Rare Baird "Televisor", 1928
An unusually well-preserved example of the first commercially produced television set, invented by John Logie Baird (1888-1946). - Manufactured by Plessey Co. for Baird Television Ltd., with spoked Nipkow 30-line scanning disc, screen with approx. 3 x 4 in. (8 x 10 cm) viewing aperture, Mervyn mica tube, mechanism marked "Televisor" and stamped "J.L. Baird", brown-painted aluminum case with period bakelite controls, original copper "Eye of the World" plaque with impression of Baird's signature, wood base, metal bracket feet and plaque: "Baird International Television Ltd., 133 Long Acre, W.C.2. Televisor, Serial No. 521", wd. 27 x dp. 12 x ht. 21 ¼ in. (69 x 39 x 54 cm), overall good condition. - Baird began the work on a system to broadcast moving images in around 1922. At the core of his experiments was the image-scanning disc patented by German student Paul Gottlieb Nipkow in Berlin in 1884. Points of light passing through a spiral pattern of holes on the disc's circumference scanned images into a photocell. By enlarging the disc and filling the holes with lenses to admit more light, Baird was able to increase sensitivity until each lens captured a segment of the subject. - In early 1925, Baird used a 5-line scanning system to demonstrate the transmission of silhouettes at Selfridge's department store in London. Striving to improve image resolution, his breakthrough came on 2 October 1925 with a 30-line system capable of transmitting recognizable images of the human face. Interestingly, his first subjects were not people, but ventriloquist dolls whose brightly painted, cartoon-like features heightened the contrast of the scanned image. In order to increase image size, the scanning lines widened at the sides of the picture. - Baird was to comment: "I was definitely able to transmit the living image, and it was the first time it had been done. But how to convince the skeptical, hide-bound, select and exclusive scientific world?" His first public demonstration before a scientific audience - forty members of London's Royal Institution - took place on 28 January 1926 at 22 Frith Street in Soho. The "Times" newspaper described a transmitting machine "consisting of a large wooden revolving disc containing lenses, behind which was a revolving shutter and a light sensitive cell". - The Baird Television Development Company was established in 1927 and absorbed by Baird International Television Ltd. in 1930. BBC transmitters broadcast television programs using Baird's 30-line system from 1929 till 1932. Despite a limited broadcasting program and a picture the size of a postage stamp, the Televisor retailed for approx. £ 26 (£ 2200 in today's currency) upon its debut, a significant amount that would have purchased a pair of winter coats, an electric sewing machine, a domestic washing machine and a gas stove! The serial numbers on surviving examples suggest that less than 1000 sets were ever produced. - An important milestone in the history of modern media … and a superb exhibition piece!

Das 1. Fernsehgerät der Welt: "Baird Televisor", 1928
Außerordentlich gut erhaltenes Modell des ersten kommerziell hergestellten Fernsehgerätes, erfunden von John Logie Baird (1888-1946), London. - Hergestellt bei Plessey Co. für die "Baird Television Ltd., London". Nipkow-Scheibe mit 30 spiralförmig angebrachten Löchern, 8 x 10 cm großer Bildschirm, Mervyn-Flächen-Glimmlampe (Kino-Lampe). Die Mechanik ist gekennzeichnet mit "Televisor" und geprägt mit "J.L. Baird". Original braun lackiertes Aluminiumgehäuse, Bakelit-Einstellknöpfe, Kupferplakette "Auge der Welt" mit geprägter Signatur von J.L. Baird, Holzsockel auf Metallrahmen mit Füßen und Plakette: "Baird International Television Ltd., 133 Long Acre, W.C.2. Televisor, Serial No. 521", Gesamtmaße 69 x 39 x 54 cm. - Weitere hochinteressante technisch-historische Informationen finden Sie hier: http://www.deutsches-museum.de/fileadmin/Content/data/Insel/Information/ KT/heftarchiv/1986/10-1-33.pdf - Ein Meilenstein in der Geschichte der modernen Medien … und ein Exponat der Extraklasse!

Start Price: EUR 15000

(3/-)