Joshua Sieger was a scientist and engineer involved in the development of gas detection and communications technology, including scophony and colour television systems.
Sieger was born on 5 January 1907 in Shepherd's Bush, London, England. As a young boy, he became interested in science and technology, particularly wireless (radio) technologies and electrical engineering.
After completing his studies in 1924, Sieger took on a position working for Amateur Wireless, a popular radio enthusiasts' magazine. In 1925, whilst working for the magazine, he applied for a patent for a new portable radio system called the Olympus. He set up a company, Portadyne Radio, to sell the set. Sieger then gave up his role at Amateur Wireless to continue working as a manufacturer.
In 1930 Sieger joined an organisation called Scophony, who were developing projection-based television systems. The outbreak of World War II halted development of the projection systems at Scophony, and the employees in their laboratories were seconded into developing secret signalling systems based on television techniques. Sieger moved to the Telecommunications Research Establishment as Principal Technical Officer and Divisional Leader of Engineering. He also became a member of the National Television Systems Committee, working closely with the Radio Corporation of America and Hazeltine Corporation, amongst others.
In the years following the war, Sieger worked in both the UK and US as a consultant for a number of companies in various industries. After he returned to the UK in 1956, he began to develop gas detection technology. He developed a remote and sensitive gas technology, and after several years of testing the device, called Mark 9, was ready. Sieger refined the device in partnership with a new manufacturer, International Engineering Concessionaires (IEC), and on 31 July 1959, IEC-Sieger Ltd. was incorporated.
The success of Mark 9 was impressive, and the device's superior sensitivity impressed its purchasers. By June 1961, a decision was made to manufacture in-house, and a new building was purchased in Poole, Dorset. Sieger disengaged from IEC-Sieger Ltd later that year and a new company called J&S Sieger was established towards the end of 1961. This company was later sold to Zellweger in 1979.
Sieger passed away on 1st March 1993.
Date
1936-1953
Scope and ContentThis collection contains papers relating to Joshua Sieger's involvement in the development of standards for early colour television. The collection includes minutes, correspondence with and reports and publications by the National Television System Committee on Colour Television (NTSC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Radio Manufacturers Association, Philco Corporation, Hazeltine Electronics Corporation, Emerson Radio and Phonograph Corporation, and Radio Corporation America (RCA). These materials are largely dated in the late 1940s and early 1953s, relating directly to the work of Sieger and others to devise suitable compatible colour television standards as members of the National Television System Committee (NTSC).
ExtentTwo clamshell boxes containing approximately 200 individual components
Physical descriptionThe condition of this collection is good. The collection is entirely paper-based, and includes several bound publications.
LanguageEnglish
Archival historyThis collection was transferred to the National Media Museum in 1992.
Levelfonds
Repository nameNational Science and Media Museum, Bradford
J&S Sieger Ltd was established in 1961 by Joshua Sieger, manufacturer and engineer. The company produced gas detection equipment including the Mark 9 marine unit.
The company Scophony Limited was established by entrepreneur Solomon Sagall in the early 1930s to exploit the patents of inventor George William Walton. In 1932, Ferranti invested £3,500 in the company, however in 1934 Ferranti turned down the option to invest a further £10,000 to re-structure Scophony Limited, and in 1935 EKCO replaced Ferranti as the company's main investor.
In 1936 Scophony Ltd became a public company, with 126 patents on the system.
In 1938, the Scophony company demonstrated three types of 405 line mechanical television receivers at the Radiolympia exhibition in London: a home receiver, with a picture area of approximately 24" x 22" and two systems intended for theater operation, one producing a 6 ft x 5 ft image and the other a 9 ft x 12 ft image.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, the British Broadcasting Corporation stopped television broadcasting. Consequently, it became impossible for Scophony to continue in the commercial development, manufacture and sale of television equipment in England. It therefore sent personnel to the United States, opened an office in New York City, and began demonstrations of its product and other activities preliminary to establishing a manufacturing and selling business in this country.
In 1941, Scophony found itself in financial distress, in part because of restrictions imposed by the British Government on the export of currency. It became imperative that new capital from American sources be found for the enterprise. In 1942 Arthur Levey, a director of Scophony and one of its founders, undertook negotiations in New York with American motion picture and televisions interests, including Paramount and General Precision. They culminated in the execution of three interlacing contracts, the so-called master agreement of July, 1942, and two supplemental agreements of August 11, 1942.
In 1948 Scophony Ltd acquired John Logie Baird Ltd, television manufacturers, and the associate company W. Andrew Bryce and Co, manufacturer of transformers and components. In 1949 the company was renamed Scophony-Baird Ltd.
In 1952, the company changed its name from Scophony-Baird Ltd to Baird Television Ltd. In 1960 Radio Rentals acquired the Baird Company.
The National Television System Committee (NTSC) was a standardisation body established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1940 to standardise analog TV broadcasting. The standard that the committee came up with was then named after itself, NTSC. NTSC became the primary analog television system used in North America, some parts of South America and Asia. The standard, along with the majority of analog television broadcasts, was phased out and decommissioned on June 12, 2009, in favor of digital television.
In 1924 United States-based radio manufacturers formed a trade group called the Associated Radio Manufacturers. Later that same year, the group renamed itself the Radio Manufacturers Association (RMA). Over time, new electronic technologies brought new members and name changes, including Radio Television Manufacturers Association (RTMA) (1950), Radio Electronics Television Manufacturers (RETMA) (1953) and Electronics Industries Association (EIA) (1957). The group renamed itself for the last time in 1997, when the Electronics Industry Association became the Electronics Industries Alliance (EIA), reflecting the changing membership of the group, including non-manufacturer members.
The organisation's headquarters were in Arlington, Virginia. The EIA divided its activities into the following sectors:
ECA – Electronic Components, Assemblies, Equipment & Supplies Association
JEDEC – JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, former Joint Electron Devices Engineering Councils
GEIA – (now part of TechAmerica), Government Electronics and Information Technology Association
TIA – Telecommunications Industry Association
CEA – Consumer Electronics Association
The EIA announced in 2007 that it would be dissolved into its constituent divisions, and transferred operations soon after. The Alliance formally ceased to exist on February 11, 2011.
IEC-Sieger was a manufacturing company established by International Engineering Concessionaires (IEC) and manufacturer Joshua Sieger in 1959, which produced and marketed gas detection technology.
Radio Corporation of America was created in 1919 by General Electric, with the explicit purpose of creating an American-owned radio company. The new company incorporated the assets of Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America, the Pan-American Telegraph Company, and other companies already controlled by the United States Navy.
By 1926 the market for commercial radio had expanded, and RCA purchased the WEAF and WCAP radio stations and networks from AT&T, merged them with its WJZ (the predecessor of WABC) New York to WRC (presently WTEM) Washington chain, and formed the National Broadcasting Company (NBC).
In 1929, RCA purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, then the world's largest manufacturer of phonographs (including the famous "Victrola") and phonograph records. This included a majority ownership of the Victor Company of Japan (JVC). The new subsidiary then became RCA Victor. RCA Victor produced many radio-phonographs and also created RCA Photophone, a sound-on-film system for sound films that competed with William Fox's sound-on-film Movietone and Warner Bros.' sound-on-disc Vitaphone. RCA began selling the first electronic turntable in 1930. In 1931, RCA Victor began selling 33⅓ rpm records. The system was withdrawn from the market after about a year.
In 1930, the U.S. Department of Justice brought antitrust charges against RCA, General Electric and Westinghouse. As a result, General Electric and Westinghouse gave up their ownership interests in RCA. RCA was allowed to keep its radio factories, and General Electric and Westinghouse were allowed to compete in that business after 30 months.
RCA demonstrated an all-electronic television system at the 1939 New York World's Fair, and developed the USA's first television test pattern. With the introduction of the NTSC standard, the Federal Communications Commission authorised the start of commercial television transmission on July 1, 1941. World War II slowed the deployment of television in the United States, but RCA again began selling television receivers almost immediately after the war ceased.
RCA was a major producer of vacuum tubes (branded Radiotron) in the United States, creating a series of innovative products ranging from octal base metal tubes co-developed with General Electric before World War II to the transistor-sized Nuvistor used in the tuners of the New Vista series of TV sets.
In 1941, before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the cornerstone was laid for a research and development facility, RCA Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey, led for many years by Elmer Engstrom. This lab developed many innovations, such as colour television, the electron microscope, CMOS-based technology, heterojunction physics, optoelectronic emitting devices, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), videocassette recorders, direct broadcast television, direct broadcast satellite systems and high-definition television. From 1988 to January 2011, the Lab was called Sarnoff Corporation, a subsidiary of SRI International, after which it was fully integrated into SRI.
In 1949, RCA Victor released the first 45 rpm record to the public, to compete with CBS/Columbia's 33⅓ rpm "LP" format. The RCA 33⅓ rpm "LP" records themselves became a reality in 1950, and in 1951, so did the CBS/Columbia 45 rpm record.
In 1953, RCA's all-electronic color TV technology was adopted as the standard for American color TV. It is now known as NTSC (after the "National Television Systems Committee" that approved it). RCA cameras and studio gear, particularly of the TK-40/41 series, became standard equipment at many American television network affiliates, as RCA CT-100[23] ("RCA Merrill" to dealers) television sets introduced color television to the public.
RCA was one of several major computer companies, and marketed the Spectra 70 Series and the RCA Series (RCA 2, 3, 6, 7) competing against the IBM System/370. These systems all ran RCA’s real-memory operating systems, DOS and TDOS. RCA’s virtual memory systems, the Spectra 70/46 and 70/61 and the RCA 3 and 7, could also run their Virtual Memory Operating System, VMOS. RCA abandoned computers in 1971. Sperry Rand officially took over the RCA base in January 1972.
RCA Graphic Systems Division (GSD) was an early supplier of electronics designed for the printing and publishing industries. It contracted with German company Rudolf Hell to market adaptations of the Digiset photocomposition system as the Videocomp, and a Laser Color Scanner. The Videocomp was supported by a Spectra computer that ran the Page-1 and, later the Page-II and FileComp composition systems. RCA later sold the Videocomp rights to Information International Inc. (III).
RCA was a major proponent of the eight-track tape cartridge, which it launched in 1965. The eight-track cartridge initially had a huge and profitable impact on the consumer marketplace. Sales of the 8-track tape format peaked early as consumers increasingly favored the compact cassette tape format developed by Philips.
During the late 1960s and 1970s, RCA Corporation, as it was now formally known, ventured into other markets. Under Robert Sarnoff's leadership, RCA diversified far beyond electronics and communications, in a broader American corporate trend toward "conglomerates." The company acquired Hertz (rental cars), Banquet (frozen foods), Coronet (carpeting), Random House (publishing) and Gibson (greeting cards). The company struggled financially during this period.
Around 1980, RCA corporate strategy reported on moving manufacture of its television sets to Mexico. RCA was still profitable in 1983, when it switched manufacturing of its VHS VCRs from Panasonic to Hitachi.
Forays into new consumer electronics products lost money. The SelectaVision videodisc system, not to be confused with the same trademark that RCA applied to its VCRs, never developed the manufacturing volumes to substantially bring down its price, could not compete against cheaper, recordable videotape technology, and was abandoned in 1985 for a write-off of several hundred million dollars.
In 1981, Columbia sold its share in the home video division to RCA and its division was renamed outside of North America to "RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video" and the following year, it was renamed in North America to "RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video".
In 1983, Arista Records owner Bertelsmann sold 50% of Arista to RCA. In 1985, Bertelsmann and RCA formed a joint venture called RCA/Ariola International which took over management of RCA Records.
Business and financial conditions led to RCA's takeover by GE in 1986, who subsequently broke up the company and sold various components onto other companies.
Conditions governing accessAccess is given in accordance with the NMeM access policy. Material from this collection is available to researchers through the museum’s Insight facility.
Conditions governing ReproductionCopies may be supplied of items in the collection, provided that the copying process used does not damage the item or is not detrimental to its preservation. Copies will be supplied in accordance with the NMeM’s terms and conditions for the supply and reproduction of copies, and the provisions of any relevant copyright legislation.
System of arrangementThis collection is currently being processed and a system of arrangement has yet to be established. This field will be updated at a later date.
