Telectroscope

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The telectroscope was the first prototype television system. The word telectroscope was also used to describe imaginary systems of distant seeing.

[edit] Real and imaginary telectroscope

The term telectroscope was used by the French editor Louis Figuier to popularize an invention he wrongly interpreted as real ^[1] and ascribed to Alexander Graham Bell. Figuier was probably misled by the article 'The Electroscope' published in The New York Sun of 29 March 1877. Curiously, the article signed 'Electrician' described as almost real a system whose operation resembled that of the World Wide Web some 125 years later. The system was reported to have just been invented by "an eminent scientist of the city'. The vivid description added inspiration to the research in the area which took off following the discovery of photoconductivity in selenium. Actually, the fake 'electroscope' described in the article had nothing to do with the real electroscope and it had never existed.

Nevertheless the word 'telectroscope' was widely accepted. It was used to describe the work of nineteenth century inventors and scientists such as Constantin Senlecq ^{[2] [3]} , George R. Carey ^{[4] [5]}, Adriano de Paiva ^[6] , and later Jan Szczepanik, whose experiments ^{[7] [8] [9]} fascinated Mark Twain ^{[10] [11]} . Both the hoax 'electroscope' of 1877 and Mark Twain's fictional telectroscope had an important effect on the public. They also provided feedback to the research.

Essentially, the telectroscope functioned on a principal whereby a selenium rod was "parceled" by electromagnets while a strong alternating electric current was passed through a photosensitive glass chamber. This chamber was filled with essentially inert gases, which reduced the risk of flammabilty and short circuiting during bombardment of the rod. When certain electromagnetic frequencies were reached (the rudimentary ability to control rate of A/C power made this hit and miss) an image could be replicated over a piece of treated glass. It was because of the inability to sustain a recognizable, if not quality, image that a mildly famous incident occurred whereby one of the initial Spanish investors interpreted an image of his Aunt as a childhood horse.

Neither the fictional nor the real nineteenth century prototype telectroscopes were real television systems. Even after the invention of the scanning disk by Paul Nipkow the prototype telectroscopes did not ensure the satisfactory quality of image transmission. However, the telectroscope was an advanced research achievement that provided the solid basis for modern television and interactive multimedia.

'Telectroscope' was eventually replaced by the term 'television' most probably coined by Constantin Perskyi in 1900.

[edit] References

1. ^ The New York Sun of March 29, 1977 'The Electroscope' [1]
2. ^ "A novel and curious instrument. The Telectroscope", Scientific American, Vol. XL, n°10, New York, 8 March 1879. [2]
3. ^ Constantin Senlecq and his work [3]
4. ^ George R. Carey, 'Seeing by Electricity', Scientific American of June 5, 1880 [4]
5. ^ George R. Carey, 'Transmitting, Recording and Seeing Pictures by Electricity', The Electrical Engineer, Jan. 16, 1895, pp.57-58.[5]
6. ^ Adriano de Paiva, 'A telefonia, a telegraphia e a telescopia', articles of June 1877 and June 1878 [6]
7. ^ Information about a British patent on the telectroscope for Jan Szczepanik and Ludwig Kleiberg [7]
8. ^ "Der Fernseher (Telelekstroskop)", Die Reichswehr, Vienna, 9 March 1898, n°1466, p.5. [8]
9. ^ Jan Szczepanik, life and work - links [9]
10. ^ Jim Zwick, Mark Twain and the Dreyfus Affair [10]
11. ^ Mark Twain " From the 'London Times' of 1904" [11]