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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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wait
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did you ever wonder how all this
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happened how you can turn that
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knob and enjoy a dramatic show laugh at
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a comedian
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watch the ball game or hear and see new
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anywhere in the world
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well it's quite a story the story of
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television
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the important part of it really began
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not so long ago
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back in 1931 to be exact and it began
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just as most big stories usually do
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with one man who had a vision that man
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was alan b dumas and this is where his
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vision began
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with mechanical television beyond this
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equipment
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required to produce a tiny indistinct
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picture
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dumont saw a whole new age of television
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of course even in 1931 television was
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not an entirely new thing
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the nip cow disc apparatus you see here
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was the result of experimentation that
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began
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before the turn of the century this
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development however
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had been almost completely confined to a
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mechanical approach
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alan dumont envisioned the entirely new
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direction of development
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that was required to bring about the
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television age
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he wanted big clear pictures on sets of
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practical size
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and dumont saw that mechanical
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television could never provide these
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things
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he saw that the future of television was
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to be
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in electronics so with little money
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and giving up the security of his
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position but backed by the assurance of
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his own scientific conviction
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and research experience dumont equipped
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a small laboratory in the garage of his
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home
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and went to work to test his theory
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deliberately
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he set out to produce the first
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practical cathode ray tube
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he needed all of his famous patients
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needed all of his inventive ingenuity
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month after month experiment after
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experiment went by
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each attempt made clearer the way to
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success
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finally the impossible was accomplished
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alan b dumont had built the first really
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practical cathode ray tube
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that could be produced commercially here
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was a tube
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that would continue to operate perfectly
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for several
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thousand hours a tube that wiped out the
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limitations of mechanical
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television and in so doing paved the way
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for today's big screen
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tv with pictures that are clear and
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lifelike
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in fact this piece of curved glass
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operating steadily through the hours
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announced the opening of a whole new age
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the age of electronics history had been
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made
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but alan dumont knew the job had just
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begun
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you see dumont realized his ideas were
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so far ahead of their
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times that even his production of a
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practical cathode ray tube
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was not enough to bring his dream of
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electronic television into being
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to sell the picture tubes he was now
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ready to produce
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to gain the capital necessary for
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further development of electronic
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television
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a way had to be found to dramatically
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prove the value of the cathode ray tube
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alan dumont set out to do just
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for that number of years scientists and
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engineers have been using
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several types of measuring devices known
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as oscillographs
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dumont reasoned that an oscillograph
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using his cathode ray tube would be much
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more accurate and offer a much greater
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variety of uses
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thus was born the cathode ray
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oscillogram
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an instrument that was to prove
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practically unlimited in its usefulness
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this model and its continually improving
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successors
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demonstrated that by tracing the wave
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pattern of streams of electrons
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inside the tube they could measure
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almost any earthly phenomenon
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with fantastic accuracy
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testing the stress on a given piece of
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material even measuring the minutes
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interval of time down to a millionth of
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a second
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the cathode ray oscillograph quickly
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took its place as a valuable tool in the
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young but growing science of
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electronics we shall see how its
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application was to extend much farther
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the development of the cathode ray off
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cellograph awakened many minds to the
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future of electronics
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it also provided the capital allen
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dumont needed to return
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to the furtherance of his vision
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practical television
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by 1938 dumont was engaged in all phases
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of television
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he was designing and building
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telecasting equipment
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he was using much of it on his own
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experimental broadcasting station
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w2x vt where many of the methods and
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techniques of present-day television
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transmission
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were developed at the same time dumont
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also was producing the first commercial
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television receivers
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utilizing the cathode ray tube this is
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the early type
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180 with a 14 inch tube providing a
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picture size
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of 8 by 10 inches the following year
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in 1939 dumont built the first
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of what was to be many console model
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television sets
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this early type retained the 14 inch
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picture tube
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but provided a much improved sound
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system
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and as can be seen dumont was already
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beginning to think in terms of cabinet
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styling
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as well as performance but even in those
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days
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dumont believed in big screen television
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who wants to look at the world through a
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knot hole said he
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and so in 1940 type 195
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actually had a 20 inch 2 plus a record
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player
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am and shortwave radio
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then war came and alan dumont found
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himself
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deeply involved in the research that was
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required for national defense
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here again his vision proved invaluable
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principles discovered by dumont years
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before
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led to the development of radar and
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loran
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and many other tools of victory
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but when the war was over the vision was
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still strong
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strengthened by wartime research dumont
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proclaimed that everyone was entitled to
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the best in television
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and he set about making this come true
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with plans for building the finest in
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telecasting equipment and television
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receivers
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this required a tremendous organization
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space to be bought
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plants to be built a whole new world to
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be created
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it required the planning and building of
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great production lines
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because almost immediately millions of
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americans wanted the wonder of
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television in their homes
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needed was the most complex equipment
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often specially designed and built to do
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the job
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for never before had anyone ever set up
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efficient production
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of fine television sets and telecasting
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equipment
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necessary too was the training of
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hundreds of technicians and craftsmen
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to a high level of skill and precision
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in an art known
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formally to only a few people
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and at every step of this complicated
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process there had to be set up and
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maintained
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because alan dumont insisted on it the
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most exhaustive checking
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inspecting and quality control system in
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the industry
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this was to make sure especially that
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every television set produced could
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stand up
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and deliver countless hours of service
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in the home of its owner
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simultaneously of course according to
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plan
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dumont was also designing and building
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the telecasting equipment needed for the
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large number of stations
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which would be required to bring
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television to the people of this country
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before there were any sets in the homes
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of the public dumont was perfecting and
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producing
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the equipment needed to fill the air
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with television
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he built television cameras here you see
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the famous one-lens
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cyclops pioneer of the earliest post-war
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television broadcasting
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from the principles tested in cyclops
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came a steady stream of improved cameras
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leading up to the modern multi-lens
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camera able to deliver a high degree of
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reproduction
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under conditions where pre-war equipment
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would not even have operated
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he built all types of station equipment
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here is a portable sink generator
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notice the compactness of this entirely
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self-contained unit
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this generator is designed to go
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anywhere the television camera goes
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to the ball game or to the scene of any
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special event
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where news is being made on the spot
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he built large transmitters as well as
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all the other specialized equipment that
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he saw would be required to develop a
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high quality of television reception
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broadcasting and programming
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through the same years building on the
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foundation laid in 1938
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dumont was setting up what was to be the
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first wholly owned
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television network the great studio
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facilities of today
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began as experimental telecasting which
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tested and established the principles of
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operation
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as more and more people began to own
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sets dumont pioneered in setting up
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regularly scheduled programs for the
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public to watch
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and the dumont network grew began to
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reach out
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into the east to the midwest across the
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nation
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and the big shows the wonderful front
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row entertainment
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the entire world began to pour into
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american homes everywhere
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techniques of television have improved
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and are improving
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so fast their progress is visible even
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to the most casual observer
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a whole population of men and women have
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become skilled in the technical aspects
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of this new medium
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all this was part of the original vision
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of alan v
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dumont but even as the vast field of
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home entertainment and education
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has proved too small for the giant that
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television has become
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so was it too small for dumont he was
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constantly seeking to develop
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and develop again the marvelous servant
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that is electronics
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take the case of the cathode ray tube
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for example
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you will remember it looked like this
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originally
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but this was merely a temporary state
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through the years
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many changes have been made both in the
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shape and the design of the two
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naturally these changes have had a
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profound influence on the picture tube
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in your television set
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you see how under dumont's leadership
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viewing area has grown from 17 inches
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to 19 to 21 and finally
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to the fabulous dumont 30 inch tube the
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largest in the world
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notice especially that the larger tubes
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even with their vastly increased viewing
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area
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have been greatly reduced in overall
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length this makes possible
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the compact smartness of present-day
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television receivers
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but of course as dumont plan the uses of
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the cathode ray tube were not confined
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to home entertainment
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here for example is dumont's new cathode
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ray tube
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actually containing five electron guns
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this five gunner is able to record many
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impulses and reactions simultaneously
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able to perform veritable electronic
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miracles
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in fact the advanced research
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continually demanded by dumont
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and furnished by top electronic
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scientists not only led
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and paralleled the development of
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television it also branched off to open
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up entirely new fields
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the principles of television
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transmission and reception
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did more than just provide entertainment
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for the millions
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today these same principles are the
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basis for industrial television
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where manufacturing operations can be
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seen and controlled
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from hundreds of feet away these methods
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do
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more than just increase efficiency they
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add tremendously to the safety of
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workers
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particularly in vital atomic research
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and construction
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soon entire transportation systems may
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also be run
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safely and efficiently by the use of
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electronic equipment
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cathode ray oscillographs and similar
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instruments
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play important parts in areas once far
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remote from electronics
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in science and medicine these
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instruments make possible new tests and
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analyses
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that safeguard health detecting illness
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in the human body
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almost before it starts
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everywhere electronic principles are
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being turned into new comfort and
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convenience for you
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so that's the story of television the
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story
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of a whole new era of teletronics that
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is really
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just beginning it's come a long way from
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here
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and it has a much longer way to go a
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story
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like many others possible only in the
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united states of america
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today in the field of electronics and
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tomorrow as in the years of yesterday
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due month will be first for vision is
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the dumont dimension
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[Music]
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you
