The Production and Utilization of Television Signals¹

The design of a television system, once the fundamental principles are understood, involves a detailed consideration of the methods by which the several important functions are to be performed. (1) In the present system the initial signal wave is obtained by sweeping a spot of light over the subject in parallel lines completely scanning it once every 18th of a second. The light reflected is collected by large photoelectric cells which control the transmitted current. At the receiving station the picture current controls the brightness of a neon lamp from which the received image is built up by means of a small aperture moving in synchronism with the spot of light at the transmitting station. For presentation to a large audience television images may be produced by a neon lamp in the form of a grid having a large number of separate electrodes. A high frequency excitation controlled by the picture current is distributed to the successive electrodes in synchronism with the spot of light at the transmitting station. (2) Space and time variations in the reflecting power of the subject are translated into time variations in signal strength. For design purposes these time variations are represented by component frequencies, a minimum band of which must be properly transmitted to insure an adequate reproduction of the image. Within this band there must be maintained a certain degree of uniformity in the efficiency of transmission of the separate components. Also, their phases must not be permitted to shift unduly in relation to each other. (3) The design of the terminal amplifiers is based on the quantitatively determined characteristics of the photoelectric cells and of the neon lamps as well as on the limits imposed by the transmission study and by the characteristics of available transmission media, whether telephone line or radio system. The circuits employed at the transmitting station furnish an amplification such that the power delivered to the transmission medium is 10 15 times the power received from the photoelectric cells.