1931 Television Image

1931SeptTVFor an idea of what kind of picture quality was available with early mechanical television, here is an example from 85 years ago, from the September-October 1931 issue of Television News.

The photo was sent to the magazine by H.E. Burket of 819 Center Street, Chicago, Illinois, who reported that he captured the image from the broadcasts made by the Chicago Daily News station.

Burket’s receiver consisted of an 18″ scanning disc, driven by a synchronous motor with gear transmission. He had been experimenting with various glow tubes. While neon tubes were most commonly employed, Burket noted that spot and crater type glow tubes with white or green light gave superior images.

He reported that the photographs were made with exposure times of between 2-1/2 and 10 seconds. He also noted that while lines were visible on this image, he had recently switched to a different scanning disc with which the lines were no longer visible.
Click Here For Today’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Cartoon