Vision by radio, radio photographs, radio photograms

Chapter 37: Nipkow and Sutton

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About This Book

This work discusses the early innovations in transmitting images via radio, highlighting the patent by Nipkow in 1884, which proposed a system using a selenium cell and a rotating perforated disc to capture scenes. It also examines the contributions of Shelford Bidwell, who earlier described a method for telegraphic transmission of images. The text details the technological advancements in the field, including the use of polarizing light valves for image reception, and provides insight into the author's background as an inventor and pioneer in motion picture technology and radio photography.

Nipkow and Sutton

One of the most interesting examples of the attempts to see by radio was made the subject of a patent by Nipkow in 1884. The proposed transmitter consisted of a selenium cell and an objective lens, with a spirally perforated disc rotating between the cell and lens “to dissect the scene.”

The receiving device employed the polarizing light valve used by Major George O. Squire, and Professor A. C. Crehore, to measure the flight of gun shells at Fort Monroe, Virginia, in 1895.

The Nipkow scheme was preceded by Shelford Bidwell’s device for “the telegraphic transmission of pictures of natural objects,” described in Telegraphic Journal 1881, Vol. 9, page 83; and later almost exactly duplicated by M. Henri Sutton, and rather fully described in Lumiere Electrique, Vol. 38, page 538, 1890.