TRANSMISSION OF PICTUREGRAMS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 6, 2 October 1929, Page 9

TRANSMISSION OF PICTUREGRAMS

PLANT NOT ORDERED YET

MAY BE A YEAR OR MORE PRACTICAL PROPOSITION IN MANY COUNTRIES Although the Postmaster-General (the Hon. J. B. Donald) stated at Christchurch recently that plant for the transmission of picturegrams would be operating shortly in New Zealand, there is little chance of any development in this matter for at least a year, if not longer. At present the postal authorities have neither ordered the necessary plant nor even decided upon the system to be employed. The recently introduced “carrier telephony” is occupying their particular attention and there is little desire to become involved in the added complexities of picturegrams until this is completed. No more advance has been made in this Dominion towards a practical picturegram installation than the bare fact that when it is installed Wellington and Auckland will be the first postal centres to be so linked. Subsequently the plant will be extended to include Christchurch and Dunedin, with possible further extensions to all other important centres. The picture, cheque, typescript, mathematical formula, or even fingerprint desired to be transmitted will be handed in over the post office counter in the ordinary manner, similar to a present-day telegram. What America has achieved. Methods much the same as these have been employed in the United States for a number of years. The American Telegraph and Telephone Company in fact transmitted a picture of Lindbergh as long ago as his return from his Atlantic flight, to all parts of the country with completely' satisfactory results. Recent research work has improved the transmission of pictures so much that it is now difficult, at a casual glance, to tell that the transmitted picture. is not an original photograph of considerable merit, as will be judged from the example reproduced on this page. The actual transmission of a picture, or for that matter a complete sheet of newspaper (suitably reduced) takes about four minutes. As in ordinary newspaper reproduction the picture is broken up into a number of fine subdivisions. It is sent out either by radio or along wires as electrical currents of varying Intensities. Owing to static and other interference breaking up the transmitted radio picture it is generally more satisfactory to employ the electric telegraph. .Australian Method. In Australia, where a German system has been in use between Sydney • and Melbourne for nearly a month, a' 4-inch picture costs about two pounds to transmit. The'price varies however according to the fineness of the repro- . duction required. Another perfectly practical method, the Fultograph, has been employed for over a year in the United States, Great Britain'and on the Continent. It is a comparatively cheap device, and may be attached to almost any broadcast receiver. Results, although good, do not reach the very high standards now possible in the more costly commercial picturegram outfits. It is probable, however,. that this method was used a few days ago to transmit a picture by radio from Sydney to London. Distinct from Telvision. The transmission of pictures either by radio or telegraph must not be confused with television. At present this art of transmitting actual moving pictures of distant objects has not reached a commercial stage. It has been possible, nevertheless, for some years to produce quite satisfactory television results. Unfortunately even quite a simple display requires the services of an expert scientific staff and unlimited money. The problem is still being attacked from various angles both by the Bell Laboratories in the United States, Baird in England, and Mihaly and others on,the Continent. As soon as pieturegrams can be . speeded up some five or six thousand times we shall have commercial television. The problem, however, is not unlike speeding up a car from say a modest fifty miles an hour to something like a thousand miles an hour or more.