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New York City, Where Electronic Television Broadcasting Began! Greetings From New York! Television went beyond newspapers and even radio as it brought the world into our homes. Following the September 11th attack more than 2.3 million televisions were sold in that month. There is not a more impactful invention than that of television. It extends our vision throughout our world and even our universe. Soon we will see images from Mars! NBC and RCA began transmitting from what is now the tallest building in New York, the Empire State Building. This building now highlights the city skyline in a patriotic display of red, white and blue lights. Please take some time and view the earliest photographs known to exist on early television! Now see television history, view the earliest known collection of photographs....The Personal Photographs of Experimental Television by Inventor Dr. Vladimir Kosma Zworykin and More! Scroll down to page 1 to view them, or go back to the MAIN PAGE. Be sure to book mark this site as an historical photographic resource on the top secret experimental days of television! The Restelli Collection http://historytv.net Click below to go to

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Felix The Cat Broadcast of 1929 | Dr. Zworykin's Secret Experimental RCA Photos of 1933 | First TV Dinner June 21, 1936 | First Live TV Demo November 6, 1936 | Public Sees TV at 1939 World's Fair | Photo Card of Dr. Zworykin 1948 Topps | Dr. Zworykin weds November 14, 1951 | Dr. Zworykin dies July 29, 1982 | eMail: Steve Restelli | Sign:Guestbook | Links |

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The Restelli Collection has been visited times, check back for future additions. Last update; 3-28-15

The Early History of Television Through Visual Images!

Copyright 2015. All Rights Reserved Steve Restelli. Box 21, Calais, VT., 05648, USA. All Rights Reserved

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Dr. Zworykin, Recipient of THE NATIONAL MEDAL OF SCIENCE 1966

For major contributions to the instruments of science, engineering and television, and for his stimulation of the application of engineering to medicine.

The last known award given Dr. Zworykin October 28, 1981. Click Here to view a list of other awards.

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This page is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Vladimir Kosma Zworykin (1889 -1982). Dr. Zworykin received our nations highest scientific honor, The National Medal of Science in 1966 from President Lyndon B. Johnson.
He received approximately 120 U.S. patents and was elected to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1977

His research made viewing your favorite sporting event or television show possible. He also was instrumental in developing the electron microscope, and was chosen by A&E Television as number 67 of the "100 Most Influential People of the Past 1,000 Years".

These photographs were his personal record of the experimental days of television at RCA. Most of these were never published, only a few examples were published by RCA Technical Press in 1936-37 in their "Television" booklets, Volumes 1 and 2. By the time WWII came even these low quality half tone images plates were destroyed and recycled into war materials.

This collection, having been privately held by Dr. Zworykin, is of outstanding quality and shows such detail that even the lines in the screen (kinescope tube) can be counted. These screen image photographs below are the only ones known to exist, and were taken from the kinescope receiving tube. The descriptions and dates were hand written by Dr. Zworykin. So enjoy this opportunity and click on the pages below to see the original photographs the world has never seen before! The receiving tube (kinescope)was the single most important technical advancement in electronic television.

I am always adding to the collection. If you have a related NBC, RCA, Zworykin photograph, article, paper, book, letter or any item to sell please contact me. If you have information about these photographs please eMail me or write your comments in the guestbook for all to see. If you need to view this page in a language other than English or send this link to someone in another language please make use of the translator at the bottom of this page. Thanks and enjoy!

The Restelli Collection has been visited times, check back for future updates

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The Personal Photographs of Dr. Vladimir Kosma Zworykin, Television Pioneer

© Copyright 2015 Steve Restelli. Box 21, Calais, VT., 05648, USA. All Rights Reserved

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THE RCA and NBC EXPERIMENTAL TELEVISION PROJECTS

During the first half of 1932, an experimental television system had been used in New York using a studio scanning apparatus. This consisted of a mechanical disk, flying-spot type, for an image of 120 lines. Even for small areas of coverage and for 120 lines, the resulting signal amplitude was unsatisfactory. In the Camden system, an iconoscope was used as the pick-up device. The use of the iconoscope permitted transmission of greater detail, outdoor pick-up, and wider areas of coverage in the studio. Experience indicated that it provided a new degree of flexibility in pick-up performance, thereby removing one of the most technical obstacles to television. 1

After many years of research and development an all-electronic television system emerged from the laboratory in 1933 for actual field tests. These tests were carried out at Camden (New Jersey), using a video transmitter and connected to it by a coaxial line. Iconoscopes (television cameras) were used to pick up scenes both in the studio and out-of-doors. A scanning pattern of 240 lines made it possible to obtain a picture with good definition, but as the frame frequency was 24 cycles, without interlacing , flicker was quite noticeable.

The following year (1934) the number of lines was increased to 343, and an interlaced pattern having a field frequency of 60 cycles and a repetition rate of 30 frames per second was adopted. The results of these tests were so satisfactory that it was decided to continue them in New York City, the site of earlier RCA tests using a mechanical scanner. The advantage of the new location was that transmission studies under more nearly the conditions encountered in actual broadcasts were possible, in particular, with respect to noise and reflection from buildings. This move was made in 1935, tests followed the following year. The New York studios were located in Radio City. The transmitter was installed in one of the upper floors of the Empire State Building, with the antenna on the mooring mast, 1285 feet above street level. Two links interconnect the studio and transmitter. One of these is an underground coaxial cable approximately a mile in length. An ultra-high-frequency radio relay link operating at 177 megacycles serves as (an) alternative for interconnecting the two units. In order to increase the flexibility of the system, and to permit outdoor and indoor pickup from remote points, a mobile unit consisting of a pickup truck and transmitter, which operated at 177 megacycles, was placed in service in 1938. Approximately one hundred receivers were built and located at various points within a radius of 50 miles of the transmitter. These, together with field strength measurements, gave detailed information as to the effect of the terrain on the received pictures. They also facilitated obtaining data on the reaction of a great variety of people to different types of programs. 2

1. E.W. Engstrom, "Television"; "An Experimental Television System" RCA Institutes Technical Press, pp. 253-254, July, 1936.

2. V.K. Zworykin, G.A. Morton, "Television, The Electronics of Image Transmission," John Wiley & Sons, Inc., pp. 567-568, 1940

The screen images below are time exposure photographs of the picture on the kinescope in the monitoring rack in the main control room. Some were taken with stationary frames of moving picture film projected upon the iconoscope by a standard moving picture machine. Others are actually the pictures transmitted with the iconoscope camera in the studio and outdoors.

I would like to thank Les Flory for his help in the identification of many of these photographs. Without his help, many of the names here would not have been known!

Click on the hypertext to the right of the page numbers to view these early images.

View the First TV Dinner--June, 29, 1936. It was HUGE!"

RCA's Official Press Release July 30, 1982 "Dr. Vladimir K. Zworykin, RCA Television Pioneer, Dies"

1948 Topps Gum Magic Photo Card of Dr. Zworykin"

View 2 examples of Dr. Zworykin's Autographs"

Zworykin's Biography | Links Page | 1951 Zworykin Album | eMail: Steve Restelli

Steve's Historical Find; Newly Discovered Underground Railroad site in Lebanon, NH