American Television Institute

Mechanical Television

American Television Institute

The American Television Institute (ATI) was run by U. A. Sanabria, who was a pioneer in mechanical television. In the mid 30s he founded the school, which trained students through the 50s. There were a number of schools with television programs before World War Two.

ATI students made monscopes and CRTs as part of their training.

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1937 Advertisements

ATI Telephone Television System

This system was manufactured by ATI in 1936. It was demonstrated all over the country in department stores, fairs and auto dealerships. Here are some newspaper articles describing these demonstrations (courtesy of Wayne Bretl).

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Shown here is the class of 1936 manufacturing Television Telephones

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They provided a system to Duke University in 1938

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ATI made these 2 way television units in relatively large quantities. Many were sold to colleges and universities. The first lesson in ATI's 1937 television correspondence course says that systems were sold to DePaul, Armour Intstitute of Technology (Chicago), Michigan College of Mining and Technology (Houghton), The Drexel Institute of Technology (Philadelphia), University of Louisville, South Dakota State College (Brookings), Fenn College (Cleveland), and Louisiana State University, at a cost of $500 each. It is interesting that they were able to sell mechanical systems in 1937, well after all mechanical broadcasting had ended.

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ATI also provided equipment to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, for reception of the transmissions from New York City. Below is the receiver, which also serves as an oscilloscope. Similar units were used in ATI's training program. A similar system was made available to students at the Institute, called the "Double Electronic".

A. T. I Results at the United States Military Academy

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Jonathan Steed wrote:

My dad Bill Steed went to an ATI school in Chicago too in February 1939. From letters (post cards) back home, it sounded like he left early but did spend about 2-3 weeks in Chicago. he mentions Mr. Sanabria in a couple of the letters. From these letters, it sounds like he had it at home, configured it and then transported it to Chicago for the class.

From the above photo, the top unit appears to be the receiver (monitor), similar to this later model. The bottom unit is the transmitter. It doesn't use a camera tube, but uses a monoscope, a tube that has a permanent image on it. ATI had its students make monoscopes as part of their studies.

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Here is another unit built by Steed, showing the ATI photocell.

Photos courtesy of Johathan Steed

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Mid 40s brochure, showing Farnsworth camera and GE receiver

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1946 Advertisement

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Sam Balnius' Employee Badge (ca 1944-48)

Sam received a diploma from the Coyne Electrical School on May 12, 1944. He completed instruction in Radio-Television Sound Reproduction. He lived in Chicago until 1948 before moving back to Connecticut, where he worked for WKNB and later for WTIC. Both of those jobs were primarily with the radio stations of those companies. He died in 1993.

Information and photo courtesy of his son Chuck Balnius

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1946 Advertisment

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1949 Advertisement

Courtesy of Duke University Libraries Ad*Access

Tom Stanonis sent us a document about the 1949 commencement ceremony, His father Alphonso Stanonis was one of the graduates. He also sent the Curriculum for the Degree Bachelor of Science in Television Engineering with his father's grades annotated on it. It probably dates from 1946-1949. Here is his identification card

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