Radio Photographs and Radio Vision, when both are done by the flat-plate
method, are identical in principle, the difference being only in the
speed of the apparatus, with such modification in the apparatus as will
permit of the required speed.
Just as in the Radio Photograph the picture surface of the Radio Vision
is covered with a small spot of light moving over the picture surface in
successive parallel lines, with the light value of the lines changed by
the incoming radio signals to conform to a given order, the order being
controlled by the distant scene at the sending station.
And as the whole picture surface is covered in one-twelfth to
one-sixteenth of a second, persistence of vision of the human eye is
sufficient to get the picture from the white receiving screen—a
photographic plate is not necessary.
When the machine of Radio Vision is turned over slowly, the little spot
of light on the screen which makes up the picture looks for all the
world like a tiny, twinkling star as it travels across the white surface
of the screen in adjacent parallel lines, changing in light value to
correspond in position and intensity to the light values of the scene
before the lens at the broadcasting station.
But when the machine is speeded up until the succession of lines recur
with a frequency which deceives the eye into the belief that it sees
_all_ these lines _all_ the time, then a picture suddenly flashes out on
the white screen in all the glory of its pantomime mystery.
To accomplish this, the apparatus must be speeded up until a whole
picture can be assembled on the screen, say, in one-sixteenth of a
second, to be seen by the eye directly.
It was necessary to modify the Radio Photo apparatus to permit this
increase in speed. So a lens disc is substituted for the fast pair of
prismatic plates. Each lens draws a line while the relatively slow
rotation of the prismatic plates distributes the lines over the whole
picture surface, just exactly as the plates do in the Radio Photo
Camera.
The Radio Vision receiving set and the Radio Movies set are identical,
and one may, therefore, see in one’s home what is happening in a distant
place, an inaugural parade, football, baseball, or polo game (and we
call it Radio Vision); or one may see the motion picture taken from the
screen of a distant theatre (and we call it Radio Movies).
The Radio Vision receiving set, as now designed, is very simple; namely,
a mahogany box, or small lidded cabinet, containing, beside the radio
receiving set and a loudspeaker, only a small motor rotating a pair of
glass discs, and a miniature, high frequency lamp for outlining the
pantomime picture on a small motion picture screen in the raised lid of
the cabinet, synchronism being maintained by the simple expedient of
“framing” the picture on the screen exactly as this is done in a moving
picture theatre.
The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to his friend,
Professor D. McFarlan Moore, for a word name for this new device, i.e.,
“telorama” for the radio vision instrument, and “teloramaphone” for the
instrument when it includes simultaneous reproduction of the music or
sound accompanying the living scene.
[Illustration: COL. PAUL HENDERSON, OCTOBER 1, 1924. ASSISTANT
POSTMASTER GENERAL, WASHINGTON, D.C. MY DEAR COL. HENDERSON:—THIS IS AN
EXAMPLE OF OUR NEW RADIO-PHOTO LETTER, A METHOD OF TRANSMITTING MESSAGES
BY RADIO INSTEAD OF BY STEAMSHIP. WASHINGTON TO PANAMA IN FIVE MINUTES.
IT HAS THE AUTHENTIC CHARACTER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED LETTER, AND THE SPEED
OF RADIO. IT IS THE BEGINNING OF A RADIO SERVICE TO THE EYE, WHERE
HERETOFORE RADIO HAS BEEN AN ADDRESS TO THE EAR ONLY. WILL THE TIME SOON
COME WHEN THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT WILL DELIVER BY RADIO PHOTOGRAPHIC
COPIES OF OUR BUSINESS LETTERS AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT RATHER THAN THE
LAGGARD DELIVERY OF THE ORIGINALS BY MAIL-PLANE. SUCH AN EXCHANGE OF
INTELLIGENCE WOULD WONDERFULLY SPEED UP INDUSTRY BECAUSE, LIKE AN ARMY,
INDUSTRY CAN GO NO FASTER THAN ITS MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. Jenkins]
COL. PAUL HENDERSON, OCTOBER 1, 1924.
ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL,
WASHINGTON, D.C.
MY DEAR COL. HENDERSON:—THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF OUR NEW RADIO-PHOTO
LETTER, A METHOD OF TRANSMITTING MESSAGES BY RADIO INSTEAD
OF BY STEAMSHIP. WASHINGTON TO PANAMA IN FIVE MINUTES.
IT HAS THE AUTHENTIC CHARACTER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED LETTER, AND
THE SPEED OF RADIO. IT IS THE BEGINNING OF A RADIO SERVICE
TO THE EYE, WHERE HERETOFORE RADIO HAS BEEN AN ADDRESS TO
THE EAR ONLY. WILL THE TIME SOON COME WHEN THE POST OFFICE
DEPARTMENT WILL DELIVER BY RADIO PHOTOGRAPHIC COPIES OF OUR
BUSINESS LETTERS AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT RATHER THAN THE LAGGARD
DELIVERY OF THE ORIGINALS BY MAIL-PLANE. SUCH AN EXCHANGE
OF INTELLIGENCE WOULD WONDERFULLY SPEED UP INDUSTRY
BECAUSE, LIKE AN ARMY, INDUSTRY CAN GO NO FASTER THAN ITS
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.