Most of us have a TV at home, flat or not, modern or many years old. The principle of operation of this device is quite simple, it allows us to receive a television signal and displays image and sound. And what have we associated such a gadget with for decades? Powerful foreign companies such as Sony, Samsung and more certainly came to mind.
But what do you think about the fact that the foundations for the television we know were laid by… a Pole? And not just any one, because Jan Szczepanik was described by Mark Twain himself. Despite being a self-taught inventor (he graduated from a teachers' seminar), he managed to patent over 50 inventions. And in this case, Szczepanik turned out to be a true visionary. But from the beginning.
It didn't take long for people to start dreaming about . Several frames displayed in a short time began to produce movement, and having photos of real objects made it possible to “record” the world around us. What if you combined several things into one? We can record reality, just like transmitting voice over distance thanks to the first telephones. Maybe not only sound, but also vision can be transmitted remotely?
Many scientists worked hard, . It was possible, scientists thought, as they tried to develop a way to send an image from one place and display it in another. Jan Szczepanik, working and creating in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Poland was under partition), received a British patent in 1897 for a device called a teletroscope. Briefly speaking, it used electricity and a transmitter and receiver, thanks to which it was possible to transmit a live image from point A to B.
Briefly speaking, the device worked thanks to electricity and . The telescope had a transmitting station, and the image we were interested in fell into it. It was reflected from the vibrating mirrors and then broken into individual points of light. They hit a selenium matrix that acted as a kind of light-to-electric pulse converter – sent directly to the receiver via a cable. A special lamp had to be placed in the receiver, which somehow reversed the process. The electrical signals were converted into light, which were reflected by mirrors and displayed on the target screen.
, which saw quickly displayed points and perceived them as a whole image broadcast live. But that's not all, because it was also possible to transmit sound. This one worked similarly to a telephone call. One side (the transmitter) was equipped with a microphone, and the receiver had an earphone that reproduced the transmitted sound from the place where the image was recorded. Although it took place at the end of the 19th century, the idea itself was practically no different from television as we know it today.
He even wrote about the Pole's invention, placing Szczepanik on the first page of the issue of April 3, 1898. The newspaper described the invention as a scheme for transmitting colored rays. Interestingly, no one has actually seen the device yet, and most of the information was provided without a specific presentation of the invention. This took place in Paris in 1900. What's interesting is that . The writer took advantage of the event and included a fictional account “from the place” in his story from 1904.
Ultimately, some people doubted the invention, claiming that it was all made up. Unfortunately, despite his fame and patent, Szczepanik did not fully realize the image revolution. He offered his project to institutions and even the military – for example, the Austrian army. Ultimately, it was not enthusiastically received, and the very concept of the telescope was replaced by television, which was developed by other inventors in the following years. The original telescope was difficult to produce due to its cost and complex construction.
First of all, it aroused people's interest, which motivated others to work on image and sound transmission.
Although the telescope turned out to be a huge revolution in retrospect, it was not the only noteworthy invention. Interestingly, he, together with Kazimierz Żegleń, is considered one of the creators of the first one. Although Żegleń was the first to submit his patent for a protective vest, Szczepanik managed to significantly improve the design, among others. introducing production using weaving machines, instead of doing everything by hand.
were strongly associated with painting and photography. He is responsible, for example, for the color photography system and light-sensitive color paper – this invention was later used by Kodak, or a photometer used to measure brightness. He also developed a color film system (superseded by the American Technicolor), sound film, and even an electrical-chemical engine.