I love this. It's so immensely simple. Truly human technology.
We need to burn all computers and limit technology to this level.
How photos were transmitted by wire in the 1930s
21–30 of 117 posts
Re: How photos were transmitted by wire in the 1930s
#22In it's simplicity it is genius. I had no clue this was a thing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirephoto I really like these old "explaining" films. The pedagogical level is far higher than what seems common today. And the they take their time to convey the message.
That's Jam Handy. They were really good at that.
Some Youtubers should try that style. Neckbeards with headphones are so over.
Re: How photos were transmitted by wire in the 1930s
#23How did they get the incandescent bulb on the receiving end to switch on and off fast enough to avoid blurring the picture?
I think the video said it was a neon bulb, which reacted "fast enough".
Re: How photos were transmitted by wire in the 1930s
#24In it's simplicity it is genius. I had no clue this was a thing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirephoto I really like these old "explaining" films. The pedagogical level is far higher than what seems common today. And the they take their time to convey the message.
A couple other good ones: How Differential Steering Works (1937) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYAw79386WI Flak (1943) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8zPNMqVi2E
The diff one is so good.
Note how they made a model in the wirephoto video too to show the concept but with painted rope.
Models seems to me to be a very good pedagogical tool.
Re: How photos were transmitted by wire in the 1930s
#25How did they get the incandescent bulb on the receiving end to switch on and off fast enough to avoid blurring the picture?
A neon tube was used on the receiving end because it reacts more quickly to current. This is mentioned at about 6:45 into the video.
Re: How photos were transmitted by wire in the 1930s
#26How did they get the incandescent bulb on the receiving end to switch on and off fast enough to avoid blurring the picture?
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Re: How photos were transmitted by wire in the 1930s
#27In it's simplicity it is genius. I had no clue this was a thing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirephoto I really like these old "explaining" films. The pedagogical level is far higher than what seems common today. And the they take their time to convey the message.
>I really like these old "explaining" films. The pedagogical level is far higher than what seems common today. And the they take their time to convey the message. I wonder what happened? I have been blown away by some of the older explainer videos from the 40s and 50s, esp. some of the military training videos for vehicle repair, electrical engineering, etc. Very concise and very clear explanations, always with visua…
My guess is that back then producing films was expensive cutting edge technology, and the few films that got made hired the brightest and best, and gave them time to get it right.
Today any unemployed bozo can make explainer YouTube videos. That great as a "democratization", but the average quality is obviously lower.
Re: How photos were transmitted by wire in the 1930s
#28In it's simplicity it is genius. I had no clue this was a thing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirephoto I really like these old "explaining" films. The pedagogical level is far higher than what seems common today. And the they take their time to convey the message.
The hard part was synchronization. We're used to synchronization being easy today, but it was really hard to synchronize anything until the 1980s, when phase-locked loops became easy and cheap.
Re: How photos were transmitted by wire in the 1930s
#29How did they get the incandescent bulb on the receiving end to switch on and off fast enough to avoid blurring the picture?
The video explains that they used a neon bulb, which is far more reactive to current changes than standard incandescent.
Incandescent lights produce visible light largely through heat of the filament, whereas neon lights emit by passing current through the gas, meaning that rapidly changing the current is more effective- the had e doesn't need to cool down like a filament to stop producing light.
Re: How photos were transmitted by wire in the 1930s
#30I love this. It's so immensely simple. Truly human technology. We need to burn all computers and limit technology to this level.
I think you may have gotten a bit carried away.