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Scophony

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orientated cylindrical lenses. The vibrations through the water would act as a diffraction grating, the higher the amplitude, the more that the light passing through would be diffracted. The light passed through the water column was then horizontally focussed onto either a slit or narrow optical block, depending on whether positive or negative modulation of the water column was used. The amount of light which would either pass through the slit or go around the block depended on the amplitude of the modulation, thereby causing the light amplitude to be modulated. Following the slit/block, the light would hit the high speed horizontal rotating mirror drum which was synchronised to the propagation of the waves through the water bath, in order that a particular wave in the water bath would appear at a fixed position on the screen, although that wave would actually be moving through the water column. This technique allowed significantly more of the light from the light source to be used compared to previous light modulation techniques. Vertical scanning was achieved by a separate much larger rotating mirror drum.
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Scophony Limited operated as a television manufacturer in Britain up to WWII and then in the USA. During WWII Scophony moved to Somerset and worked on war work. "Of all the electro-mechanical television techniques invented and developed by the mid-1930s, the technology known as Scophony had no rival
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A split horizontal and vertical focus optical system invented by Walton, developed specially for use with mirror scanning systems and the Jeffree cell. Light beams were focused by crossed cylindrical lenses, concentrating the light in two planes. This allowed the use of smaller lenses and mirrors,
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The light modulator worked as follows. Crystal vibrations at one end of a horizontal water column would cause waves to propagate through the water. The light was passed through this column from the side across the waves as they propagated through the column, via separate horizontal and vertical
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exhibition in London: a home receiver, with a picture area of approximately 24 in × 20 in (61 cm × 51 cm) and two systems intended for theater operation, one producing a 6 ft × 5 ft (180 cm × 150 cm) image and the other a 9 ft
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motors which could be relied on for 1000 hours of use, some lasting longer without noticeable wear. The Scophony system used two: a low speed scanner which operated at 240 RPM and a high speed scanner which ran at 30,375 RPM for 405 line transmissions or 39,690 RPM for the American
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In November 1948, Scophony merged with John Logie Baird Ltd to become Scophony-Baird; offering for sale a line of four Baird-branded television sets the following year.
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Several of the theatre systems were installed and operated successfully but none of the receivers were sold as production was halted due to the impending war.
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The company Scophony Limited was established by entrepreneur Solomon Sagall in the early 1930s to exploit the patents of inventor George William Walton and
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invested £3,500 in the company, however in 1934 Ferranti turned down the option to invest a further £10,000 to re-structure Scophony Limited, and in 1935
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It is a common misconception that the water column would contain a complete video line, but this was not necessary with the Scophony system.
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thus reducing size and cost. This was particularly important to Scophony since they intended to produce extremely large images.
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Inventing Television: Transnational Networks of Co-operation and Rivalry, 1870-1936
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crystal to excite vibrations in a column of water or another transparent liquid.
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A light modulator developed by J.H. Jeffree in 1934 and known as the
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The Last Remaining Scophony TV Receiver High Speed Scanner Motor
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In 1938, the Scophony company demonstrated three types of
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History of science and technology in the United Kingdom
62:Scophony's system used several innovative devices: 111:replaced Ferranti as the company's main investor. 180:The Setmakers by Keith Geddes and Gordon Bussey ( 8: 278:Scophony system at Early Television website 159: 118:mechanical television receivers at the 34:image was produced by an early form of 273:Scophony system at TV History website 7: 130:in terms of technical performance." 214:Terry-Thomas and the Baird Portable 14: 226:Waltz Jr., George (July 1948). 1: 16:Mechanical television system 327: 38:of a bright light using a 283:Solomon Sagall obituary: 245:Television Experimenters 36:acousto-optic modulation 30:by Scophony Limited. A 143:Ulises Armand Sanabria 46:Principle of operation 311:Television technology 241:"The Scophony System" 217:, Bairdtelevision.com 24:mechanical television 26:system developed in 22:was a sophisticated 234:. pp. 109–113. 211:Iain Logie Baird, 166:Iain Logie Baird, 101:William Stephenson 318: 262: 260: 259: 253: 247:. Archived from 239:Yanczer, Peter. 235: 228:"Theater Vision" 218: 209: 203: 195: 189: 178: 172: 164: 326: 325: 321: 320: 319: 317: 316: 315: 291: 290: 269: 257: 255: 254:on 16 July 2011 251: 238: 232:Popular Science 225: 222: 221: 210: 206: 197:Paul Marshall, 196: 192: 179: 175: 165: 161: 156: 139: 97: 60: 48: 32:black and white 17: 12: 11: 5: 324: 322: 314: 313: 308: 303: 293: 292: 289: 288: 280: 275: 268: 267:External links 265: 264: 263: 236: 220: 219: 204: 190: 173: 158: 157: 155: 152: 151: 150: 145: 138: 135: 96: 93: 92: 91: 79: 68: 59: 56: 47: 44: 15: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 323: 312: 309: 307: 304: 302: 299: 298: 296: 287: 286: 281: 279: 276: 274: 271: 270: 266: 250: 246: 242: 237: 233: 229: 224: 223: 216: 215: 208: 205: 202: 201: 194: 191: 187: 183: 177: 174: 171: 170: 163: 160: 153: 149: 148:Joshua Sieger 146: 144: 141: 140: 136: 134: 131: 127: 124: 121: 117: 112: 110: 106: 102: 94: 89: 84: 80: 77: 73: 69: 65: 64: 63: 57: 55: 52: 45: 43: 41: 40:piezoelectric 37: 33: 29: 25: 21: 284: 256:. Retrieved 249:the original 244: 231: 212: 207: 198: 193: 176: 167: 162: 132: 128: 125: 113: 98: 72:Jeffree cell 61: 53: 49: 19: 18: 120:Radiolympia 103:. In 1932, 83:synchronous 81:High speed 295:Categories 258:2009-04-02 252:(Web page) 186:0951704206 154:References 58:Innovation 76:Kerr cell 301:Ferranti 285:NY Times 137:See also 116:405 line 105:Ferranti 88:441 line 20:Scophony 95:Company 90:system. 28:Britain 184:  182:ISBN 109:EKCO 297:: 243:. 230:. 261:. 188:)

Index

mechanical television
Britain
black and white
acousto-optic modulation
piezoelectric
Jeffree cell
Kerr cell
synchronous
441 line
William Stephenson
Ferranti
EKCO
405 line
Radiolympia
Ulises Armand Sanabria
Joshua Sieger
The Last Remaining Scophony TV Receiver High Speed Scanner Motor
ISBN
0951704206
Inventing Television: Transnational Networks of Co-operation and Rivalry, 1870-1936
Terry-Thomas and the Baird Portable
"Theater Vision"
"The Scophony System"
the original
Scophony system at TV History website
Scophony system at Early Television website
Solomon Sagall obituary: NY Times
Categories
Ferranti
History of science and technology in the United Kingdom

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