SENDING PHOTOS BY ’PHONE.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8417, 10 December 1920, Page 1 (Supplement)

SENDING PHOTOS BY ’PHONE.

PICTURES CAN NOW BE SENT BY WIRE AND BY WIRELESS.

If Jules Yerne were still alive, his fertile imagination would create new wonders from the latest triumph of science— transmitting pictures by telegraphy.

It is now possible to send one by an ordinary land line, by wireless, and by telephone. There are now several methods of sending pictures by telegraphy, and they have all one feature in common. A picture is transmitted, not as a whole, but bit by bit. It is sent piecemeal from one end and built up in like manner at the other. The main principles of picture-tele-graphy are embodied in a system which was used experimentally a few years ago. At the transmitting station a copy of the picture to be sent is fastened round a metal cylinder which has a double motion —it both revolves and ravels longitudinally. Every part of the picture can thus be brought ultimately to the same point. HOW THE WONDER IS WORKED. Now, the picture has been so prepared that an electric current will not pass through it, but will pass through the material holding it. So that, in “sending,” the current passes when a bare part is reached and stops at any detail in the picture. At the other —the receiving— end is another cylinder moving at exactly the same rate. Round this is bent a sensitive sheet, on which a dark deposit is produced wherever an electric current passes through it. The blanks in the copy are consequently represented by deposits on the sheet, and the result—assuming that the copy is a positive—is a negative. But there is a system of transmitting a picture either by telegraphy, wireless or other, or by telephony. The picture is drawn or placed on a sheet of paper divided into small squares, for each of which there is a symbol. For example, the code—beginning at the lop left-hand corner * —may be Al. A2, A 3, etc, for the first row, 81, 82, 83, etc., for the second row, and so on. At the receiving end is a similar sheet of paper on which, by hand or otherwise, the picture is built up in occordance with the message. Obviously, by this system a picture could be sent round the world. Its range is limited only by that of telephony. The Swedish invention, which is a secret, appears to he a modification 'of the code system. Two portraits were recently cabled from Denmark to London, one message containing 145 words and the other 185 words. As a single error would have altered the picture, each message, on being, received in London, was cabled back to Denmark, so that it might be checked, and consequently long time. In general, a picture can be turned into code in from one to two hours, and an equal period is required for the process at the receiving end. The apparatus for working this system is inexpensive, and the cost of transmission is merely that of a telegram or message. Possibly, therefore, transmitting pictures by telegraphy will soon be a commonplace of scientific achievement. As far back as 1907 several [newspapers installed apparatus, designed by Professor A. Korn, for picj ture-telegraphy, and many inventors have since improved on his ideas. An important use of the perfected system will be the furthering of the ends of justice, as the transmission of the portrait of a criminal will be practicable.