Television History - The First 75 Years
 
 

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Television came into being based on the inventions and discoveries of many men and scientists.  The 'first' generation of television sets were not entirely electronic.  The display (TV screen) had a small motor with a spinning disc and a neon lamp, which worked together to give a blurry reddish-orange picture about half the size of a business card!  The period before 1935 is called the "Mechanical Television Era".  This type of television is not compatible with today's fully-electronic television system.

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    American Television Sets

1928 GE "Octagon"	1929 Western Television	1932 Jenkins Radio-TV Receiver - Model JD30
All Pre-1935 American TV Sets

    British Television Sets   

1928 Baird Model "C"	1930 Baird "Televisor"	All Baird
1926 Baird "Falkirk" Television Transmitter.  More photos!
All Pre-1935 British TV Sets

    French Television Sets

1929 "Semivisor" by Réné Barthélémy, while working for Compagnie pour la Fabrication des Compteurs et Matériel d'Usines à Gaz of Montrouge. (Image is © Musée des arts et métiers, Paris)

    Russian Television Sets

1934 Model B2 Russian TV

1934 Pioneer-TM3 Russian TV

(See below and also refer to Index for additional sets and information)
        

January 23, 1926

On January 23, 1926, John Logie Baird (of Scotland) gave the world's first public demonstration of a mechanical television apparatus to approximately 40 members of the Royal Institution at his laboratory on Frith Street. These were images of living human faces, not outlines or silhouettes, with complete tonal gradations of light and shade. 

Photographs of the Transmitter

April 7, 1927

Bell Telephone Labs and AT&T give a USA public mechanical television demonstration over both wire and radio circuits.  The demonstration was directed by Dr. Herbert Ives and Dr. Frank Gray.  Pictures and sound were sent by wire from Washington D.C., to New York City.  A wireless demonstration also occurred 22 miles away, from Whippany, New Jersey, to New York City.

The main part of the demonstration was a speech by Herbert Hoover, then secretary of commerce, which originated in Washington D.C.    The 50-line pictures, transmitted at 18 frames per second, were received on a 2" x 3" screen.  It was claimed that there was no difference in quality between the pictures sent by  either wire or radio. 

To the left is a newspaper report of this event, as told by "The Indianapolis Star", two days after the demonstration, on April 9th, 1927.  (267K bytes)


Read more about this event on the AT&T website "The First US Demonstration of TV"

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The Troy Record - Front page New York newspaper article about the demonstration - A more detailed report.

(100K)    (108K)    (92K)  Bell Labs Photos

January 13, 1928

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GE's Alexanderson and RCA's Sarnoff Present the GE Mechanical System to the Press.
GE System is Hailed (incorrectly) as the "World's First Television"

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Popular Mechanics article about the 1928 Alexanderson mechanical television demonstration.
"Television for the Home"

Footnote: On September 7th, 1927 Philo Farnsworth successfully transmitted a straight-line via his fully electronic television system. (Courtesy Paul Schatzkin)

1928 American Scanning Disc Television -- General Electric

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1928 GE "Octagon" Mechanical Television - 4" Screen.  Reportedly, only 4 of these were built.

1930 Baird "Televisor" - UK 

(25K) - Courtesy Early Technology Collection (TVIK), Scotland

First "mass-produced" scanning disc television - Click here to read more

First commercial scanning disc television in the world - 1928 Baird  (earlier models)

1931 Photograph of WGBS Television Studio in New York City - Using Jenkins System

            1932 American Scanning Disc Television -- Jenkins

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1932 Jenkins Radio and Television Receiver, Model JD-30, serial number 252, with advertising.  This unit provided only the sound and the electrical signal to drive a separate R-400 display unit (see the lower RH corner of the ad).  The R-400 display unit housed a motor-driven  pinhole scanning disk and neon lamp.   Jenkins TV receiver in use at home.

Here is an another example of a 1932 American mechanical television set. Similar to the Jenkins' unit above, you had to buy two pieces of hardware, the radio & TV receiver for sound (lower item in ad), and the display unit (upper item in ad).

1932 American Scanning Disc Television -- Hollis Baird

Click to enlarge		

1932 Hollis Baird (American) "Mechanical" TV (not to be confused with John Logie Baird of Scotland)

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Check out scans of the interior pages of the earlier 1930 (65 page) version, which sold for 15 cents.  Includes assembly instructions and operating instructions for their "mechanical" scanning disc television kit. (33K)

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Shown immediately above is the 1931 version of "The Romance of Shortwaves and Television", which has a rare photograph of Mr. Hollis Semple Baird.  These images are courtesy of Prof. Michael Morgan, whose grandfather (shown in the center photo) was Mr. A. M. "Vic" Morgan -- President and General Manager of Shortwave and Television.  Professor Michael Morgan is currently on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts.

Click here to read the fascinating story of:  HOW TELEVISION CAME TO BOSTON

Click here to see examples of modern hand-built mechanical television sets

Click here to see other examples of mechanical television sets - Luc Sirois collection

Click here to see examples of appliances that changed the home forever

Early Japanese Television

Early Russian Television

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