1933f
- Cathode Tube. While working at Philco, Farnsworth
began to develop his "multipactor" tube which
had the ability to transmit television impulses and
could be used as well as an amplifier, detector,
rectifier, and multiplier tube. It was the first
"cold cathode" tube and it was hailed by scientists
and engineers as a major breakthrough.
1934
- AT&T inaugurates transpacific telephone
service, initially between the U.S. and
Japan. Calls
travel across the Pacific via radio. The initial
capacity is one call at a time at a cost of $39 for
the first three minutes.
1934 - Died: George O. Squier (1865-1934). George
Owen Squier, was still Chief Signal Officer in the
U.S. Army when he was elected to the National
Academy of Science in 1919. His invention in 1910
of "multiplexing" allowed telephone wires to carry
multiple messages for the first time; the carrier
frequency principle involved was later adapted to
other types of transmission, including FM
radio."
1934 - Died: Marie Curie (1867-1867). Curie was a
Polish-French physicist and chemist. She was a
pioneer in the early field of radioactivity, later
becoming the first two-time Nobel laureate and the
only person with Nobel Prizes in two different
fields of science (physics in 1903 and chemistry in
1911).
1934 - Afternoon edition of The Wall Street Journal
ceases.
1934 - J.P. Morgan Grenfell in London, England, an
overseas securities house was formed as required by
U.S. 1933 Glass-Steagall Act.
1934 - J.P. Morgan and Co, was formed as required
by U.S. 1933 Glass-Steagall Act.
1934 - J.P. Morgan Guaranty Trust Bank, was formed
as required by U.S. 1933 Glass-Steagall Act.
1934 - J.P. Morgan Stanley, an investment house,
was formed as required by U.S. 1933 Glass-Steagall
Act.
1934 - FCC Function: to control and regulate radio
frequencies and spectrums. The radio spectrum is
the radio frequency (RF) portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum. In the United States,
regulatory responsibility for the radio spectrum is
divided between the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) and the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA). The FCC, which is an independent regulatory
agency, administers spectrum for non-Federal use
(i.e., state, local government, commercial, private
internal business, and personal use) and the NTIA,
which is an operating unit of the Department of
Commerce, administers spectrum for Federal use
(e.g., use by the Army, the FAA, and the FBI).
Within the FCC, the Office of Engineering and
Technology (OET) provides advice on technical and
policy issues pertaining to spectrum allocation and
use.
02
/ TimeLine
/ FCC
Created By U.S.
Congress
1934
- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is
created by congress. THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF
1934.U.S. FCC
Communications Policy Legislation. *(See Footnote.)
This legislative act remains the cornerstone of
American television policy six decades after its
initial passage. Though often updated through
amendments, and itself based on the pioneering
Radio Act of 1927, the 1934 legislation which
created the Federal Communications Commission has
endured remarkably well through an era of dramatic
technical and social change; By 1934 pressure to
consolidate all telecommunication regulation for
both wired and wireless services prompted new
legislation with a broader purpose. By 1996
pressure to deregulate all telecommunication
regulation for both wired and wireless services for
control of the New Internet Craze, prompted new
legislation by the Clinton Administration with a
broader purpose.
1934al - Alexanderson was elected a member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
1934ar - Armstrong develops his theory to use FM.
'All-Wave' receivers are a hit this year, bringing
in radio from foreign broadcasters. WLW increases
to a half million Watts of power.
1934d
- De Forest Wins patent suit. De Forest vs.
Armstrong law Patent suit
ends.
De Forest won, but
the radio industry still credits Smart-Daaf Boy
Armstrong with the invention.
1934f - In the summer of 1934, Farnsworth and his
men decided to leave Philco and establish their own
separate laboratory, while remaining in
Philadelphia, which was then the center of the
radio industry. They turned their attention towards
developing a practical demonstration unit for
television.
1934m - Marconi establishes a radiotelegraph link
between the Elettra and the radio beacon in Sestri
Levante.
1934t - Tesla wrote to consul Jankovic of his
homeland. The letter contained the message of
gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who initiated a donation
scheme by which American companies could support
Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, and chose to
live by a modest pension received from Yugoslavia
and to continue researching.
1934 - Mexican artist Diego Rivera, hired to paint
a mural for Rockefeller Center, is dismissed after
refusing to replace the face of Lenin. Despite
protests, his mural will be destroyed less than a
year later.
1935ar
- Howard Armstrong demonstrates FM. The first metal
tubes are released. Over a million auto radios are
installed this
year.
1935f - Never mind the record says different. In
1935 the courts ruled on Farnsworth's patent, which
RCA was contesting as part of Sarnoff's endless
campaign of litigation, propaganda and dirty
tricks. The decision, upheld on appeal: Farnsworth,
not RCA's chief television engineer Vladimir
Zworykin, is the father of TV.
1935 - Baird Television Company demonstrates a "new
method and transmitting feature film by the Baird
'240 line system' at an exhibitors conference in
Cardiff, Wales. 1936 - BBC launches the
world's first regular television service.
1936 - Most radios sold now employ an AFC circuit -
Automatic Frequency Control. 'Automatic Tuning'
(push-button) are the years big hit. Approx. 8
million sets are sold this year. 3 out of 4
families have a radio in the home.
1936f - During Farnsworth's German trip, a
disastrous fire swept through the Crystal Palace
and destroyed all of the Baird equipment which had
been based on Farnsworth's work. It was a huge
disappointment for the inventor who returned sadly
to Philadelphia with a distorted piece of melted
glass. This represented all that was left of
Farnsworth's dissector tube which would have been
used in the camera made ready for the first
broadcast.
1936f
- TV Transmissions. Farnsworth and invited him to
England by John Logie Baird, a Scotsman who was the
other developer of a workable television system
based on the revolving
disk.
At the Crystal Palace
in London Farnsworth's demonstration (in which he
transmitted a signal that was picked up 25 miles
away) was such a success that Parliament voted to
have the British Broadcasting Company (BBC ) start
television service for the London area. The Baird
Company and Marconi EMI were chosen by the BBC to
be the suppliers for television.
1936f- Farnsworth and Berlin to make a licensing
agreement with Fernseh AG, who worked closely with
the Baird Company. Fernseh was headed by Dr. Paul
Goerz who had been appointed by the German Reich as
the co-ordinator for radio and television, although
he was not a Nazi.
1937f
- PATENT -
Farnsworth's U.S. Patent 2,089,054 Patent
Granted"Incandescent Light Source"
Filed March 9, 1936, Granted August 3, 1937.
CLICK TO VIEW
PATENT.
1937 - Cathode Ray tuning eyes (the Magic Eye
Tube). Slide Rule tuning, and sleek veneered
cabinets are the big features this year. The
dirigible, Hindenburg crashes in flames at
Lakehurst, N.J. May 6th, 1937 - and the tragedy was
captured in an incredible live radio broadcast. The
NBC Symphony Orchestra is formed.
1937
- Nobel Prize: Clinton Davisson of Bell Telephone
Laboratories wins the Nobel Prize in Physics for
experimental confirmation of the wave nature of the
electron. He
becomes the first of seven Nobel Prize winners
produced by AT&T.
1937f - Fernseh, American Telephone and Telegraph
(AT&T) signed an agreement with Farnsworth July
22, 1937 giving Farnsworth and AT&T the right
to use each other's patents. These three agreements
helped solidify Farnsworth's reputation with
worldwide recognition
1937m
- Died: Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), of a heart
attack, on July 20, in Rome,
Italy.
Radio Transmitters
around the world closed down for two minutes
silence in his memory.
1937s - Died: Ada Mae Stubblefield (1864-1937), at
Clarksdale, Mississippi. Burial in Murray,
Kentucky.
1937t - Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art
of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy
through the Natural Media" concerning charged
particle beams. Tesla published the document in an
attempt expound on the technical description of a
"superweapon that would put an end to all war".
This treatise of the particle beam is currently in
the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It
described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet
seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of
charging particles to millions of volts, and a
method of creating and directing nondispersive
particle streams (through electrostatic
repulsion).
1937t - Tesla is hit and injured by a car during
one of his regular walks along the streets of New
York. Soon after that, he is down with pneumonia of
which he never completely recovers. 1938
- Howard Hughes flies around the world and keeps in
touch by radio.Broadcasting standards for TV were announced,
paving the way for commercial television stations.
The power of radio is demonstrated by Orson Wells,
and the "Mercury Theater of the Air" - Panic is
reported to be widespread as people believe the
earth has been invaded by "Martians."
1938 - Howard Hughes flies around the world and
keeps in touch by radio. Broadcasting standards for
TV were announced, paving the way for commercial
television stations. The power of radio is
demonstrated by Orson Wells, and the "Mercury
Theater of the Air" - Panic is reported to be
widespread as people believe the earth has been
invaded by "Martians... and we are in a "War of the
Worlds."
1938
- PATENT: Al Gross patents his own version of the
Stubblefield Walkie-Talkie, as described in the
1907 Stubblefield
patent. Al would
also talk of his run-in with David Sarnoff at RCA,
who attempted to sue him for patent infringement on
the walkie-talkie, and how he had successfully
defended his case.
1938 - The telephone system of Murray was
modernized from the old magneto lever cranking
system to a flash system. The changeover was a
welcomed technological improvement.
1938al - Alexanderson was awarded an honorary
doctorate by the University of Upsala . As a result
of the gradual broadening of its work to cover
numerous fields, Alexanderson's Radio Consulting
Department was renamed the Consulting Engineering
Department in 1928, and in 1933 it became the
Consulting Engineering Laboratory. In connection
with the reorganization of General Electric in
1945, this laboratory was merged with General
Electric's General Engineering Laboratory to form
the General Engineering and Consulting
Laboratory.
1938f - Although Farnsworth was able to show a
remarkably clear image of over a foot square to the
Franklin Institute, Philco became restive as
expenses mounted. When costs passed a quarter of a
million dollars, a lot of money in Depression days,
Philco pulled out. Farnsworth's money men tried to
sell his patents outright in 1938.
1938f - With the advent of World War II however,
Farnsworth's close working relationships with the
Germans and the British dwindled as the presidents
of both of these companies were called to serve
their countries.
1938s
- 1944 - Kentucky Dam. TVA (Tennessee Valley
Authority) - Located in Western Kentucky on the
Tennessee River creates the largest manmade lake in
the Eastern
U.S.
The huge job of
building Kentucky Dam took six years from the start
of construction on July 1, 1938, until the
reservoir began filling on August 30, 1944. More
important than the project's size are the jobs it
performs. Kentucky Dam is the spigot that TVA
(Tennessee Valley Authority) uses to help control
floods on the lower Ohio and Mississippi rivers; it
is the gateway to the Tennessee River waterway and
is a major generating plant in the TVA power
system.
1939 - TV is demonstrated at the New York Worlds
Fair. Edwin Armstrong is operating W2XMN - a 50,000
watt FM station at Alpine, N.J. The first
Television sets are sold by several manufacturers.
The start of the European war renews interest in
short-wave receivers.
1938 - Nelson Rockefeller is named president of
Rockefeller Center. 1939
0901 - The Second World War begins, September 1;
September 3, England and France declare War on
Germany. 1939f
- Farnsworth and
RCA. In 1939, RCA
obtained a license from Farnsworth to produce
electronic television transmission systems that
combined his technology with theirs. Farnsworth
later conducted research on radar and nuclear
energy. Zworykin And Sarnoff went to California a
couple of months later -- to see what Philo was up
to in his laboratory. Later Zworykin was said to
have claimed that RCA wouldn't need anything
Farnsworth had done. Then RCA's tough chief, David
Sarnoff, came to take a look. He echoed Zworykin.
But later RCA found that it very badly needed some
of Farnsworth's patents and paid for rights on a
royalty arrangement.
The young American and the
Russian emigre worked contemporaneously, though
separately, to develop television. When Farnsworth
applied for an electronic television patent he
really shook RCA, whose laboratories under Vladimir
Zworykin had long been struggling with the problem.
RCA challenged the application.
1939
- PATENT - Farnsworth's U.S. Patent 2,1849,10
Patent
Granted
"Cold Cathode Electron Discharge Tube" Filed Nov.
4, 1936, Granted Dec. 26, 1939.
CLICK TO VIEW
PATENT.
1939s - Frank Albert Stubblefield (1907-1977),
Member of city council, Murray, Ky., 1939-1942;
served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy
from 1944 until September 1945; member of the
Kentucky Railroad Commission, 1951-1955; reelected
to four-year term in 1955, but resigned December
31, 1958, to run for Congress.
1939s 0210 - Died: Walter Stubblefield (1864-1939),
on February 10. Brother of inventor, N. B.
Stubblefield.
1939 - On Aug. 29, 1939, two days before Britain
and France declared war on Germany, British
television service blacked out midbroadcast for
what was cited by the BBC as defenser reasons. The
order came from the military and it would be seven
years before television pictures would air again on
June 7, 1946.