Progress of Television

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 42, 1 May 1931, Page 17

Progress of Television

Serious Difficulty Overcome ON of the major difficulties encountered by engineers in attempting to design an efficient television receiver has been the lack of a sufficiently brilliant light. A solution of the problem appears to have been discovered, however, by J. L. Baird, British television pioneer, during his experiments with the "singing" are light. Its great. brilliancy, combined with the fact that it varies instantly with the current supplied to it, adapt -it to the special requirements of television. When a high-frequency current is superimposed upon the current supplying the carbons in the light, the are varies in step with the frequencies, causing air waves to radiate from the light. If the high-frequency current is modulated by a microphone, the are acts as a loudspeaker, reproducing the voice or .music. The intensity of the light varies also, and it is this property which makes the are suitable for television. Neon tubes have been widely used for receivers, but they do not furnish sufficient light to enable projection of the image through a lens and upon a _ sereen.