post Office. In the meantime, American
radio
flourishes as 99 new stations open in the US during a single month.
Good
quality motion
picture sound is produced when
an optical sound track is placed on the edge of the film strip. One of
the first commercial demonstrations of this new process is given by the
Tri-Ergon company in Berlin.
As
the BBC takes the
responsibility of controlling
the British airwaves away from the Marconi monopoly, it is awarded
exclusive
broadcasting rights by the Post Office in an attempt to keep the number
of transmitters in operation to a minimum. It will be at least three
years
until outlying localities will be granted the right to broadcast. The
magnetophone,
a Marconi-Sykes invention, will also be passed on to the BBC. This
cumbersome
but effective device allows more than one performer to speak into the
same
microphone, because it picks up sound from a short distance.
1923
:
American
Charles
Francis Jenkins and John Logie
Baird develop ( 1923 - 1926 ) a working television system based on the
Nipkow disk. The systems both produced a small, crude, orange and black
but recognizable image.
Philo
T. Farnsworth (
13 years old ) developed an
electronic camera tube, similar tube to Zworykin's 'Iconoscope' named
the
'Image Dissector'.
Vladimir
Zworykin
patents the 'Iconoscope', an electronic
camera tube based on A.A. Campbell-Swinton's proposal of 1911. By the
end
of 1923 he has also produced a picture display tube, the 'Kinescope'.
also...
Electronic
engineer
Vladimir Kosma Zworykin, a Russian
immigrant working at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in
Pittsburgh,
files for a patent on the iconoscope. This device, which is based on
the
use of an electronic analysis procedure, represents the first
television
transmission tube. The following year, Zworykin applies for a patent on
the television receiver or kinescope. Together with the iconoscope, it
forms the first truly all-electric television system, advancing beyond
the electromechanical systems that operate with such devices as the
Nipkow
disc. An image is focussed onto a screen inside the iconoscope by an
external
lens, while a high-velocity electron beam scans it from the other side
in a succession of horizontal lines. The picture signal is developed as
the beam strikes the photoelectric cells of the screen, causing them to
emit differing impulses based on the amount of light falling upon them.
The information then is translated into a picture signal, and a similar
process transmits the reconstructed image to the receiving screen.
Westinghouse
does not immediately grasp the importance of Zworykin's inventions, but
he will impress RCA officials in 1929 with an improved system. His
pioneering
work in telecommunications earns Zworykin the well-deserved title
"father
of television". The kinescope will be used many years later,
synchronized
with a motion picture camera, to preserve television broadcasts. In
1933,
an advanced version of Zworykin's system is used for a transmission
from
the Empire State Building in New York City. The resolution is 230
lines.
Toward the end of his life Zworykin tells members of SMPTE that he is
unhappy
with the uses to which his discovery has been put.
A
portrait of King
George V of England is successfully
transmitted by French scientist Fournier d'Albe through wireless
telephony.
The image is first divided into 30 lines, and each line is further
broken
down into 20 squares. A grey scale letter code reflecting the
individual
degree of shading is then assigned to each square, and the codes are
read
off into a microphone. After 22 minutes, the face of King George is
transmitted
as a series of dots.
The
A.C. Nielsen
Company is founded. Nielsen's market
research is soon being used by companies deciding where to advertise on
radio.
Westinghouse,
General
Electric, RCA, and AT&T
entered into television research.
The
cumbersome,
stationary carbon granule mike is
replaced by a model that allows the performer complete freedom of
movement
while recording. The 'ribbon' microphone, designed with a strip of
aluminum
suspended between two magnetic poles, becomes a standard studio item.
Dundee,
Michigan is
the site of the first cable
radio service. The cost to subscribers is $1.50 per month.
The
National
Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is
organized by Chicago automobile financier Eugene F. McDonald, Jr. The
founder
of Zenith Radio Corporation, the firm licensed by Edwin Armstrong to
produce
radio sets using his patents, McDonald sets himself up as the president
of the new association.
The
Burndept
Ethophone V Portable is introduced
to the consumer. Britain's first portable radio, it is designed to
resemble
a suitcase.
Guglielmo
Marconi
undertakes major experimentation
in shortwave wireless technology aboard his yacht, the Elettra. His
findings
will be a critical step forward in the development of ship-to-ship and
ship-to-shore communication.
Phonofilm
is a
sound-on-film system introduced by
Lee de Forest, opening the way for "talkies." By 1925, 30 cinemas in
the
eastern US will be equipped for sound. However, silent films will
dominate
until Al Jolson inspires mass public acceptance with his 1927 musical
"The
Jazz Singer."
1924
:
Western
Electric
Corporation patents electrical
sound recording. In the same year, Chester W. Rice and Edward W. Kellog
of General Electric patent a dynamic loudspeaker that takes the place
of
headphones. They are also at work on an amplifier that can supply one
watt's
worth of power to the speakers. The Radiola Model 104 is commercially
introduced
the following year.
John
Logie Baird is
the first to transmit a moving
silhouette ( mask ) image, using a mechanical system based on Paul
Nipkow's
model.
Two
and a half
million radio sets in the USA
R.
Ranger at RCA
achieves the first transmission
of a photograph from the US to Britain. His method involves placing a
print
on a cylinder that rotates while being scanned by a light beam.
The
moving coil
loudspeaker is patented by Rice
and Kellogg of GEC. Cutting down audio distortion significantly, these
loudspeakers will provide high-quality audio for consumers in the
following
year.
A
short wave "beam"
system transmits the first direct
wireless link-up from Cornwall, England, to Cape Town, South Africa.
"We
speak across space and some day we shall see as we speak," is the
famous
message predicting the advent of television.
Large
towns in
Britain may now tune into one of
the eleven new radio transmitters that have been installed to
supplement
the broadcasting range of the main stations. 70% of the British public
is now within range of good, clear radio transmission.
1925
:
Vladimir
Zworykin
takes out the first patent for
colour television, although electronic colour systems are not fully
developed
until 25 years later.
Commercial
picture
facsimile radio service across
the USA
Film
producer Louis
Blattner, designs the first
recorder using magnetised tape instead of wire. Called the
Blathnerphone,
based on the German patents of Dr Kurt Stille. It is originally
employed
to synchronise sound to film at Elstree Studios in London
Edwin
Howard
Armstrong, one of America's primary
contributors to the technical development of radio, begins research on
eliminating static that will result, eight years later, in the
revolutionary
technique of frequency modulation (FM). Armstrong will face
unanticipated
resistance from David Sarnoff and RCA, originally supporters of his
work,
when he introduces FM. The radio industry will be heavily invested in
maintaining
the status quo of equipment, and RCA's television interests will
compete
with FM for the upper frequencies.
British
physicist
Edward Appleton of Cambridge University
discovers that radio waves are reflected from the upper atmosphere as
high
as 310 miles from the ground. This fact will prove crucial to the
development
of radar.
BBC
initiates
twin-wave radio broadcasting that
allow the simultaneous transmission of two programs on different
wavelengths.
The approaching obsolescence of crystal sets becomes apparent because
of
their inability to pick up more than one wavelength, and their
dependence
on a transmitter located nearby.
The
Daventry wireless
station in Britain is the
most efficient and largest of its kind in the world. Having a
transmission
radius of 100 miles, it is the first to employ the new long wavelength
technology. Using the power house and zinc earthing system, it supports
the antenna with 50 ft twin triangular steel masts.
The
3-25 megahertz
wavelength that has been used
solely by amateur broadcasters is now discovered by shortwave
enthusiasts.
Shortwaves prove to be perfectly suited to long distance communication,
as they bounce repeatedly between the ionosphere and the surface of the
earth.
Edwin
Howard
Armstrong invents frequency modulation
- FM - as a technique of eliminating radio static. Ultimately, he sues
RCA over an infringement on his patent for FM. In 1954, in poor health,
with most of his money gone, and a discouraging history of losses in
patent
suits, he commits suicide.
1926
:
Scottish
television
pioneer John Logie Baird uses
a doll's head to demonstrate the mechanical scanning ability of a
prototype
television to 50 scientists in his Soho laboratory in London. They see
flickering facial features as the light passes through spiral holes in
a rotating disc in front of a photoelectric cell. The cell converts the
light into an electrical signal which is then processed for degrees of
intensity, and converted into a beam. Projected through holes in a
second
rotating disc, the beam is subsequently translated into a
reconstruction
of the image on a screen.
NBC
( National
Broadcasting Company ) is formed
by Westinghouse, General Electric and RCA.
Canadian
experiments
with mechanical television
start in Montreal.
Commercial
picture
facsimile radio service across
the Atlantic Ocean
The
formation of the
National Broadcasting Company
(NBC) marks a turning point in the development of commercial radio and
television, lifting it forever out of unregulated chaos and into the
national
scene. Founded by David Sarnoff, general manager of RCA, the new
company
resolves the patent disputes between members of the radio group (RCA,
GE,
Westinghouse, United Fruit) and AT&T, as well as the monopoly
charges
brought by the Federal Trade Commission. Formally established on July 7
with the signing of twelve separate documents, NBC will be owned
jointly
by RCA, GE and Westinghouse. It will lease AT&T's network of
wires,
and acquire its stations and air time. These include WEAF in New York,
the core of the new network, sold to RCA for $1 million ($8 million of
which is a "good will fee"). AT&T's desire to discontinue
active programming
while maintaining a lucrative position in the field is realized and,
with
nine affiliated stations, the first broadcasting network is born.
Warner
Brothers launches their
Vitaphone synchronized
audio disc and film system in the US. 'Don Juan' is the first feature
film
to utilize the system, although only the musical score is carried on
the
16 inch , 33.5 rpm discs. The 'talkies' craze will be initiated by
their
next production, 'The Jazz Singer', which stars the improvisational Al
Jolson and includes dialogue as well as music on its soundtrack.
The
triode radio wave
amplifier is rendered obsolete
by the tetrode, invented by H.J. Round of the Marconi Company. The
tetrode
or grid valve resolves the static interference problem and boasts a
superior
high frequency reception. Marconi Company and GEC begin distribution in
Britain. It will be a year before the amplifier is sold in the US.
As
the BBC becomes a
public corporation, the newspapers
lift previously imposed restrictions on the live coverage of sports
events.
1927
:
The
BBC ( British
Broadcasting Corporation ), CBC
( Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System ) later CBS, ( Columbia
Broadacsting
System ) are founded.
Commercial
transatlantic telephone service becomes
available January 7, 1927. The first phone call takes place between the
editor of the London Daily Mail on Fleet Street and his New York
correspondent.
Because technology has not yet resolved the problems involved in
building
functional underwater telephone cables, the service must rely on a
powerful
shortwave radio transmitter set up by the British Post Office. Rates
are
high: the journalists' conversation costs £15 ($75) for every three
minutes.
After
five years of
research, 21 year-old Utah engineer
Philo T. Farnsworth demonstrates the first working electronic
television
system, equipped with the Farnsworth orthicon or 'image dissector
tube'.
This device electronically implements the mechanical Nipkow Disc
principle,
breaking an image down into light particles which are then transmitted
and reconstructed at the receiving end.
Congress
passes the
Radio Act of 1927. The law is
concerned in great part with derailing the trend towards a broadcasting
monopoly, but it also establishes the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) to
allocate and regulate the use of the airwaves. The language of the law
defines 'radio' as any communication transferred by electrical energy
without
the use of wires, thereby including television in its scope.
John
Logie Baird
creates the first videodisc system
fifty years before its commercial inception. The discs, based on
existing
phonograph technology, rotate at 78 rpm and have the ability to capture
and reproduce hazy images when played on a gramophone and connected to
a Baird receiver. The bandwidth is 5 kh and the images, though barely
recognizable,
are reproduced at 12.5 fps at a resolution of 15 points per horizontal
line, 30 lines altogether. During the thirties, several copies will be
sold by Selfidge's department store in London. However, the mechanical
TV system goes into obscurity when the BBC decides to discontinue the
product
in 1936.
Pictures
of Herbert
Hoover, U.S. Secretary of Commerce,
are transmitted 200 miles from Washington D.C. to New York, in the
world's
first televised speech and first long-distance television transmission.
also...
The
Bell System
employs Baird's television system
to send the first long distance television transmission in the US. The
demonstration takes place in the New York laboratories of Bell
Telephone.
The president of AT&T, Walter S. Gifford, gathers together a
large
group of people to view the televised image of Herbert Hoover, then
Secretary
of Commerce and a presidential hopeful, in his Washington, DC office.
Hoover's
voice is simultaneously transmitted over telephone wires. A serious
problem
delaying major development in television at this time is that of
frequency
resolution. A clear image will require a frequency band of four million
cycles, compared to the 400 cycles required for a clear audio
transmission
in radio.
The
United
Independent Broadcasters (UIB), a 16-station
radio network, is formed by promoter George Coats and former RCA
executive
Maj. Andrew J. White to rival David Sarnoff's NBC. Unable to handle the
financial problems that almost immediately threaten their company's
existence,
Coats and White sell out to the Columbia Phonograph Company.
The
network, now
renamed Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting
System, debuts on September 18 with a key station, WOR, in New York. It
will continue as a financially embattled concern until in 1928 Jerome
Louchheim
sells his controlling interest to William S. Paley, the man who will
usher
the company into its prime as CBS.
Movietone
offers
newsreels in sound
USA
Radio Act
declares public ownership of the airwaves
Negative
feedback
makes hi-fi possible
Boris
Rtcheouloff
applies for a patent for a video
tape recorder (VTR).
1928
:
American
inventor E.
F. W. Alexanderson demonstrates
the first home television receiver in Schenectady, New York. It
consisted
of a 3 inch screen and delivered a poor and unsteady picture.
On
May 28, 1928 the
first television station WGY
began broadcasting in Schenectady. Sets were built and distributed by
General
Electric in Schenectady.
The
world's first
television drama, 'The Queen's
Messenger' is broadcast, using mechanical scanning.
Station
W2XBS, RCA's
first television station, is
established in New York City, creating television's first star, Felix
the
Cat.
Holst
and Tellegen of
Philips in Holland introduce
the pentode to improve radio reception. This five electrode valve
becomes
popular in both high and low frequency amplification.
John
Logie Baird
transmits television via shortwave
radio from his London laboratories across the Atlantic to New York . A
doll's head and Baird's own face are faintly displayed on a two by
three
inch screen.
John
L. Baird
demonstrates a colour television system
using a modified Nipkow disk.
Ulysses
Sanabria
introduces interlaced television
scanning, a technique that reduces flicker in the transmitted image.
When
the top line of an image is scanned, the line that forms directly below
it remains empty. As the scanning process continues, the still picture
is scanned in alternate lines, and the next picture that is transmitted
scans into the previous picture's empty lines. The meshing of these
interlaced
fields forms a complete image frame, and the speed with which the
screen
phosphors decay works with the eye's inclination to meld disparate
images
together. The result is a sense of continuous motion from discontinuous
information.
William
S. Paley
invests in the Columbia Phonograph
Company ( later CBS ), the fledgling NBC competitor founded one year
ago.
The network has weathered a very shaky start, avoiding bankruptcy
several
times before Paley, a cigar company advertising manager, provides his
$500,000
transfusion. He has raised the money through a windfall family
inheritance
and by selling some of his stock in Congress Cigar. Paley first
recognized
the potential of commercial broadcasting in 1927 when cigar sales in
his
father's company soared after he advertised on Philadelphia's 225-watt
station WCAU. Though criticized for spending $50 a week for the spots,
Paley was undeterred in his vision. Within a year he is president of a
22-station network.
Eight
years after
Nasavischwilly first proposed
magnetic tape, Dr. Fritz Pfleumer of Austria receives German patent no.
500900 for his version - a paper strip covered with magnetizable iron
powder
- although it proves somewhat unsuccessful in experiments because of a
low resistance level. Following laboratory experiments with steel-based
wires and tapes, Pfleumer proposes plastic as an alternative, paving
the
way for a commercial magnetic tape. The "Magnetophones" marketed by the
Germans will utilize plastic tapes. His original concept is eventually
developed by chemists at BASF, who introduce a successful magnetic tape
in 1932.
The
advent of talking
pictures creates new friction
between AT&T and RCA, the tensions from radio competition
having only
just recently eased. Much of the film industry adopts the
AT&T/Western
Electric sound-on-film process, leaving the RCA group (General Electric
and Westinghouse) to catch up. Using an old GE recording process called
Pallophotophone as a foundation, the group teams up with the
Keith-Albee-Orpheum
chain to establish RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum). In the ensuing scramble
to
garner power in the young motion picture industry, RCA takes over
Pathe,
and buys two music publishing companies.
1929
:
In
London, John Logie
Baird opens the world's first
television studio, but is still able to produce only crude and jerky
images.
However, because Baird's television pictures carry so little visual
information,
it is possible to broadcast them from ordinary medium-wave radio
transmitters.
Bell
Telephone
Laboratories initiates the first
color television transmission in a spectacular broadcast between
Washington
and New York, comprising a 50-line system that beams red, green and
blue
along three separate channels. Later transmissions this year will pave
the way for modern color TV with three color signals transmitted over a
single channel.
Zworykin
demonstrates
the all electronic television
camera and receiver.( Resolution 60 lines )
The
car radio is
introduced in the USA
In
Germany, magnetic
sound recording on plastic
tape
Bell
Lab transmits
stills in color by mechanical
scanning
General
Squier
invents the monophone in response
to the congestion of US airwaves. This innovation makes it possible for
telephone wires to carry radio signals, while consuming less power. As
an added incentive, listeners can receive the signal on the same
receiver
they have used all along.
The
Blattnerphone, a
magnetic tape recorder, is
invented by Louis Blattner, a German film producer working in England.
He uses his invention to for recording synchronized movie soundtracks.
1920: Westinghouse Electric and
Manufacturing Company
inaugurated commercial broadcasting service on KDKA in Pittsburgh on
November
2, 1920 (some specs: transmission at a wavelength of 360 meters and a
power
of 100 watts).
1922: WBAY, a "toll broadcast" station
of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company, began "time shared" operation on the
830
kHz (360 meter) channel in the New York City area on July 25,
1922.
Because of poor performance operations were switched to station WEAF.
Marconi perfected a parabolic antenna
for use in short
wave communication systems
1923: Patent for iconoscope
1924: Hull creates the 4-electrode tube
Begining in 1924, Professor Hidetsugu
Yagi and his assistant,
Shintaro Uda, designed and developed a sensitive and highly-directional
multi-element antenna.
Alexanderson transmitted the first
facsimile message
across the Atlantic on June 5, 1924.
1926: Philo Farnsworth produced the
first all-electronic
television image.
Tellegen adds suppressor (fifth) grid to
create the pentode
1927: Establishment of first short wave,
transatlantic
telephone link.
1928: Alexanderson gave first public
demonstration of
television on January 13, 1924.
The Detroit Police Department commenced
regular one-way
radio communication with its patron cars (2 MHz) on April 7, 1928.
1929: Vladimir Zworykin demonstrated a
television receiver
including his "kinescope" -- a special cathode ray tube.
1920
Marconi establishes the first short-wave
radio link between
London and
Birmingham, England on 20 Megacycles.
Although most experimenters and pioneers
used the longer
waves, Marconi
never did fully abandon his efforts to
use the short-wave
bands.
Westinghouse builds a 100 watt radio
station in a little
shack atop its
nine story factory in Pittsburgh... KDKA.
November 2, 1920, Frank Conrad and
Donald Little broadcast
election returns
from 8:00PM till after Midnight- an
event that is credited
with starting a
rush to build stations, and purchase
receivers.
By late in the year, radio is being
acclaimed as the
newest form of
entertainment for the home.
The first superheterodyne circuit is
announced by Armstrong.
Westinghouse purchases the Superhet
patent from Armstrong,
along with
several patents from Reginald Fessenden
and Michael Pupin.
The 'C' battery is introduced to provide
bias voltage.
This helps the 'B'
battery last longer by reducing the
amount of plate current
needed on
tubes.
Radio experimenters spent over 2 Million
dollars for
radio parts in 1920.
1921
Westinghouse sets up stations WJZ in
Newark, N.J. KYW
in Chicago, Ill., and
WBZ in Springfield, MA.
A religious service was broadcast from
Calvary Episcopal
Church at
Pittsburgh through KDKA. The engineers
wore choir robes,
as not to distract
from the service.
Station WJC (soon to become WABC) in
Newark, NJ broadcasts
regular bedtime
stories.
David Sarnoff is named General Manager
of RCA.
The Dempsey-Carpentier fight is
broadcast on WJY. This
fight is broadcast
to an audience estimated at 300,000. At
nearly the same
time as the fight
ended, the transmitter overloaded - and
was described
later as a 'molten
mass'. (Dempsey knocked out Carpentier
in the Fourth
round)
Westinghouse joins in the agreement with
RCA, GE and
AT&T. They share a
pool of over 2000 radio patents.
Speakers began to replace headphones for
listening.
Attachments for holding headphones
against the tone arms
of phonographs are
being sold.
Signal strength is measured in terms of
..."I can hear
it with the
headphones laying on the table".
There are 5 broadcasting stations on the
air in December
of 1921.
WJZ broadcasts a Baseball World series
game, pitch by
pitch, getting the
information by telephone.
1922
In September of 1922 there are 537
stations broadcasting.
Two frequencies are authorized for
broadcasting...833
and 619 kc's.
A third frequency was added later in the
year - 750 kc.
Approx. 100,000 radio sets are produced
this year. Radio
prices begin to
fall, as competition to market radio's
grows.
WEAF in New York is the first to offer
air time to advertisers.
It was
August 28th, at 5:15 PM - an infomercial
on the Hawthorne
apartment complex
in Queens.
Edwin Armstrong invents the
'Super-Regenerative' receiver.
1923
US President Harding has a radio
installed at the White
House.
The first Network broadcast was made, as
WEAF, WJAR and
WMAF are linked by
phone.
New radios became obsolete in 3 to 6
months time.
Approx. 500,000 radio sets are produced
this year.
1924
The present A.M. band is assigned. It
spans 550 - 1550
kilocycles.
President Coolidge's cat is lost...and
found with the
help of Radio.
Over 1400 stations are now broadcasting.
It is estimated that over 3 million
radio sets are in
use in the United
States.
Baseball games are broadcast almost
daily.
New radio's - superhets, reflex sets,
TRF's, and neutrodynes
are much more
complex, so a new industry begins to
take shape - the
radio repairman.
1926
The first 'light socket' powered sets
are marketed.
RCA, Westinghouse and GE start a
network...NBC, the National
Broadcasting
Corporation.
A US court decides that the Secretary of
Commerce has
no power to regulate
broadcasting - only to issue licenses,
and the chaos
on the broadcast bands
grows as stations increase power to
drown out the competition.
David Sarnoff is named vice president of
RCA.
The BBC, British Broadcasting
Corporation is granted
a Royal Charter.
1927
Televisions are being sold in kit form.
The FRC, Federal Radio Commission begins
to regulate
broadcasting. Their
first act was to revoke all licenses,
and then assign
frequencies and power
levels.
The Columbia Broadcasting System - CBS -
is started.
1928
Diode detectors receive consideration by
radio designers.
Type 226 and 227 tubes with AC heaters
are released by
tube manufacturers.
AC Screen Grid tubes are announced
towards the end of
the year.
1929
RCA gains control of several important
radio patents,
and begins to license
manufacturers to use those designs.
Prior to this, radio
design was
somewhat stifled because no one could
legally use the
designs of many
important circuits.
Amos 'n' Andy becomes a series on NBC
A typical AC TRF receiver employs type
226 tubes in the
RF and AF amps, a
227 as a detector, type 71A for the
output and a type
80 in the power
supply.
1933:
Armstrong awarded circuit
patents which are the
basis of frequency modulation (FM) systems: he had been working
intensely
on FM since 1925.
1934: On June 9, 1934, Armstrong
demonstrated the superior
noise reduction characteristics of FM by broadcasting an organ recital
in both AM and FM.
Marconi demonstrates equipment for a
maritime navigational
system.
1935: Armstrong broadcasted the first
regular frequency
modulation (FM) programming.
1940: The Connecticut State Police began
operating a
two-way frequency modulation system in Hartford.
1946: First Bell mobile (manually
patched) service at
150 MHz.
1930
The TRF, Tuned Radio Frequency receiver
was still the
leader, but many
superhet receivers were being made.
1931
RCA, The Radio Corporation of America
markets the "Radiola
80", one of the
most famous of all receivers.
The first 'midget' sets are sold.
The radio building boom has begun to
wane...as most consumers
are now
purchasing complete sets, rather than
kits.
1932
AVC, or Automatic Volume Control was
introduced.
The first auto radios are sold. (you
still had to stop
and put up a
antenna.)
WFLA(AM)-WSUN(AM) in Clearwater, Fla.,
installs the country's
first
directional antenna.
1933
Several Phonograph companies start
labeling records "not
licensed for radio
broadcast" as move to protect their
alleged property
rights.
1934
Armstrong develops his theory to use FM.
'All-Wave' receivers are a hit this
year, bringing in
radio from foreign
broadcasters.
WLW increases to a half million Watts of
power.
The Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) is created.
1935
The first metal tubes are released.
Over a million auto radios are installed
this year.
Armstrong demonstrates FM.
1936
Most radios sold now employ an AFC
circuit - Automatic
Frequency Control.
'Automatic Tuning' (pushbuttons) are the
years big hit.
Approx. 8 million sets are sold this
year.
3 out of 4 families have a radio in the
home.
1937
Cathode Ray tuning eyes (the Magic Eye
Tube), Slide Rule
tuning, and sleek veneered cabinets are the big features this year.
The dirigible, Hindenburg crashes in
flames at Lakehurst,
N.J. May 6th, 1937 - and the tragedy was captured in an incredible live
radio
broadcast.
The NBC Symphony Orchestra is formed.
1938
Howard Hughes flies around the world and
keeps in touch
by radio.
Broadcasting standards for TV were
announced, paving
the way for commercial
television stations.
The power of radio is demonstrated by
Orson Wells, and
the "Mercury Theater
of the Air" - Panic is reported to be
widespread as people
believe the
earth has been invaded by "Martians...
and we are in
a "War of
the Worlds"
1939
TV is demonstrated at the New York
Worlds Fair.
Edwin Armstrong is operating W2XMN - a
50,000 watt FM
station at Alpine,
N.J.
The first Television sets are sold by
several manufacturers.
Wind generators are sold to farms to
keep their radio
batteries charged.
The start of the European war renews
interest in short-wave
receivers.
1940
Jacks are provided on the back of new
radios to plug
in your TV's sound.
FM gains public interest as 'Noise
Free', high fidelity
broadcasting grows.
Amateurs lose the right to communicate
with foreign operators
as the war in
Europe builds.
1941
FCC authorizes FM broadcasting on 42-50
MHz.
13 million radio sets are made this
year, and 130 million
tubes.
Color TV was demonstrated for the first
time.
30 commercial FM stations are now on the
air.
The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.
All amateur radio communication is
halted by the war.
1942
The manufacture of radio sets was
stopped due to the
war, and manufacturers
switch to defense activities.
British mathematician and science
fiction writer Arthur
C. Clark suggests
using satellites to relay radio signals
about 20 years
before the first
satellite, Sputnik I was placed in orbit!
1943
Great strides are made in technology and
manufacturing
as radio is used in
the war.
Meanwhile at home, many receivers are
remodeled with
whatever parts are on
hand - as wartime shortages and aging
radio sets combine
for some creative
electronics repair.
1944
Over 30 million U.S. homes now had 57
million radio sets.
No receivers are being manufactured,
although some spare
parts are now
becoming available.
Germany makes use of short-wave radio
for propaganda
broadcasts.
1945
The FCC changes the FM band from near 50
Megacycles to
the present 88 to
108 megacycles. This rendered many sets
obsolete, and
set back Armstrong's
development of FM as an alternative to
AM. This may (!)
have been the plan
all along by those involved with AM
broadcasting.
1946
Lee Deforest grows increasingly unhappy
with the state
of broadcasting. To
him, radio had become 'a stench in the
nostril of the
gods of the
ionosphere.'
He addresses the National Association of
Broadcasters
at their annual
meeting in Chicago.
Table model radios are the big seller.
Over 15 million
sets are produced.
About half a million of those were FM
receivers.
Selenium rectifiers begin to replace
vacuum tube rectifiers.
1947
Radios are shrinking in size, and over
800 thousand FM
receivers are
produced.
Miniature tubes, rectifiers,
transformers, and printed
circuit boards are
used.
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William Shokley invent
the Transistor.
1948
The FCC announces a three month freeze
on new TV station
applications. It
lasts nearly four years! TV picks up
steam. 10 inch screens
are the most
common.
The LP or Long Play phonograph was
introduced.
The first Transistor is introduced to
the public.
1949
4 million TV sets are produced, far
exceeding projections.
10 inch screen TV's have dropped in
price by a third
since 1947 - from $300
to $200.
The 45 RPM record is introduced.
By the end of the year, there are 98
television stations
and 2021 radio
stations on the air.
$628 million dollars is spent on radio
advertising this
year.
1950
People are talking about Transistors for
the first time,
saying they just
might replace the tube.
4 million TV sets are in use in the U.S.
on January 1st.
10 Million TV sets are in use by
December 31st.
Some 90 million radio sets are in use in
the United States
- an average of
2 radios for every home in the nation.
Regular color television transmission
begins.
The Korean War begins. Shortages begin
to develop for
receiving equipment.
1951
108 TV stations are broadcasting.
The United States averages two radio
sets in every home.
Color TV and UHF TV are talked about
everywhere.
Over 5 million auto radios are produced,
and over 13
million other radio
receivers..
Various conservation methods are used to
get around shortages
in
manufacturing of radios and TV's.
1952
The FCC's '3 month' freeze on new TV
station applications,
imposed in 1948,
is finally lifted.
21 million US homes had TV sets.
Sony markets the miniature transistor
radio.
10 thousand Transistors are
manufactured, mostly for
government and
research.
Geoffrey W.A. Drummer proposes
"electronic equipment
in a solid block with
no connecting wires..." - The integrated
circuit.
1953
326 TV stations are on the air.
Electronics looks like a good field to
get in to.
The Voice of America steps up broadcasts
to behind the
'Iron Curtain".
1954
Magnetic tape is demonstrated for
recording television
pictures by RCA.
Transistors begin to see widespread use
1955
Over 7 million Radio sets are produced.
That number,
although less than the
peak of Radio production in 1947 climbs
steadily through
1961 when over 11
million sets are made in the US.
IBM invents the computer 'Hard Drive'
1958
Stereo Records reach the marketplace.
Hi-Fi Sound reproduction is a growing
interest.
1959
Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore develop a
silicon integrated
circuit using
planar technology and diffused junctions.
1960
The manufacture of portable AM/FM or FM
sets grows at
750 percent between
1960 and 1965.
The Tape Cart (Soon to become the
8-Track Tape) is introduced.
Echo I reflects radio signals back to
Earth.
1961
FM Stereo Broadcasting is authorized.
Commercial production of IC's is begun
by several companies.
1962
In an effort to produce color pictures
on black and white
sets, several
manufacturers reportedly tint the CRT
blue on top, and
green on the
bottom...
Portable AM receivers lead in production
- over 5 1/2
million were made in
1962.
The satellite Telstar transmits video
images across the
Atlantic.
1963
The E.B.S. - Emergency Broadcasting
System is developed.
"This is a test of
the emergency broadcast system. The
broadcasters in your
area..etc.. etc.....this concludes this test of the emergency broadcast
system."
Cassette tape is introduced.
The first communications satellite is
placed in geo-synchronous
orbit.
1964
Table and Clock radios are produced at
over 3 million
per year, a figure
that holds steady from 1960 to 1965.
1965
New Vacuum Tube receivers are almost
non-existent as
transistors have taken
over the market.
All told, between 1922 and 1965, over
300 million radio
receivers were
manufactured in the United States.
1966
Component Stereo equipment grows in
popularity.
1967
Dolby noise reduction is introduced.
1969
Astronauts send the first live pictures
and audio from
the moon.
1971
Intel builds the microprocessor, "a
computer on a chip."
1972
New FCC rules bring community access
television.
"Open Skies" allows any U.S. firm to
have communication
satellites.
Landsat I, the "eye-in-the-sky"
satellite, is launched.
1973
September 19th, a 'Pirate Radio' station
begins to broadcast
from a ship
anchored some 3 miles offshore of Cape
May, N.J. It was
shut down the same
day by the FCC.
The microcomputer is born in France.
1976
Ted Turner delivers his programming
nationwide by satellite.
1977
There are some 205 million FM receivers
in use in the
United States. 95% of
the nation's homes had an FM receiver.
1978
PBS delivers programming by satellite.
1979
The FCC reports there are 8,651 radio
stations on the
air. 4,549 AM, and
4,102 FM. Over 400 million receivers are
in US homes
and automobiles.
In Japan the worlds first cellular phone
network starts.
1980
Intelsat V relays 12,000 phone calls, 2
color TV channels.
1981
The IBM PC.
1982
A.M. Stereo is first authorized in the
United States.
5 competing systems
struggle for dominance - as the FCC
refuses to settle
on a standard.
1983
Cellular phone network starts in U.S.
1984
Conus relays news feeds for stations on
Ku-Band satellites.
A television set can be worn on the
wrist.
1985
Sony builds a radio the size of a credit
card.
U.S. TV networks begin satellite
distribution to affiliates.
1986
The first 'dial-up' remote control
system for a transmitter
is introduced
by Gentner.
HBO scrambles its signals.
1987
Half of all U.S. homes with TV are on
cable.
1988
FCC allows 'Short Spacing' of FM stations
1991
FCC approves expansion of the AM
broadcast band. The
change adds from
1605-1705 kHz.
1992
As of November 30th, 1992 the FCC
reports 4961 AM stations,
4766 commercial
FM stations, and 1585 Educational FM
stations, for a
total of 11,312 radio
stations on the air in the United
States. There are also
1509 television
stations broadcasting.
New station ownership rules go into
effect - a single
group may now own up
to 18 AM and 18 FM broadcast stations.
The Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) is
introduced to the
consumer market.
'USA Digital Radio' conducts its first
'on-air' tests
of their in band on
channel A.M. digital audio broadcasting
in Cincinnati,
OH.
1993
FCC selects the Motorola C-QUAM system
of AM stereo transmission
as the US
standard - Ten Years after AM stereo was
first authorized.
The lack of an
approved standard greatly hindered the
development of
this mode of
broadcasting.
1994
The top format for U.S. Commercial radio
is Country -
2642 stations.
Adult Contemporary is number two with
1784, News/Talk
has 1028, and
Religious stations are fourth with 926
stations.
Rock is programmed by 721, Oldies 714,
Spanish/Ethnic
has 470 and Adult
Standards is programmed by 435.
Rounding out the top ten are Top-40 with
358 and Urban
with 328.
Denmark begins on air testing of the
Eureka 147 method
of Digital Audio
Broadcasting on 237 MHz.
1995
The first broadcast station in the
expanded band signs
on. WJDM - Elizabeth
NJ at 1660 kHz.
The average U.S. home has 5.6 radio
receivers.
There are an estimated 584,900,000 radio
receivers in
use.
The BBC - British Broadcasting
Corporation - begins introductory
DAB
service.
1996
Digital Audio Broadcasting begins in
Sweden from four
transmitters
utilizing Eureka 147.
The U.S. Congress mandates that the FCC
collect over
152 million dollars in "regulatory Fee's" from broadcasters in 1997.
1997
January 1st the E.A.S., Emergency Alert
System goes 'on-line'
in broadcast
stations - replacing the aging
technology of the E.B.S.
- the Emergency
Broadcasting System.
The FCC issues only two licenses for
Digital Audio Radio
Service (DARS) - by Auction! Only the four original applicants from
1992
are allowed to bid. American Mobile Radio Corporation and Satellite CD
Radio, Inc. are the winners.
In comments on the action, the FCC said
it "could not
entirely rule out the possibility of a major adverse impact" to
traditional
local broadcasters.
1933:
Armstrong awarded circuit
patents which are the
basis of frequency modulation (FM) systems: he had been working
intensely
on FM since 1925.
1934: On June 9, 1934, Armstrong
demonstrated the superior
noise reduction characteristics of FM by broadcasting an organ recital
in both AM and FM.
Marconi demonstrates equipment for a
maritime navigational
system.
1935: Armstrong broadcasted the first
regular frequency
modulation (FM) programming.
1940: The Connecticut State Police began
operating a
two-way frequency modulation system in Hartford.
1946: First Bell mobile (manually
patched) service at
150 MHz.
1930
:
NBC
is granted an
experimental broadcast licence.
The
first commercial
is televised by Charles Francis
Jenkins, who is subsequently fined by the U.S. Federal Radio Commission.
A
theatrical show
transmitted by BBC is the first
synchronized sight and sound television talkie broadcast. Viewers at
Hendon,
North London, see and hear the transmission from Coliseum Theatre in
London's
West End.
TVs
based on British
mechanical system roll off
factory line - The Plessey Radiovisor
The
ABC ( Australian
Broadcasting Company, later
Commission, later Corporation ) is founded.
An
audience pays to
watch television at the London
Coliseum.
American
Philo
Farnsworth patents electronic television.
AT&T
experiments with the picture telephone
1931
:
Rene
Barthelmy
demonstrates mechanical television
at the Ecole Superieure d'Electricite in Paris.
Henri
de France
achieves television transmission
from Toulouse to Le Havre, France.
Canada's
first
television station, VE9EC, starts
broadcasting in Montreal.
Ted
Rogers, Sr.
receives a licence to broadcast
experimental television from his Toronto radio station.
CBS,
the Columbia
Broadcasting System, puts its
first experimental television station on the air.
RCA
begins
experimental electronic transmissions
from the Empire State Building.
Londoners
gather at
the Metropole Cinema and pay
to view the first outside television broadcast: the classic Derby
horserace.
Television
is
introduced to the Russians, as Muscovites
receive their first transmissions over homemade receivers.
An
early Christmas
gift for the nation comes in
the form of regular television broadcasts which are initiated on
December
23.
The
one-hour
programs, which originate from the
West Coast at station W6XAO, provide a daily dose of movies on VHF.
NBC
experimentally
doubles transmission to 120-line
screen
1932
:
CRBC
( Canadian Radio
Broadcasting Commission ),
is founded to be superseded by the CBC in 1936.
Fully
electronic
television is demonstrated for
the first time.
RCA
starts an NBC
television station in the Empire
State Building.
The
BBC takes over
the Baird Company's role in developing
television in Britain.
Rouben
Mamoulian's
film 'Becky Sharp' is first 3-strip
Technicolor feature
Disney
adopts a
three-color Technicolor process
for cartoons
Stereophonic
sound in
a motion picture, 'Napoleon'.
1933
:
Western
Television
Limited's mechanical television
system is toured and demonstrated at Eaton's stores in Toronto,
Montreal
and Winnipeg.
Edwin
Armstrong
invents Frequency Modulation ( FM
), but its real future is 20 years off
1934
:
An
evening news
program, 'Spiegel des Tages' ( Mirror
of the Days ), produced by Reichs Rundfunk, uses a mobile television
unit
to record portions of its daily broadcast.
Half
of the homes in
the United States have radios
The
Communications
Act of 1934 creates FCC in USA
Associated
Press
starts wirephoto service
1935
:
William
Hoyt Peck of
Peck Television of Canada uses
a transmitter in Montreal during five weeks of experimental mechanical
broadcasts.
RCA
pledges millions
of dollars towards the development
of TV.
Germany
opens the
world's first three-day-a-week
filmed television service.
PTT,
the Post and
Telecommunications Authority in
France, begins regular television transmissions from atop the Eiffel
Tower.
Eastman
Kodak markets
Kodachrome film
In
Germany, audio
tape recorders go on sale
In
USA,
all-electronic VHF television comes out
of the lab
1936
:
There
are about 2,000
television sets in use around
the world.
The
British Post
Office issues the first broadcast
television transmission standard.
High-definition
television broadcasts are initiated
at the BBC with a sophisticated new system by EMI involving the
Emitron,
a camera tube that can emit 25 unflickering pictures per second on a
405-line
screen. This marks a vast improvement over Baird's mechanical system,
which
uses only 240 lines.
Radio
manufacturers
in the US adopt a 441 scanning
line standard for television.
PTT
the Post and
Telecommunications Authority in
France, begins daily broadcasting of television at 455 scanning lines
in
September.
An
NBC mobile
television transmission unit experiments
with pictorial news broadcasting in New York. The unit consists of two
large buses, one housing a field studio, the other a mobile transmitter
that beams the signal back to the main transmitter in the Empire State
Building.
TV
cameras record the
coronation of King George
VI, transmitting from various points along the procession, while the
service
in Westminster Abbey is broadcast by radio. It is the most intricate
production
in broadcast history to date.
The
Olympic Games in
Berlin are the first to be
broadcast on television. One of the technicians working on the
broadcast
is Klaus Landsberg, later to guide technical development for Paramount
at KTLA in Los Angeles.
1938
:
Allen
B. DuMont forms
the DuMont television network
to compete with RCA and manufactures the first all-electronic
television
set for sale to the North American public.
The
radio drama, 'War
of the Worlds', by Orson Welles'
Mercury Theatre Players causes national panic
W.
Fleichsig develops
the shadow mask tube for color
TV, soon to be a staple in color broadcasting.
The
Dominion Theater
in London is the site for the
first demonstration of high resolution color television by John Logie
Baird.
Using a large screen ( 9 x 12 ft. ), Baird is also able to transmit a
live
broadcast from the Crystal Palace. Commercial development of color
television
is frustrated though, by Baird's insistence on using mechanical, not
electronic,
scanning systems.
Chester
Carlson
invents Xerography
1939
:
On
April 30, Franklin
D. Roosevelt inaugurates commercial
television with his appearance on the first public broadcast, viewed by
thousands at the New York World's Fair. FDR is the first President to
go
on a television broadcast. His appearance is followed by that of RCA's
David Sarnoff who announces the launch of the company's first
commercial
TV set, it has a 30cm (12in) screen and sells for $625.
CBS
( Columbia
Broadcasting System ) begins television
broadcasting this year as well.
The
first major
display of electronic television
in Canada takes place at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto.
Television
sets range
in price from $200 to $600.
Baseball
is televised
for the first time.
Mechanical
scanning
television system abandoned
Convinced
that
television theater is the wave of
the future, Professor Fischer of the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology
creates the Eidophor, a large-screen TV projector.
TV
transmitters are
shut down in Britain when war
is declared against Germany, to eliminate the danger of providing the
enemy
with navigational beacons. The BBC abruptly stops broadcasting in the
middle
of a Mickey Mouse cartoon on September 1, resuming at that same point
when
peace returns in 1945.
Australia
Calling (
later Radio Australia ) begins
transmission to offset overseas propaganda broadcasting.
1940
:
Dr.
Peter Goldmark of
CBS introduces a 343-line
colour television system for daily transmission, using a disc of three
filters ( red, green and blue ), rotated in front of the camera tube.
The
FCC decides US
television will have FM sound
as Edward Armstrong, the creator of frequency modulation, finally gets
the support for which he has struggled so assiduously.
CBS
demonstrates its
field sequential color television
system to NTSC engineers. The system is based on a quickly spinning
color
wheel. The FCC will adopt this system in 1950, but three years later
the
decision will be revoked in favor of the RCA color system.
Fantasia
introduces
stereo sound to American public
1941
:
CBS
and NBC start
commercial transmission; The US
enters WW II following the attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7
1942
:
Kodacolor
process
produces the color print
1941
:
North
America's
current 525-line / 30-pictures-a-second
standard, known as the NTSC ( National Television Standards Committee )
standard, is adopted.
NBC
and CBS are
granted commercial broadcast licences.
All
radio and
televison enterprise is devoted to
the war effort
1946
:
Television
enjoys a
resurgence as the US lifts its
wartime ban on TV manufacture, and the BBC resumes broadcasting.
6,500
television
receivers are sold in the United
States.
NBC
and CBS
demonstrate rival colour systems.
The
world's first
television broadcast via coaxial
cable is transmitted from New York to Washington D.C.
Automobile
radio
telephones connect to telephone
network
1947
:
A
permanent network
linking four eastern U.S. stations
is established by NBC. On June 3, Canadian General Electric engineers
in
Windsor receive the first official electronic television broadcast in
Canada,
transmitted from the new U.S. station WWDT in Detroit.
Bob
Hope participates
in the first commercial broadcast
in the Western US. The station, owned by Paramount, is W6XA0 in Los
Angeles
( later to be called KTLA ). The broadcast is sponsored by Ford Motor
Company's
Lincoln division.
KTLA
in Los Angeles
broadcasts the first home shopping
television show.
Hungarian,
Dennis
Gabor describes principles of
holography
1948
:
The
BBC begins the
first regular British television
broadcast, called 'The BBC Newsreel'.
Television
manufacturing begins in Canada. The television
audience increases by 4,000 percent this year, due to a jump in the
number
of cities with television stations and to the fact that one million
homes
in the U.S. now have television sets.
The
U.S. Federal
Communications Commission puts
a freeze on new television channel allocations until the problem of
station-to-station
interference is resolved.
The
Gerber television
broadcasting standard is adopted
in Europe, featuring 625 scanning lines at 25 frames per second.
Network
television in
the US begins, with separate
networks on the East and West coasts.
The
first cable
television systems appear in the
US.
1949
:
The
first Emmy Awards
are presented, and the Canadian
government establishes an interim policy for television, announcing
loans
for CBC television development.
An
RCA research team
in the U.S. develops the Shadow
Mask picture tube, permitting a fully electronic colour display.
The
presidential
inauguration is broadcast for the
first time; in 1957 it will be videotaped for the first time.
First
introduced 20
years earlier, color television
is finally available commercially. Developed by engineers at Pye, it is
demonstrated for the public at London's Olympia.
In
USA, Community
Antenna Television is introduced,
forerunner to cable
1950
:
Cable
TV begins in
the U.S., and warnings begin
to be issued on the impact of violent programming on children. European
broadcasters fix a common picture standard of 625 lines.
By
the 1970s,
virtually all nations in the world
used 625-line service, except for the U.S., Japan, and some others
which
adopted the 525-line U.S. standard.
Sales
of television
receivers in the US exceed $1billion.
There are more than 100 TV stations operating in 38 states. The census
shows only 5 million American homes have television sets, but sales
figures
show that 8 million are in use. 45 million US homes have radio at this
time.
Transmitters
are
installed atop the Eiffel Tower
and the Belfry in Lille. The first regular television transmissions
begin
in France on April 25, 1950.
RCA's
Vidicon TV
camera is the first to use a photoconductive
tube. The Vidicon is more adaptable and less expensive than previous TV
cameras.
CBS
initiates regular
commercial color TV broadcasting
with a one-hour program featuring Ed Sullivan and Arthur Godfrey.
WOR
in New York
broadcasts the first pay TV program.
1951
:
The
first colour
television transmissions using
the Peter Goldmark colour system begin in the U.S. For technical
reasons,
the several million existing black-and-white receivers in America
cannot
pick up the 'field sequential color television system' programmes, even
in black-and-white. Colour sets go blank during television's many hours
of black and white broadcasting. The experiment is a failure and colour
transmissions are stopped.
In
the US, Armour
Research demonstrates a crude
VTR - Video Tape Recorder - to Alexander Poniatov and Ampex executives.
Ampex
immediately
begins work on one of its own
in Redwood City, California. The team of engineers includes Ray Dolby,
destined to make his own impact on the sound industry. After several
years
of work and many dead ends, the resulting VR 1000 is marketed in 1955,
with great success.
A
parallel effort to
develop the required tape goes
on at 3M Corporation. 3M's first Scotch 179 reel is 2 in. wide, nearly
800 m long, and weighs 10 kg.
The
U.S. sees its
first coast-to-coast transmission
in a broadcast of the Japanese Peace Conference in San Francisco.
1952
:
John
Mulloin and
Wayne Johnson of the Bing Crosby
Enterprises laboratories make the first high-definition video recording
on magnetic tape. The one-inch (2.5 cm) tape uses eleven tracks for
pictures
and one for sound and is three times cheaper than any comparable
process.
Cable
TV systems
begin in Canada. On September 6,
CBC Television broadcasts from its Montreal station; on September 8,
CBC
broadcasts from the Toronto station.
The
first political
ads appear on U.S. television
networks, when Democrats buy a half-hour slot for Adlai Stevenson.
Stevenson
is bombarded with hate mail for interfering with a broadcast of 'I Love
Lucy'.
Eisenhower,
Stevenson's political opponent, buys
only 20-second commercial spots, and wins the election.
Television
sets in
American homes pass the 22 million
mark
1953
:
A
microwave network
connects CBC television stations
in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. The first private television stations
begin operation in Sudbury and London.
Britain
has its first
public showing of color TV
when the BBC broadcasts the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II to the
Great
Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. The CBC beats U.S.
competitors
to the punch by flying footage across the Atlantic.
'TV
Guide' is
launched.
The
National
Television Systems Committee ( NTSC
) of the US develops a set of compatible technical standards for black
and white and color transmissions, making it possible to receive color
broadcasts on black and white sets The system is adopted in America,
Japan,
and many other countries in the Americas. Engineers joke that the
acronym
stands for 'Never The Same Color'.
Japanese
television
goes on the air for the first
time.
Eduard
Schueller
applies for a patent on a helical
video tape recorder with two heads.
Half
the homes in the
United States have television
sets.
1954
:
Commercial
colour
broadcasting begins in United
States using the NTSC standards.
RCA
produces the
first color television sets in
the US, but color reception is still erratic. RCA will have the color
TV
field to itself until 1959, when patent suits are settled and Zenith
and
others enter the market.
Magazines
now
routinely offer the homemaker tips
on arranging living-room furniture for optimal television-viewing
pleasure.
Frozen
TV dinners are
marketed for the first time.
3D
television
broadcasts begin in Mexico. Glasses
for viewing the telecasts in 3D cost 25 pesos.
1955
:
NBC's
popular
children's program 'Howdy Doody' becomes
the first all-color television series.
The
predecessor to
the Trinitron television is developed
at Paramount Pictures.
Paul
Weimer of RCA
describes a single tube color
camera.
Britiain
gets its
first commercial television channel.
ITV ( Independent Television ) serves an audience of 12 million. The
first
commercial is for toothpaste.
Dwight
D. Eisenhower
is the first president to broadcast
his press conferences on television. These early TV press conferences
are
screened and reviewed before they are released for broadcast.
1956
:
Ampex
markets the
first quadruplex, transverse scan
video tape recorder. It uses two-inch tape.
CBS'
'Douglas Edwards
and the News' is the first
taped TV program to be broadcast. The program is taped so it can be
rebroadcast
to the west coast three hours after it is seen in the east.
Henri
de France
develops the SECAM ( sequential
colour with memory ) procedure. It is adopted in France, and the first
SECAM colour transmission between Paris and London takes place in 1960.
In 1967 it will be adopted in France and the USSR.
American
engineers
joke that the acronym stands
for 'System Essentially Contrary to American Methods'.
Several
Louisiana
congressmen promote a bill to
ban all television programmes that portray blacks and whites together
in
a sympathetic light.
Television
Comes to
Australia for the 1956 Olympic
Games.
By
the end of 1956,
13 video tape recorders have
been installed at ( US ) TV stations.
1957
:
The
first VTR
equipped remote trucks appear.
Tape
is interchanged
from one VTR to another for
the first time.
The
first quadruplex
color VTR is demonstrated by
Ampex, and called the VR 1000B. In 1963 a transistor version will be
marketed
under the name VR 110.
Mechanical
Video Tape
editing begins. The process
involves pouring magnetically sensitive salts on the service side of
the
tape. Then the editor looks at the tape through a microscope. Once the
signal characteristics have been gleaned and the edit point determined,
a transverse slice is made with a demagnetized razor.
Chromakey,
an
electronic process using one primary
color to matte a second video signal, is used for the first time on
CBS'
broadcast of 'Cinderella'.
Philips
produces a
new TV camera tube, the Plumbicon.
An improved version of its predecessor, the Vidicon, it becomes
universal
in color TV camera design
1958
:
SMPTE
forms the
Videotape Recording Committee to
establish standards.
CBS
broadcasts 'The
Red Mill', the first full length
program edited on videotape.
US
Television
advertising revenues exceed $1 billion.
Color
is synthesized
from a monochrome television
set in the first 'flicker color' broadcast.
John
Silva and Roy
White, under the direction of
Klaus Landsberg, design the Telecopter, a helicopter equipped with a
vidicon
camera and microwave transmission equipment. The signal is relayed to a
fixed wing aircraft, which in turn passes it to the transmitter on Mt.
Wilson near Los Angeles. From there the signal is routed, by microwave,
to master control at KTLA in Hollywood.
'The
Betty Freezor
Show' is the first TV program
to be taped in color. It is broadcast by WBTV of Charlotte, North
Carolina
only two hours after it is recorded on 1/2 in. (1.25 cm) videotape,
with
only a slight deterioration of the picture.
The
CBC's microwave
network is extended from Victoria,
B.C. to Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia, to become the longest
television
network in the world.
Pope
Pius XII
declares Saint Clare of Assisi the
patron saint of television. Her placement on the television set is said
to guarantee good reception.
1959
:
Sony
is the first
company to market a transistorized
television. This black and white portable set will be followed in one
year
by a color model. The color model will use a picture tube designed by
Ernest
Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron, a device essential to the design
of
the first atomic bombs.
CBC
Radio-Canada
Montreal producers go on strike.
1960
:
The
Nixon-Kennedy
debates are televised, marking
the first network use of the split screen. Kennedy performs better on
television
than Nixon, and it is believed that television helps Kennedy win the
election.
Sony
develops the
first portable battery operated,
all-transistor television receiver, making televisions lighter and more
portable.
Ninety
percent of
American homes now own television
sets, and America becomes the world's first 'television society'. There
are now about 100 million television sets in operation worldwide.
First
ruby laser
built by Theodore Maiman
First
successful
hologram produced
1961
:
The
Canadian
Television Network (CTV), a privately
owned network, begins operations.
The
Dodd hearings
begin in the U.S., examining the
television industry's 'rampant and opportunistic use of violence'.
1962
:
The
Telstar
television satellite is launched by
the U.S., and starts relaying transatlantic television shortly after
its
launch. The first programme shows scenes of Paris.
A
survey indicates
that 90 percent of American households
have television sets; 13 percent have more than one.
There
are 951 VTRs in
use worldwide.
Toshiba
demonstrates
a helical VTR.
JVC
of Japan sells
the first helical VTR.
The
first solid state
VTRs come from RCA and Sony.
Ampex
demonstrates
electronic video tape editing.
Transatlantic
television broadcasting is possible
for the first time when the satellite Telstar is put in orbit.
AT&T
uses Telstar to transmit an image from Maine to Cornwall in Britain.
The
event captures the imagination of the American public, as soon
evidenced
by a popular Top-40 song named after the satellite.
Professor
Walter
Bruch in Germany develops the PAL
- Phase Alternate Line - system of color television transmission. The
system's
first use is in Germany in 1967. PAL will have several variants, and
will
be accepted in Italy, Britain and many other European and Asian
countries.
ABC
Television ( US )
begins broadcasting in color
for three and a half hours a week. NBC is now broadcasting 68% of its
programming
in color. CBS broadcasts only in black and white. By 1967, all three
networks
will be broadcasting entirely in color.
1963
:
On
November 22,
regular television programming is
suspended following news of the Kennedy assassination. Two days later,
live on television, Jack Ruby murders Lee Harvey Oswald, Kennedy's
suspected
assassin.
Kennedy's
funeral is
televised the following day.
96 per cent of all American television sets are on for an average 31
hours
out of 72 during this period watching, many say, simply to share in the
crisis.
Rectangular
screen
color TVs are introduced to the
American consumer.
Polaroid
introduces
instant color film
1964
:
BBC2
begins broadcast
service, operating on UHF
( ultra high frequency ) with a 625 line picture. Britain's two other
channels
broadcast on VHF using a 405 line picture.
The
Beatles appear
for the first time on 'Ed Sullivan
Show'
Procter
and Gamble,
the largest American advertiser,
refuses to advertise on any show that gives
"offense,
either directly or by inference,
to any organized minority group, lodge or other organizations,
institutions,
residents of any State or section of the country or a commercial
organization."
1965
:
The
Vietnam War
becomes the first war to be televised,
coinciding with CBS's first colour transmissions and the first
Asia-America
satellite link. Protesters against the war adopt the television-age
slogan,
'The whole world is watching'.
Sony
introduces the
CV-2000, a small home videorecorder.
Westinghouse
develops
the Phonovid process in an
attempt to produce a commercial videodisc. While this microgroove disc
provides a good quality picture it can only store 200 fixed images on
each
disc.
The
Japanese produce
the first miniature television.
The transistorized set is 10 inches (25 cm) high with a 7 1/2in color
screen
and only requires 10% as much power as an average TV.
The
MVR videodisc
recorder is demonstrated in California.
600 frames of action lasting 20 seconds can be recorded on the magnetic
disc and replayed immediately. Single frames can also be replayed or
erased.
1966
:
Colour
television
signals are transmitted by Canadian
stations for the first time.
The
BBC begins color
TV broadcasts.
The
first video slow
motion appears on NBC during
the World Series of Baseball.
...also
see
item at 1981 regarding Clive Sinclair
1967
:
Sony
introduces the
first lightweight, portable
and cheap video recorder, known as the 'portapak'. The portapak is
almost
as easy to operate as a tape-recorder and leads to an explosion in
'do-it-yourself'
television, revolutionizing the medium.
The
FCC orders that
cigarette ads on television,
on radio and in print carry warnings about the health dangers of
smoking.
The
first television
broadcast to incorporate the
use of an electronic character generator. Until this time, cameras have
scanned images of art cards with typography, and the image has been
superimposed
on another image.
RCA
develops a
battery operated, tubeless TV camera
that can transmit its own pictures and weighs only 2.2 lb (1kg).
CBS
pioneers home
video with the EVR (electronic
video recorder). The tape cartridge is played on an automatic player
with
rewind, fast forward and freezeframe capabilities. The picture quality
is comparable to that of 35 mm films shown on TV.
Ray
Dolby develops
his noise reduction system
1968
:
Sony
develops the
Trinitron tube, revolutionizing
the picture quality of colour television.
Intelsat
completes
global communications satellite
loop
The
US is estimated
to have 78 million of the world's
200 million TV sets, the USSR 25 million, Japan 20.5 million, the UK 19
million, W. Germany 13.5 million and France 10 million.
The
U.S. television
industry now has annual revenues
of about $2 billion and derives heavy support from tobacco advertisers.
Television
brings war
into the home for the first
time as US TV news broadcasts show the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam.
In the face of controversial pictures such as these, CBS newsman Walter
Cronkite, along with many in his TV audience, begins to question the
conduct
of the war.
1969
:
On
July 20, 1969, the
first television transmission
from the moon is viewed by 600 million viewers around the world.
'Sesame
Street'
debuts on American Public Television,
and begins to revolutionize adult attitudes about what children are
capable
of learning.
1970
:
Motion
Picture box
office revenue is $896 million.
Television advertising revenue is $3 billion.
In
Japan, the
Matsushita multiplex adaptor is used
to receive transmission of television programs broadcast in two
languages
at once, giving the viewer the option of watching a foreign film in the
original language or in Japanese.
The
excellent quality
of the AEG Telefunken-Decca
Teledec is demonstrated in W. Berlin. This videodisc is made of a sheet
of PVC 0.04 in. ( 1mm ) thick. A 9 in. ( 22.5 cm ) disc plays for five
minutes, a 12 in. (30 cm) runs for 12 minutes.
1971
:
Sony
introduces the
U-Matic three quarter inch video
cassette recorder.
SMPTE
Time Code makes
computer assisted videotape
editing possible. The result is the CMX 300.
AT&T
transmits the first intercity broadcast
of television with stereo sound.
The
BBC pioneers
digital television, transmitting
the audio signal as part of the video signal, rather than separately.
This
improves the quality of sound reception at the edges of the broadcast
area
and reduces the overall cost of broadcasting.
Philips
of the
Netherlands develops a laser disc,
its Video LP (VLP). It comes in two sizes: one can record an hour of TV
on either side, the other records only 30 minutes on each side but has
freeze-frame capability. The surface of the disc is smooth and
reflective;
a laser takes the place of the phonograph needle. Philips intends for
the
product to compete with the videocassette but does not market it for
several
years.
Canada's
'Anik I',
the first domestic geo-synchronous
communications satellite, is launched, capable of relaying 12
television
programmes simultaneously.
India
has a single
television station in New Delhi,
able to reach only 20 miles outside the city.
South
Africa has no
television at all.
1972
:
The
Munich Olympics
are broadcast live, drawing
an estimated 450 million viewers worldwide. When Israeli athletes are
kidnapped
by Palestinian terrorists during the games, coverage of the games cuts
back and forth between shots of the terrorists and footage of Olympic
events.
The
American-conceived Intelsat system is launched,
becoming a network and controlling body for the world's communications
satellite system.
The
BBC announces a
new "electronic book" information
service, CEEFAX. Subscribers have decoders plugged into their TV sets
and,
by punching the appropriate button on a keypad, receive current stock
prices,
news or weather. Other 'data pages' will be added to the service in
time.
1973
:
Ninety-six
countries
now have regular television
service.
The
first microwave
pay TV system feeds hotels in
Washington, DC.
The
UK's Independent
Television channel (ITV) introduces
ORACLE, a television information service in direct competition with the
BBC's CEEFAX system. ORACLE offers weather, traffic, news, sports and
financial
information. In the following year BBC and ITV will agree to a standard
so that subscribers can use the same decoder for either service.
Ikegami
introduces
the first electronic news gathering
- ENG - camera. It is a highly portable video camera, which can be
easily
managed on the shoulder of one man. This development leads to a
revolution
in the immediacy of TV news coverage. Some feel it is the start of a
radical
change in world politics with its effects seen in everything from
Watergate
to international terrorism.
Watergate
unfolds on
the air in the U.S. and ends
the following year with Nixon's resignation.
U.S.
producers sell
nearly $200 million dollars
worth of programmes overseas, more than the rest of the world combined.
1974
:
Panasonic,
a division
of Matsushita, demonstrates
high definition television, with 1125 scanning lines, in New York.
Colour
television
begins in Australia.
The
US experiments
with captioned television for
the hearing-impaired.
97%
of American homes
have at least one TV set and
it is on at least five hours per day.
1975
:
Sony
introduces the
Betamax VTR.
A
study indicates
that the average American child
during this decade will have spent 10,800 hours in school by the time
he
or she is 18, but will have seen an average 20,000 hours of television.
Home
Box Office is
the first satellite television
broadcasting network.
Studies
also estimate
that, by the time he is 75,
the average American male will have spent nine entire years of his life
watching television; the average British male will have spent eight
years
watching.
Both
RCA and
Thomson-CSF announce videodisc systems.
The
Thomson approach
passes laser light through
a transparent medium to a photodiode.
The
RCA approach
relies upon capacitance transfer
of information from the disc via a stylus.
1976
:
Ampex
perfects the
moving head principle for slow
motion video recording.
IBA
of the UK
demonstrates the first digital VTR
images.
JVC
( Japan Victor
Co. ) introduces VHS, a half
inch cassette system designed for home consumer video recording.
First
coast to coast
stereo simulcast, in which
a television program, 'Live From Lincoln Center' is broadcast
nationwide
from New York, and its stereo sound portion is broadcast at the same
time
on a nationwide network of radio stations.
The
Olympics,
broadcast from Montreal, draw an estimated
1 billion viewers worldwide.
British
TV networks
begin first teletext system.
1977
:
South
Africans see
television for the first time
on May 10, as test transmissions begin from the state-backed South
Africa
Broadcast Co. The Pretoria government has yielded to public pressure
after
years of banning television as being morally corrupting. Half the
broadcasts
are in English; half in Afrikaans.
Home
color TV cameras
are offered to the public.
The
new 1700 video
cassette recorder from the Dutch
company Philips plays at half the speed of previous home video systems,
cutting the cost of tapes in half while doubling the playing time. For
the first time, a complete feature film can be recorded on one cassette.
1978
:
Ninety-eight
percent
of American households have
television sets, up from nine percent in 1950. Seventy-eight percent
have
colour televisions, up from 3.1 percent in 1964.
A
full screen digital
image is recorded on video
tape for the first time.
SMPTE
recommends
standards for NTSC color registration
through the use of color bars.
Stereo
television
broadcasting begins in Japan.
The
British Post
Office is experimenting with a
viewdata or television information service it calls Prestel. A special
module links any ordinary telephone and TV to the computerized data
service.
The
Canadian
Government introduces its own system
for videotex. It is called Telidon, and boasts graphics as well as
text.
It produces superior graphics through an alphageometric based
technology.
Videotex
is similar
to teletext in that it is an
electronic system for the display of information on the television
screen
of a set equipped with a decoding device. Unlike teletext, the system
provides
service from a central computer; information is relayed to the home
user
through cable or telephone lines. Moreover, it offers the opportunity
of
user interaction.
The
American videotex
system is known as ANTIOPE.
Compatible worldwide, it provides both broadcast and videotex
technology,
as well as hard copy printouts.
1979
:
There
are now 300
million television sets in operation
worldwide.
BASF
of W. Germany
demonstrates the LVR ( longitudinal
video recording ) system; it can fit three hours of video onto the
smallest
cassette in the world.
Flat-screen
pocket
televisions, with liquid crystal
display screens, are patented by the Japanese firm Matsushita. The
pocket
television is no bigger than a paperback book.
Philips
of the
Netherlands markets LaserVision,
a digital video disc sytem that uses a helium neon laser to read the
disc,
eliminating the interference caused by dust or scratching. The player
itself
is smaller than many cassette decks.
JVC
(Japan Victor
Co.) introduces a new video disc
system. This system uses a sapphire stylus and, unlike the Philips
LaserVision
set, it can play either audio or video discs on the same turntable.The
stylus is good for 2000 hours of play.
1980
:
India
launches its
national television network.
Sony
demonstrates the
first consumer Camcorder,
a combined video camera and recorder in one small package.
The
British Post
Office makes its Prestel Viewdata
or public TV information service available to the public. One linking
module
gives an ordinary telephone and television access to the computerized
data
system. The system goes international the following year.
Cable
News Network (
CNN ) goes on the air in the
U.S.
Closed
captioning, an
added digital text signal
for the deaf which can be decoded with special devices, is designed at
ABC.
1981
:
The
first
professional camcorders are employed at
ENG, thus making it possible for one man to completely cover a news
event.
First
National of the
US releases 'Kididisk', a
new videodisc home teaching device with rewind, fast forward and
freeze-frame
capabilities
After
five years of
work on the project, Sinclair
Radionics of Cambridge, England introduces Microvision, the first
pocket-sized
TV. From almost anywhere in the world Microvision can receive black and
white pictures on its 3 inch ( 7.5 cm ) screen. It also includes an FM
radio receiver. It retails for £50 ( $100 ).
Feedback:
..."I
would like to point out an error in the
"2500 Years of Communications History." The British inventor Clive
Sinclair,
or his company, Sinclair Radionics, brought the first pocket TV in the
world to the market in 1977, not in 1981. In fact, the prototype was
presented
to the public 11 years earlier, in 1966!
A
lot of
information concerning the Sinclair
Pocket TVs can be found at the following www-address:
http://www.nvg.unit.no/spectrum/tv1a.htm
I
would
also like to inform you that the Sinclair
Microvision is acclaimed in encyclopaedias of design because
of its
remarkable design quality. It is most often dated 1976, but it did not
actually come on the market before January 1977"
A
reader
who wished to remain anonymous
1982
:
Chyron
debuts a
character generator which may be
controlled and programmed by a personal computer.
The
first flat screen
portable TV is offered to
the public.
The
Marconi Co.
announces plans to begin commercial
satellite TV in the UK before the end of 1986. The new service will
have
two channels. One will show feature films, the other will rerun
highlights
from old programs.
National
Panasonic
markets the UK's first stereo
video recorder, the NV-7900. The remote control gives the viewer easy
accesss
to 25 different functions of the recorder, which can be used with a
stereo
TV set, or a stereo audio system in conjunction with a mono TV set.
1984
:
8mm
consumer video
recorders are marketed in the
US.
Stereo
TV
broadcasting is authorized by the FCC.
Kodak
introduces its
Kodavision home video system.
Seiko,
Sony and Casio
simultaneously produce pocket
televisions with flat screens. These are followed by wristwatch
televisions.
1985
:
In
the UK, teachers
and schoolchildren collaborate
on the Domesday Project, a sort of time capsule on video disc. It
combines
digital data with still and moving images to produce a record of
Britain
in the year 1985.
At
Expo '85 in
Tsukuba, Sony demonstrates the Jumbotron,
a high definition TV screen 40 meters wide and 25 meters high.
Matsushita
Electric
Industrial Co. of Japan produces
a 3D television which does not require the use of special glasses. The
first model has a 14 inch screen.
Sony
introduces its
Video 8 camera. It weighs less
than 5 lbs.
Sony
builds a radio
the size of a credit card.
1986
:
The
crucial battle
for a democratic revolution in
the Philippines is focused on the control of Channel Four, the
television
station owned by the government. The live broadcast of Ferdinand
Marcos'
inaugural ceremony is cut off in mid-gesture by the rebels and replaced
by a John Wayne movie.
1987
:
Pope
John Paul is the
subject of the largest satellite
television broadcast in history, called 'Prayer For Peace' reaching
over
1.5 billion people around the world. Twenty satellites and thirty
transponders
are used to transmit the program to 25 countries on five continents.
Half
of all homes in
USA with TV are on cable.
1988
:
Sony
introduces the
Video Walkman, a portable TV
and VCR with a 3 inch screen that weighs only 2-1/2 lbs. The list price
in the US is $1300.
At
the same time the
first pocket-size color TVs
become available. Sony, Sharp Electronics ( Magnavox ) and NAP Consumer
Electronics Corporation all introduce color models with flat liquid
crystal
display ( LCD ) screens. The picture screens on these models are 3
inches
( 7.6 cm ) wide and only 1/8 of an inch ( 3 mm ) thick. They sell for
about
$600.
1989
:
The
manufacturers of
video cassette systems offer
a sharper picture in new higher resolution products. The JVC Company of
America in Elmwood Park, New Jersey introduces the Super VHS format
with
a 440 line picture rather than the 220 line picture of conventional
VHS.
Sony markets its new ED-Beta system, with 500 lines to a picture, as
opposed
to the old Beta's 300.
1990
:
1446
television
stations broadcasting in United
States.
1991
:
During
the Gulf War,
CNN coverage of the conflict
is so extensive and wide-ranging that it is commonly remarked only half
in jest that Saddam Hussein is watching CNN for his military
intelligence,
instead of relying on his own information-gathering methods.
3
out of 4 U.S. homes
own VCRs; fastest selling
domestic appliance in history.
1993
:
A
'TV Guide' poll
finds that one in four Americans
would not give up television, even for a million dollars.
1996
:
There
are over a
billion television sets in operation
around the world.
What
is the goal of
"A Chronology of Communication Related Events"
For a good many years I have
taught courses and given lectures on many aspects of communication
systems and technology.
In a number of instances the audience for these presentations had
little or no background in physics or engineering and, as a result, I
often found it difficult to elucidate some of the fundamental and
enduring concepts in communication.
In this
context, I have found it useful (or, at
least, personally rewarding) to take a semi historical
approach. For example, understanding electromagnetism and its
implications in electromagnetic communication is a very profound
conceptual leap for those not well schooled in physics.
However, tracing through how the understanding of these ideas has
evolved over time can help to pinpoint the thorniest conceptual
hurdles. In this way then I have found that the development
of this chronology as valuable teaching adjunct.
Obviously, I am
not an historian and the history
presented here is very schematic, highly selective and not very
authoritative. There are very big gaps. In
particular, I have not touch upon the development of spoken and written
language. But, in spite of obvious limitations I believe that
this evolving chronology does give a flavor of how humankind has come
to understand communication and communication technology.
Much of the
material presented in this chronology
is taken from other web pages and, where appropriate, I have tried to
given due recognition to these sources.
Sources or References:
Russell
Naughton's work is a
primary inspiration and
source for these web pages:
Technology
and Society
2500
Years of Communications
History: Part 1
2500
Years of Communications
History: Part
Surfing
the Aether
Genesis I, verse 3.
Genesis I, verses 1-5
Be advised that the
information here is taken from many
sources, and
sifting through various sources and viewpoints makes for lively debate.
That is to say, you may encounter inconsistencies concerning time and
event
- or even who was 'first' to do something or other. I have
done my
best to verify dates and events, but there are certainly errors.
in some cases...texts are not internally consistent.
Other Related
Chronologies
Electrical
Timeline
Electricity
and Magnetism Time-Line
The
FTHE Web History of Telecommunications
History 291 Home
Page
IEEE
History Center Milestones List
The Master-List of
Dead Media
Miscellanea
Physics
Time-Line
The
Scientific Revolution: Useful Dates
-
This page was prepared
and is maintained by R.
Victor Jones
Comments to: jones@deas.harvard.edu.
Last updated August 20, 1999