Mechanical Television
Western Empire State
This set was made by Western Television in 1931. It had a triple interlace 45 line disk with lenses mounted in it. The neon was a "crater" lamp, which produced a bright light from a small point. The lenses focused the light on a ground glass screen. We recently acquired a copy of the 1933 installation and operation instructions for the set. Here is a Popular Science article about lens disk sets.
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This mechanism was made using a disk, motor, and mounting brackets from a Western Model 41. We have mounted them on a chassis and built neon drive circuits to operate the crater lamp. For more information, see our restoration page. It is unusual in that it is designed to operate on 50 Hz power.
Here are pictures taken from the screen with the original crater lamp. The viewing angle is quite limited, with the brightest picture visible only when you are directly in front of the screen. A much dimmer image is visible about 30 degrees on either side.
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(photos by Wayne Bretl)
This is a 1932 brochure for the set. Notice that the cabinet is slightly different
