P R E S T O-T I M E S
February, 1931
RECENT TELEVISION
DEVELOPMENTS
Powerful Television Broadcast Stations Inaug-
urate Service While Engineers Get Into
Production on Practical Home
Televisors.
By JAMES W. GARSIDE,
President, Jenkins Television Corporation.
Much has been said and written about television
during the last few months. Like any other new in-
dustry, it has drawn its share of criticism, just as
the telegraph, later the telephone, and more recently
the radio came in for their share of scoffing, not so
much from people who knew something about the
subject as from those quite ignorant of the prob-
lems and the possibilities. There is a certain type
of individual who, when invited to hear his first radio
program, did not enthuse over the fact that music
could at last be sent through space and placed in
millions of homes, but rather commented on the fact
that the music did not sound as good as his old
phonograph. Obviously, that same individual can no
longer criticize radio broadcasting on the basis of
realistic rendition. Indeed, as likely as not his old
phonograph is now playing records through the audio-
amplifier of his radio set and his loud-speaker, with
about a thousand per cent gain in tone quality.
Much Yet to Be Developed.
So it has been with television. When the first
crude rad : o images were exhibited in the purely ex-
perimental stage by C. Francis Jenkins, the pioneer
worker in this -field, some one was heard exclaiming,
"The pictures are certainly not as clear as the
movies!" Of course they are not, and certainly
they will not be comparable with movies for a long
while to come. It is one thing to project a succession
of pictures from a film on to a screen, as in motion
pictures, and quite another to weave a series of pic-
tures by means of a tiny point of light. This indi-
vidual, when he invests in a television receiver, will
probably expect to see all his favorite stars on the
televisor screen, as well as baseball, football, and
other sports, operas, public events and so on without
end. Obviously, he will be disappointed—at least for
the immediate present, for an intricate art does not
start with perfection.
Television Far from a Dream.
Television is far from a dream. Last July, C. Fran*
cis Jenkins inaugurated a television broadcasting ser-
vice from his laboratories in Washington, D. C. His
television station, W3XK, using but 50 watts, has
are very crude, and lack detail to such a degree as
to be a great disappointment. Just as early broad-
casters avoided the full symphony orchestra or organ
or band, because of the limitations of early broad-
casting, so we are of the opinion today that we should
avoid those subjects which call for far more detail
than we can possibly handle. For this reason, the
Jenkins radiomovies and cartoons, to our mind, are
more attractive, in their fairly refined form, than the
crude images purported to be true television by enthu-
siastic experimenters.
Our radiomovies bear a close resemblance to film-
ing technique. We record the action, whether it be
silhouettes or cartoons, on standard motion picture
film. This film is placed in a pick-up device not
unlike the usual motion picture projector. However,
instead of being projected on a screen, the light pass-
ing through the film, in the form of a narrow pencil
of light, line by line, is flashed on to a light-sensi-
tive or photo-electric cell, which translates the vary-
ing degree of light into corresponding electrical varia-
tions. These variations are impressed on the carrier
wave of the radio transmitter.
Not Replacing Broadcast Receiver.
Television is thus ready to take its place alongside
the usual broadcast receiver. However, please note
that it is not going to replace the broadcast receiver,
nor is it going to be combined with the broadcast
receiver for some time to come. Combination sight
and sound programs will become commonplace in
home entertainment.
Our main aim is to provide something which will
at least start making television history, just as the
crystal detector and headphone set of 1921 began
broadcast history. Already Mr. Jenkins has a new
development of far-reaching importance, in the mat-
ter of obtaining far greater detail and picking up
However, television results are largely a question images in broad daylight. Indeed, he has developed
of television signals. The signals must come first: a television camera which should make it possible to
the reception of those signals must follow as a matter pick up news events, sporting events, prominent per-
sons, and so on with almost the same ease as the
of course.
With this point in mind, the organization has con- usual camera. The principle has been established
structed two powerful television broadcasting sta- but it is now a matter of developing what might be
tions, namely, W2XCR in Jersey City, N. J., and called watchmaker's precision rather than the black-
W3XK in Montgomery County, Maryland, outside smith methods which have so far obtained in tele-
of Washington, D. C. Both stations are licensed for vision work.
an output up to 5 kilowatts.
now look forward to the proper deciphering of more
delicate signals, such as cartoons and animated draw-
ings. Hence our early programs are apt to be in
the form of movie cartoons, with interesting stories
told by special scenario writers fully conversant with
the possibilities as well as limitations of this method
of expression.
supplied television entertainment to radio amateurs
from one end of the country to the other. The
audience has been estimated at from 15,000 to 20,000,
and this despite the fact that the signals have been
of limited strength, that the pictures have been of
the simplest kind, and that the receiving apparatus
has had to be built by the users themselves.
So much for the television experiment. With the
confidence that this experiment, as with radio broad-
casting, might be transformed into an industry, a group
of financiers and business men recently organized the
Jenkins Television Corporation, and took over the
patents, experience, laboratories and personnel of the
Jenkins Laboratories in Washington, D. C. This
new organization, amply financed, has placed the
ideas and plans of C. Francis Jenkins, its vice-presi-
dent in charge of research, in the hands of a large
staff of engineers in its Jersey City engineering
laboratories. Notable progress has been made by
way of developing a practical home televisor. A
simple, compact, foolproof outfit has been developed,
with an image of sufficient size and luminosity so as
to entertain an entire family circle at one time, instead
of the one-man peep-hole image of the usual experi-
mental television receiver. The huge and awkward
scanning disk has been replaced by a compact scan-
ning drum of high efficiency. The synchronizing
means, for keeping in step with the transmitted sig-
nals, have been reduced to simplest terms.
For the Present, Simple Cartoons.
Just what kind of programs can be provided for
the "lookers-in"? Well, for the present, we plan to
provide simple cartoons. Mr. Jenkins has heretofore
been broadcasting what he terms radio-movies—a
simple action study in silhouette, or black-and-white
form, in keeping with the relatively crude home-
made equipment employed by the listeners-in or,
rather, lookers-in. However, our engineers have de-
veloped far more precise televisors, so that we can
Of course there have been attempts made at trans-
mitting actual living pictures—full tone pictures, with
all gradations from black to white. These pictures
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VALENTINES CROWDED OUT
In the "30 Years Ago" column in this issue of
Presto-Times appears an item stating that owing to
lack of space a bunch of "valentines in verse" dedi-
cated to the music traders was omitted; and now in
this present issue of the paper it is necessary for the
same reason to make a similar announcement, for we
are leaving out two or three columns of valentines
dedicated to individuals and firms engaged in the trade.
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