Mechanical TV
 

Whoever wins this http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=320334112087 will have a lot of work to do if they intend to make it work. But it would be really neat!

John

I can only imagine what the big screen version would look like... You'd need a V6 engine to power it.

"The contrast is too low! Step on the gas pedal a bit more!"

I'll bite. How the heck does this work?

Izzit digital & HDTV ready ?

Good question! :lmao:
... and where is the iPod dock?

I don't see why you couldn't hook this up to a bicycle-type device with gearbox that would sub for the motor and at the same time power a generator to feed the tube, and thus have a human-powered television. The newest thing in dieting devices for would-be couch potatoes, and --because it doesn't draw electricity from the grid-- it's environmentally friendly! :D

But seriously, that is one very cool "collectible"!

I saw one something like this on TV just a few days ago. The motor turns a wheel with windows in it in front of the square window on the black rectangular plate. This interupts your view if the tube. I'm not sure how the tube works though. The camera that captures the image also had a windowed wheel, so you would be able to adjust the speed of the wheel on the reciever to match the speed of the wheel on the camera by use of the lever on the motor. And that's all I know about it.:scratch2:
I hope someone can add to this.

That is something that should be in the etf museum

This is a Nipkow disk set, missing its disk.

A picture of the set is shown in this catalog:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/ica_catalog.html

Look for I. C. A. Experimental Television Equipment

That's pretty neat! Thanks for the info. The scanning disk would be pretty easy to replicate. In fact, the whole unit could be easily made, except for the tube. It would be tempting if I had time.

Is the Television Lamp a gas discharge type tube? Or does the square plate have a phosphor on it like an eye tube? Either one could probably be modulated fast enough.

John

Here is a description of how mechanical TV works:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/mechanical_tv.html

The tube is neon, with the plate glowing in proportion to the current that flows through the tube.

It is easy to make a mechanical set like the ICA one with no synchronization. You have to manually adjust the motor speed control to keep the image still. Synchronized sets are a little harder to make, requiring either a synchronous motor in both the camera and receiver, or a so called "sonic coil" sync system.

Our site has a bunch of home made sets.

Amazingly, mechanical sets still show up more often than prewar electronic sets. I don't have any interest in them, but they're certainly museum pieces. That one has a Raytheon Kinolamp, and is a garden-variety television kit from the late 20s or early 30s.

Charles

A great price at only $4,250.00 plus S&H. How much would my spare ICA Nipkow disc be worth?

Terry Cheek