The ideas of creating a matrix TV screen wandered in the minds of Russian inventors a quarter of a century ago.
We are already accustomed to plasma and LCD TVs and computer monitors. We are so used to it that the previous bulky “boxes” based on a cathode ray tube (which were “classics” 10-15 years ago) are already perceived as an anachronism, as something curious and awkward. Moreover, today there is already a lot of talk about flexible screens that can be rolled up or hung on the wall like a carpet.
Science and life // Illustrations
Science and life // Illustrations
Science and life // Illustrations
Science and life // Illustrations
Science and life // Illustrations
The path traveled by inventors, engineers and technologists from the bulky vacuum tube to flexible screens, of course, was not easy. Television screens (as, indeed, most other things familiar to us) have their own long and interesting history, some stages of which can be traced back to old publications in magazines.
How designers fought for literally millimeters of thickness of the TV housing is described in the article by Rudolf Svorenya “Leaves of the TV Screen”, published in the March 1987 issue of the magazine “Science and Life”.
Even then, in the late 1980s, the first reports about the creation of flat screens (and even flexible ones, which can be cut from a roll to the desired size) began to appear in the press, and at exhibitions Japanese micro-TVs in wristwatches, pocket TVs of small thickness, etc. .
In his article, R. Svoren talks about two directions of design thought aimed at creating flat-panel TVs. The first of these is the improvement of the cathode ray tube (CRT). The illustration to the article (see Fig. 2) shows how this can be achieved by increasing the deflection angle of the electron beam. Drawing a TV picture line by line, the beam (the flow of electrons, the impacts of which make the phosphor on the front glass of the CRT glow) under the influence of a deflection system of electromagnetic coils is deflected left and right, and the “wider” these movements are, the shorter the kinescope can be made when the same screen width. Accordingly, the TV body can be made flatter. R. Svoren gave the following example: the Rubin-268 TV, manufactured in the USSR, used a picture tube with a deflection angle of 110 degrees and a screen size of 67 cm, while the depth of the TV was approximately 45 cm. And if it had a picture tube with a deflection angle of 90 degrees or 50 degrees (it was with fifty-degree picture tubes that post-war mass television began), then the TV would have a depth of approximately 55 or 80 cm (instead of 45). However, as R. Svoren noted, a deflection angle of 110 degrees could be considered the limit of the possible at that time, so the designers were forced to look for new ideas. One of them is the rotation of the electron beam by 90 degrees by an electromagnetic collimator combined with a deflection system (Fig. 2e). The neck of the CRT is bent to the side and due to this, a fairly significant reduction in thickness can be achieved. True, in such a kinescope it is quite difficult to ensure that the beam hits the desired point of the phosphor, so such electronic tubes were produced only with small-sized screens.
Another design, which R. Svoren mentioned in his article, was implemented in pocket TVs from the Japanese company Matsushita. It was based on a fairly obvious idea: the smaller the screen, the shorter the kinescope. Therefore, the designers simply combined in one vacuum cylinder many small picture tubes adjacent to each other and working in concert, each of which draws its own part of the picture on the phosphor. Such a cellular flat screen consisted of 3000 microkinescopes and had a total size of 25 cm with a TV thickness of 10 cm.
Today, of course, such a bulky design may seem like a kind of “technical joke”. But this principle itself - the division of one large “emitter” into many small ones - essentially became the forerunner of a new direction in the flight of scientific and design thought. R. Svoren actually found and recorded in his article (see Fig. 3) the moment of the birth of the first matrix television screens: LED (where each point - pixel is formed by its own, separate light emitter), phosphor (in which electron beams were created using mutually intersecting electrodes in in the form of strips) and the actual liquid crystal matrix screens, which today stand on the table of almost all of us.
By the way, it is not without interest that the idea of a matrix phosphor TV screen was proposed in 1978 by one of the readers of the magazine “Young Technician”, Sergei Afanasyev from Klin (see “UT” No. 12, 1978, p. 56 –57). This idea was noted by the author’s certificate of the magazine “Young Technician”, and in the commentary of a member of the expert council of “UT”, engineer S. Valyansky, published in No. 12 of 1978, an approximate diagram of such a television screen was given (Fig. 4).
And in the article “What instead of a kinescope?” engineer I. Zverev, which was published in the magazine “Young Technician” in 1985 (No. 3, 1985, pp. 10–13), the design of a thin-film electroluminescent matrix screen (Fig. 5), developed by scientists from the Institute of Semiconductors, was already described in detail Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (for the current younger generation of readers, let’s explain what the Ukrainian SSR is: that’s what the Republic of Ukraine was called in those days).
Thus, not only Japan, the USA and other foreign countries, but also our country (then the USSR) stood at the “origins” of the technologies for creating modern matrix screens. We can only hope that the engineers and designers of modern Russia will be able to at least partially regain the position of one of the world leaders in the development of electronic devices lost during the notorious “perestroika” and finally realize the flexible TV screens “promised” in the distant 1980s, which can be rolled up...
At the beginning of the 20th century, it was invented how to show an image, and then how to transmit a television program using radio waves. They started producing televisions, we will look at how designers and engineers have improved television receivers from the moment the television was created to the present day. Let's see how the evolution of television took place. We’ll also tell you the history of televisions briefly.
First TVs
In the USA, the production of televisions began in 1928 with the production model of a mechanical television from General Electric called “Octagon”; this receiver did not go into large production and acted as a prototype.
In the UK, a mechanical television was also developed in 1928 and was called the "Baird Model "C".
Similar televisions were released in France in 1929 and the USSR in 1934.
When did televisions appear?
In the mid-30s of the 20th century, electronic televisions were developed; they had a small screen. Such TVs were produced by the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France and the USSR.
Televisions in 1940-1945
1940-1945 During the Second World War, industry switched to the development of military equipment, and the development of television receivers was suspended.
After the war, Europe was busy rebuilding, so televisions were produced only by the USA, Great Britain, and one model was also produced by France. Televisions have become smaller in size.
TVs 1950-1960
1950-1960 televisions began to be produced with screens with a diagonal of 7-10 inches, the principle of transmitting a color television signal was developed, color televisions began to be produced in the USA, televisions began to be equipped with remote control (the television was connected to the remote control by cable). Other countries began to produce televisions: Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Japan also released its first television from Sharp.
TVs 1960-1970
1960-1970 TVs have improved; if initially TVs were produced using electronic vacuum tubes, after the invention of semiconductors, TVs began to be produced using transistors. The screens became large 25 inches.
TVs 1970-1980
1970-1980 During this period, there was a gradual curtailment of the production of black and white televisions; the attention of manufacturers was paid not only to the technical side, but also to the design of the television.
TVs 1980-1990
1980-1990 TVs didn’t change much, manufacturers experimented with design, produced portable TVs, and on the technical side there was a transition from semiconductors to microcircuits. TV cases are starting to be made of plastic.
TVs 1990-2000
1990-2000 The number of TV manufacturers is decreasing, this is affected by a decrease in consumer demand and market saturation with TVs. TV cases are starting to be made entirely of plastic. Full control only with the help of remote control, thanks to improved technologies (Slim), cathode ray tubes become shorter, and flat picture tubes have also been developed. The first flat-panel TVs made using plasma technology appeared. In 1992, the Japanese company Fujitsu developed the first 21-inch (53 cm) color plasma panel. Mass production of plasma TVs began in 1995. Development of LCD TVs has begun. The beginning of the production of LCD TVs was hampered by the quality of the panels, namely the long response time, which made them not competitive with plasma.
TVs 2000-2010
2000-2010 At the beginning of the 21st century, flat LCD TVs began to be produced in addition to flat-panel TVs made using plasma technology. By the end of the decade, the production of picture tube televisions (CRT) was curtailed. Televisions from leading manufacturers are produced either LCD or plasma.
TVs 2010-2020
2010-2020 The production of plasma TVs has practically ceased. The last significant manufacturer, Panasonic, stopped producing plasma in 2014. Chinese manufacturers a little later. Only LCD TVs are produced; the screen is backlit not with lamps but with LEDs. Televisions have become computers that have the ability to connect to the Internet and are integrated into the home computer network. In the middle of the decade, the production of LCD TVs ceased, and LED backlighting replaced lamp backlighting. The production of OLED TVs that do not require external lighting has been mastered. New materials began to be used in the manufacture of screens, and LED TVs based on quantum dots appeared.
Screen resolution If in 2010 TVs with HD and Full HD screens were mainly produced, in 2015 more than half of TVs have UHD resolution, by 2019 about 90% of produced TVs have UHD resolution. TVs are produced with huge curved screens up to 100 inches.
Experimenting with 3D 2012-2016 years, TVs with support for three-dimensional images were mass-produced. But this technology was not in demand; by 2017, the production of 3D TVs was discontinued.
The end of the decade saw the release of 8K TVs. Improvement of technical capabilities continues, support for HDR has been implemented (the ability to control image quality down to a specific frame), but content with HDR metadata is required.
The first television broadcast of the USSR took place on May 1, 1931 in Moscow, but it was without sound, experimental.
Subsequently, during 1931, experimental television programs were broadcast regularly; this television was not electronic, as it is now, but was produced using a low-frame mechanical system.
Already by the first of October, broadcasts with sound on medium radio waves began to be transmitted in Moscow and this continued until 1933.
But nevertheless, this television broadcasting was stopped, since it was decided to create a more promising electric television.
Well, since our industry has not yet put television equipment for the electronic system on stream, on February 11, 1934 mechanical television was reopened and broadcasts resumed.
Electronic television on a regular basis began in 1939 with a film about the opening of the 18th Congress of the CPSU (b)!
During the war years, of course, there was no time for television; television broadcasting stopped again, as well as throughout Europe!
At the end of the Great Patriotic War, the first broadcast took place on May 7, 1945 in Moscow. The Moscow Television Center resumed regular broadcasts on December 15, 1945, and the Leningrad Television Center began operating in 1947. Soviet electronics
Large screen... Remote control in hand... Favorite program selected on many channels. The wife (or husband) is watching another show on another TV in another room... Sound familiar? Now imagine... The whole family is assembled. Everyone took their favorite place - some in a chair, some on the sofa. Neighbors arrived, some with their own chairs or stools. The head of the family carefully removes the lacy knitted napkin from the TV, turns the handle and... If you ask your grandparents, they will probably tell you how they watched TV in their time. And don’t be surprised that there were only two channels, that a family with a TV was considered wealthy. And that the picture on the screen was black and white, so the commentators at the figure skating competitions described to the audience the colors of the costumes the athletes were wearing. The remote control for changing channels was the youngest member of the family, and sometimes this simple procedure required pliers to grab and turn the lever from which the handle itself had fallen off...
Technology is developing rapidly, and in just a few decades, television receivers - televisions - have come a long way. And now those devices that were considered ultra-modern in the 70-80s of the twentieth century have taken their places on store shelves for collectors and antique dealers.
Video of repair of TV KVN - 49. 1956.
Despite the fact that the idea of transmitting not only sound but also images over long distances appeared at the end of the 19th century, it received practical implementation in the 30s of the 20th century. Russian emigrant Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin, with the support of radio operator, inventor of the radio receiver, and then general manager of Radio Corporation of America (RCA) David Sarnov in the USA and S.I. Kataev in the USSR created iconoscopes - devices that broadcast images. From this moment on, the “era of television” begins.
"The Evolution of Things": The History of TV
In 1931, the first transmission of “images by radio” was made in the USSR. Sometimes the picture was not accompanied by sound, but since 1932, regular broadcasts with sound have been broadcast on the Soviet airwaves - radio amateurs have the opportunity to listen and watch news, music and entertainment programs. Soviet radio amateurs designed their first television receivers independently.
In 1932, the first Soviet television receiver, B-2 (named after the inventor, A.Ya. Breibart), was created at the Kozitsky Leningrad plant, and from the late 30s, TK-1 televisions began to be produced at this plant. To make it more convenient to view the image from a horizontal 14x18 cm screen, a mirror was attached to the television receiver at an angle.
Even though a TV is not a luxury item, you need to remember when and by whom it was invented. We owe the emergence of a modern device to scientists all over the world. Thanks to them, this device has become a familiar thing in every home.
The creation of television was preceded by the following important discoveries:
- Physicist Huygens discovered the theory of light waves.
- The scientist Maxwell proved the existence of electromagnetic waves.
- Experiments with television systems began when the scientist Smith discovered the possibility of changing electrical resistance.
- Alexander Stoletov demonstrated the effect of light on electricity. He developed an "electric eye" - a similarity to today's photocells.
Along with these studies, scientists around the world studied the effect of light on the chemical composition of elements and discovered the photoelectric effect. People learned that they can see an image using electromagnetic waves, and also that this picture is transmitted. By that time, radio had already been invented.
When talking about who invented the first television, it is impossible to name just one name, because many people participated in the development and evolution of television. The history of receivers transmitting sound and image begins with the creation of a Nipkow disk, which scans a picture line by line. It was invented by German technician Paul Nipkow.
Karl Brown developed the very first kinescope and called it the “Brown Tube.” However, this invention was not immediately patented and used to transmit images. Several years passed before viewers saw a television receiver whose screen height and width were 3 cm, and the frame rate was ten per second.
British engineer John Lougie Baird invented a mechanical receiver that operates without sound. Although the picture was quite clear. Later, the scientist created the Baird company, which for a long time produced televisions on the market in the absence of competition.
Who is considered the creator of television?
The first television was created thanks to Boris Rosing. Using a cathode ray tube, he received a televised image of dots and figures. This was a big step forward, which allowed the first electronic television receiver to appear. The beam was scanned in the tube using magnetic fields, and the brightness was regulated by a capacitor.
The physicist’s work was continued by his student Vladimir Zvorykin, who in 1932 patented the invented television using electronic technology. It is generally accepted that he created the first television.
The famous engineer was born in the Vladimir province. He studied in Russia, but later emigrated to the USA. Zvorykin opened the first electronic television station in the capital, concluding an agreement with RCA. He owns more than a hundred patents for various inventions, and the scientist has a huge number of awards. He died at the end of the 20th century, after his death the documentary film “Zvorykin-Muromets” was shot.
Today in Moscow and Murom you can see memorials in honor of the “father of television”. One of the streets in the city of Gusev and an award for achievements in the television field are named after him.
The appearance of television in the USSR
The earliest experience of television broadcasting in the Soviet Union took place in April 1931. Initially, viewings were carried out collectively in certain places; television receivers began to appear in each family later. The first TV set created on Nipkov's disk was produced by the Leningrad plant "Comintern". The device looked like a set-top box with a 4 by 3 cm screen and was connected to a radio receiver. Inventors in the Soviet Union began to assemble mechanical models of devices on their own, and the first televisions appeared in homes. Instructions for assembling such televisions in the USSR were published in the magazine Radiofront.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the first broadcasts of the program with sound appeared. For a long time there was only one channel - the First. During the Second World War, the channel's operation was interrupted. After the end of the war, electronic television appeared, and soon the Second Channel began broadcasting.
Creating a color TV
Not everyone knows when the first color televisions appeared, which have been in every family for a long time. Attempts to create a device with a color screen were made back in the days of mechanical broadcast devices. Hovhannes Adamyan first presented his research in this area; he patented a two-color device for transmitting signals at the beginning of the 20th century.
If we talk about when the color receiver was invented, we should note the work of John Lowey Baird. In 1928, he assembled a receiver that alternately transmitted images using a three-color light filter. He is rightfully considered the creator of color television.
The world's first television with a full color screen was invented by Americans in the mid-20th century. These devices were manufactured by RCA. Even then they could be freely purchased on credit. In the Soviet Union, color television was introduced a little later, despite the fact that development of the device began under Zvorykin. It was Rubin, which later became a mass TV.
There is no clear answer to the question “who created the television receiver”. However, based on prevailing views and available facts, Vladimir Zvorykin is considered to be the founder of television. If we talk about the year in which the television was invented, then it is generally accepted that it was 1923, when Zvorykin applied for a television patent.
Today TV is part of our life and the norm, new models of devices are being created that are absolutely different from the first televisions. Their screens measure tens of centimeters. The quality of broadcasting has increased greatly and has become digital. Over the past 20 years, television has come a long way and will certainly continue to evolve. And for all this we need to say thanks to the one who invented television.
Nowadays there is a TV in every home, but attempts to transmit image and sound over a distance were crowned with success not so long ago. The transmission of sound became possible after the discovery of radio waves and the invention of radio, but electromagnetic radiation, which allows the transmission of images, was tamed later, let's find out who invented the television.
The essence of television broadcasting is converting light waves into electrical signals with subsequent transmission of electrical signals through a communication channel and decoding of information in the reverse order - from electrical impulses into pictures.
The inventor of the camera obscura back in the Middle Ages was able to turn light into an optical pattern. The conversion of light into electricity became possible with discovery of the chemical element selenium in 1817. It was possible to practically use the properties of the “lunar” mineral in 1839. The first step towards television was taken. The idea of reverse conversion of an electrical signal into a light signal was realized in 1856, when I. G. Geisler invented the inertia-free tube, which converted electrical energy into an optical image using a conductor gas.
In 1875, Bostonian George Carey introduced first TV prototype– a mosaic structure consisting of gas-discharge tubes. Almost simultaneously, in the period from 1877 to 1880, three scientists from different countries unveiled a scheme involving alternate transmission of signals. Among them was our compatriot Porfiry Ivanovich Bakhmetyev, the inventor of the “telephotograph”. The Russian scientist presented a completely achievable idea, according to which, before transmission, the image was divided into separate parts, and after receiving it was restored into a single picture. In 1889, Professor Stoletov invented the photocell, after which, in 1907, B. L. Rosing created a patented principle of reverse conversion of electrical signals into an image using a cathode ray tube. Since then, this invention has been actively used in the design of television apparatus. Without Boris Rosing, who was able to get a picture consisting of dots and shapes, the appearance of the first electronic television device would have been impossible.
Vladimir Zvorykin
After establishing a theoretical basis that gave an understanding of the essence of phenomena and the possibility of controlling signals of different nature, as well as the appearance of a number of inventions, the world came to the emergence of special devices, intended for television broadcast.
There is no clear answer to the question of who is considered the inventor of the television. Attempts to implement the process of converting light waves into electrical waves with subsequent restoration of the optical image were made by various scientists and inventors.
In 1884 German scientist Paul Nipkow created the first device for optical-mechanical beam scanning- the so-called “Nipkow Disk”. In fact, the device was an electronic telescope that read the image line by line.
Using the idea of a talented German student, John Logie Baird was able to obtain picture on the screen of the receiving device. January 26, 1926 members of the Royal Institution of Great Britain observed for the first TV broadcast. Despite the fact that the image was very generalized and unclear, and there was no sound, it was still television. The scientist was not without a commercial spirit: Baird’s company began producing televisions.
The first kinescope was invented by Karl Brown. Subsequently, the glass “Brown Tube” became part of the television receiver.
Follower and student of Boris Rosing Vladimir Zvorykin invented and patented an electronic television system in 1932. To a certain extent, the scientist can be called the inventor of the first television.
How the first TV worked
First TV, suggested by John Baird, worked on the basis of Nipkow's disk. The device was a large rotating disk with holes located from the outer circumference to the center (along the Archimedean spiral). The size of the broadcast image was directly proportional to the size of the disk in the bounding box. The number of holes corresponded to the number of lines on the TV screen. The Nipkow disk rotated, moving the perforation, as a result of which a single image was divided into lines. The design had technical limitations that did not allow the translator screen to be enlarged. It was not possible to increase the number of holes indefinitely: the more the disk is covered with perforations, the smaller the size of the holes that should transmit light to the photocell. Eventually, The screens of the first television receivers were tiny - only 3 x 4 cm.
Low-line television made it possible to broadcast a television signal on long and medium waves, thanks to which they could “catch” a signal from Moscow even in Europe. But using a Nipkow Disk couldn't enlarge the screen even up to the size of a standard photograph - in this case the translator had to be equipped with a huge two-meter disk. But the principle of electronic television, proposed by Vladimir Zvorykin, was limited in frequency, since the picture was divided into a huge number of elements, the transmission of which would take up all the power. Was The decision was made broadcast television signals on ultrashort waves with a range of less than 10 meters. Ultrashort waves travel in a straight line, just like light pulses.
Zvorykin's TV worked on a different system. The device was based on inventions patented by the scientist - an iconoscope (a transmitting cathode ray tube) and a kinescope (a receiving tube that reproduces an image). In the late 1920s, the idea of electronic television spread throughout the world.
The first TV in the USSR
First TV broadcast took place in the vastness of the Soviet Union in April 1931 of the year. At that time, domestic televisions had not yet been produced. The first television in the USSR appeared later, as the authorities did radio broadcasting bid, because they believed that this method of transmitting information more effective from a propaganda point of view. Nevertheless, at that time in the USSR paper Nipkow disks were produced. Television signals were broadcast on long and medium frequencies. The sound was transmitted separately, and the picture separately.
Domestic craftsmen quickly mastered the intricacies of assembling television receivers. Cardboard perforated disk complemented by a neon lamp, providing signal reception and imaging on a miniature screen. A radio receiver was purchased to receive the sound signal. Assembly diagrams for homemade televisions were published in the magazine Radiofront.
Later, the Leningrad enterprise Comintern began producing domestic televisions operating according to the Nipkow system. The device resembled a set-top box with a 3 x 4 cm screen, designed for connection to a radio receiver. Television broadcasting has become regular. For a long time on the territory of the USSR There was only one channel broadcasting - First, whose work was interrupted during the Great Patriotic War. In the post-war period, the principle of electronic television began to be used, and the first kinescope television receiver was released. The second domestic television channel began broadcasting.
First color TV
The ideas for the first color television and the transmission of color images were developed in parallel with the implementation of the plan for black and white television broadcasting. The same John Baird in 1928 he figured out to build in a three-color filter into your television set. The images were transmitted through a light filter one by one. It is likely that the principle used by Baird was based on a proposal by Alexander Polumordvinov, who in 1900 applied for a patent for the first color three-component television system, Telefot. The inventor also proposed combining a perforated Nipkow disk with multi-colored filters.
In 1907 Hovhannes Adamyan patented two-color television system with simultaneous color transfer. Later, the scientist came up with a scheme for sequential transmission of three color signals. Adamyan's reaming apparatus was equipped with three series of holes covered with red, blue and green filters. It was this idea that John Baird later implemented. The disadvantage of the scheme was incompatibility with black and white television.
The first real color TV was released in America in the 20s of the last century. RCA devices could be freely purchased on credit.
Later it turned out that the developers were ahead of the needs of the public: at that time, television viewers were quite satisfied with a black and white picture. The idea of color television was returned to after the end of World War II.
The first color TV in the USSR
Research on color television in the USSR continued in 1947. On November 7, 1952, Leningrad Television successfully conducted an experimental broadcast color television broadcast.
In 1954, Soviet scientists developed the OSCM television broadcasting standard, and already in 1956 the same Leningrad Television Center broadcast the first film with color images. The quality of signal reception was tested on domestic black-and-white devices.
Since October 1, 1967, color television broadcasting in the USSR has been carried out using the SECAM standard. In 1977, domestic television broadcasts were broadcast entirely in color.
In the Soviet Union, their own color television was released later, although development began during the time of Zvorykin. In 1953, domestic enterprises produced Rainbow televisions based on Nipkow disks with color filters. After the transition to the principle of electronic television, the updated “Rainbow” and the “Temp-22” model were released.
The first domestic mass TV with color images was called “Rubin”.
Who invented plasma TV
In July 1964, University of Illinois professors D. Bitzer and G. Slottow developed the first prototype of a modern plasma TV. At that time, the technology did not arouse much interest. The topic of plasma apparatus was returned to with the advent of digital television. They invented and studied the properties of plasma. By that time, it became clear that the kinescope broadcast system needed to be replaced - electronic televisions did an excellent job of transmitting video, but to broadcast computer video graphics, a fundamentally new solution was needed.
The first device was equipped with only one cell. Modern TVs are equipped with millions of pixels.
In 1999, the world saw a Panasonic plasma TV with a sixty-inch diagonal. At that moment, televisions became much thinner than devices of previous generations.
With the advent of liquid crystal screens, plasma TV technology has somewhat suspended its development. The demand for “plasma” has decreased.
