Letters to Llewelyn B. Atkinson and A.A.C. Swinton discussing development of television
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TitleLetters to Llewelyn B. Atkinson and A.A.C. Swinton discussing development of television
ReferenceATK
CreatorAtkinson, LLewelyn B.
Llewelyn B. Atkinson was an electrical engineer active in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Born on August 27th, 1863, the son of a civil engineer, Mr. Atkinson was first educated at the Merchant Taylors' School, London, where his early scientific knowledge was gained in classes and laboratories, set apart for the study of chemistry, physics, and geology. He also attended the evening classes, then just beginning, under Professor Ayrton at the Finsbury Schools, which subsequently became the Finsbury Technical College, where in 1881 he obtained the Silver Medal with Honours at the first examination held by the City and Guilds on electric lighting and power transmission.
After leaving the Merchant Taylors' School, he entered the Department of Applied Sciences at King's College, where in the first year he was awarded the Sambroke Exhibition Medal and in the second and third years the Jelf Medal, awarded to the student who most distinguished himself.
On leaving King's College, of which he was elected an Associate, Mr. Atkinson entered the works of Kitson and Co., of Leeds, where he gained a good knowledge of the working of a large engineering factory.
In 1884 he entered the Halifax works of Goolden and Trotter and Co., as a pupil, and was subsequently engaged by the firm as an engineer. Later, he became a partner.
In 1894, the firm having outgrown the capacity of its works, was amalgamated with Easton and Anderson, of London and Erith, under the title of Easton, Anderson and Goolden, Ltd., and Mr. Atkinson was elected a director of the new company. He also carried on a consulting practice, and was connected with several companies, manufacturing engineering and electrical specialities.
In conjunction with his brother, Mr. C. W. Atkinson, he took a prominent part in the introduction of electric power to mining, particularly coal mining, and was the inventor and patentee of various mining electrical appliances. With his brother he owned at Cardiff testing works equipped with electrical, mechanical and chemical laboratories.
In 1883 he entered as a student the Institution of Civil Engineers and was awarded a Miller Prize for a paper on electrical measuring. instruments, in which was published for the first time a method of measuring the power in an A.C. circuit by means of two quadrant electrometers with the needles mechanically connected. In 1900 he was joint author with his brother of a paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers on electric mining machinery, for which two Telford Medals and Premiums were awarded to the authors. This paper was republished in America, France, and Belgium. With his brother be was also joint author of a paper read before the Mining Institute of Scotland on applications of electric1ty in mining; also of a paper on a similar subject read before the Staffordshire Institute of Mining Engineers and the South Wales Institute of Engineers, of which he was a member.
In 1886 he took out his first patent for a dynamo brush composed of metal strips interleaved with resistance members for the purpose of preventing sparking, a design which was revived many years later by Mr. W. M. Mordey in a paper he read before the I.E.E.
One of Mr. Atkinson's first jobs at the Halifax works was to design in conjunction with Mr. W. H. Ravenshaw a 6 H.P. motor to be built into a bar type coal cutting machine. This is said to have been the first electric coal cutter, and the capabilities of the electric drive were demonstrated as soon as it was set to work. The development of this machine led to his spending a good deal of his time at the coal face.
One of his early experiments, made about 1888, was that of trying to run a laminated field motor with A.C. A motor developed by him as the result of this experiment had in its simplest form two pairs of short-circuited brushes on the commutator with their axes at right angles to one another and the field system connected to the supply. The machine was described in a paper, for which Mr. Atkinson was awarded a Telford Premium, on "The Theory and Working of A.C. Motors," read before the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1898. The motor had shunt characteristics and formed the basis of other designs. At one time he advocated single-phase railway electrification, but whether the advent of mercury arc rectifiers changed his views we do not know.
Although Mr. Atkinson attained a high position on the technical side of the industry, he always had a strong bent towards the commercial side and, like many other technical men, he drifted in later years in that direction, marking a new epoch in his career. In conjunction with the late Mr. P. J. Fawcus he founded the Trafford Park Power and Light Supply Company, said to be the first company formed in this country with the primary object of distributing cheap power over an industrial area. For many years he was a director of that company, which about 1920 was absorbed by the Stretford Urban District Council.
One of the electrical firms that built a factory at Trafford Park was that of W. T. Glover, and when that firm was reorganised in 1903 Mr. Atkinson became a director, a post which he held for about seventeen years, being for the greater part of that time in charge of the company's London office. From the time he joined the board of Glover and Co., Ltd., he had taken a prominent part in the affairs of the Cable Makers' Association, being at one time its Chairman. His exceptional abilities were therefore familiar to his associates, and on the death of Mr. A. H. Howard he was invited by his colleagues in the cable making industry to become the Secretary and Manager of the Association. Subsequently he became Director, retiring in 1936. He was also Chairman of the Joint Industrial Council of the Cable Making Industry, a member of the Wiring Rules Committee, and a past Chairman of the Royal Society of Arts.
In research he took a keen interest. From February 12th, 1926, to February, 1927, he was President of the British Electrical and Allied Industries Association. No one has served that Association better, and his remarks at the conclusion of his Presidential Address are characteristic of his zeal. Appealing for help, he said: "Any Government, any industrial leaders, who fail to see that research by Englishmen can accomplish any and every result, convict themselves of blindness, to lack of knowledge, and to lack of imagination. Research associations and research workers are not asking for charity; they are urging that the present squalid civilisation should be replaced, as it can be, by a far better one, if applied knowledge in every sphere is encouraged and developed, that instead of being a last charge upon the resources of the nation, research should be the first charge. We urge that the Press should make it part of its daily duty to inform its readers, in suitable but accurate terms, of the advances in knowledge that have been made, and are being made, of the progress that is possible, and of the immense economic advantage that must accrue and thus use its influence in creating an atmosphere driving Governments to action."
He passed away in 1939.
Born on August 27th, 1863, the son of a civil engineer, Mr. Atkinson was first educated at the Merchant Taylors' School, London, where his early scientific knowledge was gained in classes and laboratories, set apart for the study of chemistry, physics, and geology. He also attended the evening classes, then just beginning, under Professor Ayrton at the Finsbury Schools, which subsequently became the Finsbury Technical College, where in 1881 he obtained the Silver Medal with Honours at the first examination held by the City and Guilds on electric lighting and power transmission.
After leaving the Merchant Taylors' School, he entered the Department of Applied Sciences at King's College, where in the first year he was awarded the Sambroke Exhibition Medal and in the second and third years the Jelf Medal, awarded to the student who most distinguished himself.
On leaving King's College, of which he was elected an Associate, Mr. Atkinson entered the works of Kitson and Co., of Leeds, where he gained a good knowledge of the working of a large engineering factory.
In 1884 he entered the Halifax works of Goolden and Trotter and Co., as a pupil, and was subsequently engaged by the firm as an engineer. Later, he became a partner.
In 1894, the firm having outgrown the capacity of its works, was amalgamated with Easton and Anderson, of London and Erith, under the title of Easton, Anderson and Goolden, Ltd., and Mr. Atkinson was elected a director of the new company. He also carried on a consulting practice, and was connected with several companies, manufacturing engineering and electrical specialities.
In conjunction with his brother, Mr. C. W. Atkinson, he took a prominent part in the introduction of electric power to mining, particularly coal mining, and was the inventor and patentee of various mining electrical appliances. With his brother he owned at Cardiff testing works equipped with electrical, mechanical and chemical laboratories.
In 1883 he entered as a student the Institution of Civil Engineers and was awarded a Miller Prize for a paper on electrical measuring. instruments, in which was published for the first time a method of measuring the power in an A.C. circuit by means of two quadrant electrometers with the needles mechanically connected. In 1900 he was joint author with his brother of a paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers on electric mining machinery, for which two Telford Medals and Premiums were awarded to the authors. This paper was republished in America, France, and Belgium. With his brother be was also joint author of a paper read before the Mining Institute of Scotland on applications of electric1ty in mining; also of a paper on a similar subject read before the Staffordshire Institute of Mining Engineers and the South Wales Institute of Engineers, of which he was a member.
In 1886 he took out his first patent for a dynamo brush composed of metal strips interleaved with resistance members for the purpose of preventing sparking, a design which was revived many years later by Mr. W. M. Mordey in a paper he read before the I.E.E.
One of Mr. Atkinson's first jobs at the Halifax works was to design in conjunction with Mr. W. H. Ravenshaw a 6 H.P. motor to be built into a bar type coal cutting machine. This is said to have been the first electric coal cutter, and the capabilities of the electric drive were demonstrated as soon as it was set to work. The development of this machine led to his spending a good deal of his time at the coal face.
One of his early experiments, made about 1888, was that of trying to run a laminated field motor with A.C. A motor developed by him as the result of this experiment had in its simplest form two pairs of short-circuited brushes on the commutator with their axes at right angles to one another and the field system connected to the supply. The machine was described in a paper, for which Mr. Atkinson was awarded a Telford Premium, on "The Theory and Working of A.C. Motors," read before the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1898. The motor had shunt characteristics and formed the basis of other designs. At one time he advocated single-phase railway electrification, but whether the advent of mercury arc rectifiers changed his views we do not know.
Although Mr. Atkinson attained a high position on the technical side of the industry, he always had a strong bent towards the commercial side and, like many other technical men, he drifted in later years in that direction, marking a new epoch in his career. In conjunction with the late Mr. P. J. Fawcus he founded the Trafford Park Power and Light Supply Company, said to be the first company formed in this country with the primary object of distributing cheap power over an industrial area. For many years he was a director of that company, which about 1920 was absorbed by the Stretford Urban District Council.
One of the electrical firms that built a factory at Trafford Park was that of W. T. Glover, and when that firm was reorganised in 1903 Mr. Atkinson became a director, a post which he held for about seventeen years, being for the greater part of that time in charge of the company's London office. From the time he joined the board of Glover and Co., Ltd., he had taken a prominent part in the affairs of the Cable Makers' Association, being at one time its Chairman. His exceptional abilities were therefore familiar to his associates, and on the death of Mr. A. H. Howard he was invited by his colleagues in the cable making industry to become the Secretary and Manager of the Association. Subsequently he became Director, retiring in 1936. He was also Chairman of the Joint Industrial Council of the Cable Making Industry, a member of the Wiring Rules Committee, and a past Chairman of the Royal Society of Arts.
In research he took a keen interest. From February 12th, 1926, to February, 1927, he was President of the British Electrical and Allied Industries Association. No one has served that Association better, and his remarks at the conclusion of his Presidential Address are characteristic of his zeal. Appealing for help, he said: "Any Government, any industrial leaders, who fail to see that research by Englishmen can accomplish any and every result, convict themselves of blindness, to lack of knowledge, and to lack of imagination. Research associations and research workers are not asking for charity; they are urging that the present squalid civilisation should be replaced, as it can be, by a far better one, if applied knowledge in every sphere is encouraged and developed, that instead of being a last charge upon the resources of the nation, research should be the first charge. We urge that the Press should make it part of its daily duty to inform its readers, in suitable but accurate terms, of the advances in knowledge that have been made, and are being made, of the progress that is possible, and of the immense economic advantage that must accrue and thus use its influence in creating an atmosphere driving Governments to action."
He passed away in 1939.
Date
1926-1929
Scope and ContentLetters to Llewelyn B. Atkinson and A.A.C. Swinton, discussing development of television and particularly Baird's apparatus. The file also includes a photocopied letter from Atkinson to the Science Museum in 1929.
ExtentOne file containing three letters
Physical descriptionFair
LanguageEnglish
Archival historyThis collection was originally acquired by the Science Museum. It was transferred to the National Science and Media Museum in 2005.
Levelfonds
Repository nameNational Science and Media Museum, Bradford
Associated people and organisationsBaird, John Logie
John Logie Baird (1888–1946), television engineer, was born on 13 August 1888 at The Lodge, West Argyle Street, Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, the youngest of the four children of the Revd John Baird, minister of the West Parish Church, Helensburgh, and his wife, Jessie Morrison Inglis. Baird was educated at three schools in Helensburgh, between 1893 and 1906 when he was admitted to an electrical engineering course at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College. In 1914 he was awarded an associateship of the college and then attended Glasgow University as a final year BSc degree student, but did not sit the examinations. In 1916, having obtained a position as an assistant mains engineer with the Clyde Valley Electrical Power Company, he applied for military service but was declared medically unfit. In 1918 he resigned from the Clyde Valley company to follow, full time, various entrepreneurial business ventures.
Baird had a flair for marketing, and from 1917 to 1922 sold—at different periods in Glasgow, the West Indies, and London—medicated socks, boot polish, solid scent, jam, honey, fertilizer, coir fibre, and soap. His initiatives were mostly successful, even though he was dogged by the ill health which was a feature of his life. In 1922 he retired to Hastings to recuperate from a severe illness and, while there, began to study the problems of transmitting and receiving visual signals, namely, television. His resources were meagre: he lacked formal research training, he did not have access to workshop or laboratory facilities, and his financial position was precarious. Nevertheless, he rented an attic and began to assemble apparatus using what were, on the face of it, most unpromising materials. His investigations attracted some very modest support, and by April 1925 Baird was able to demonstrate, in public, at Selfridge's Oxford Street store, in London, the transmission of crude outlines of simple objects. Later, on 2 October 1925, he succeeded in reproducing an image of an object, which had tone gradation. A formal demonstration was given to about forty members of the Royal Institution on 26 January 1926. This was the world's first demonstration of television (albeit at a very rudimentary stage), which had been sought by many inventors since 1878, when the possibility of ‘seeing at a distance’ was first proposed. It was an outstanding achievement. Subsequently his basic television scheme was adopted by inventors and companies in France, Germany, the USA, and elsewhere.
An examination of Baird's modus operandi in the 1920s shows that he endeavoured to emulate the policies which, from 1896, had ensured success for Marconi and his companies. Baird and his supporters followed a plan which embraced publicity and the demonstration of ‘firsts’, the accumulation of patents, and company formation. Television Ltd was registered on 11 June 1925, Baird Television Development Company Ltd was established in April 1927, and Baird International Television Ltd was launched on 25 June 1928. Baird tried to anticipate every conceivable application of television and to safeguard by patent protection its practical implementation. He eventually held 178 patents: of these, eighty-eight were granted by the end of 1930. From 1926 to 1931 Baird demonstrated, sometimes for the first time ever, low-definition noctovision (in which subjects were illuminated by infra-red rays), daylight television, colour television, stereoscopic television, phonovision (the recording of sound and image on a gramophone disc), large-screen television, and zone television. Unfortunately, the exaggerated and premature claims made by Baird's business partners reflected adversely on Baird himself. However, a critical appraisal of his early work, to 1931, shows that his thoughts on television, and the realization of those thoughts, were entirely consonant with the television concepts of the well endowed Bell Telephone Laboratories, whose demonstrations in the same period were unsurpassed anywhere. On 30 September 1929 the BBC transmitted, using the Baird 30-line system, its first experimental television broadcast. Later, on 22 August 1932, the first public (in the UK), 30-line television service was inaugurated by the BBC; it remained in operation until 15 September 1935.
In November 1931, in New York, Baird married Margaret Cecilia (d. 1996), a concert pianist, daughter of the late Henry Albu, diamond merchant, of Johannesburg. They had one son, Malcolm, and one daughter, Diana.
Baird's ‘blind spot’ was to ignore for too long the inevitable move towards high-definition television, using very high frequencies and all-electronic means. When the London television station was opened by the BBC on 2 November 1936, two systems of television were employed, on an alternate basis. The ensuing trial highlighted the advantages of the 405-line, all-electronic system recommended by Isaac Shoenberg of EMI compared to Baird Television's 240-line system, which was based on mechanical scanning. The former was chosen for the new station, and the last BBC transmission using the Baird system was sent out on 30 January 1937.
Undaunted, Baird continued his work, concentrating on large-screen, colour, and stereoscopic television. He had his own private laboratory (set up in 1933) and he operated entirely independently from Baird Television Ltd. In December 1936 he demonstrated 120-line theatre television using a 2.4 × 2 metre screen; and in February 1938 he displayed large-screen (3.65 metres × 2.75 metres) colour television pictures. Both demonstrations were at the Dominion Theatre, London. 600-line colour television and stereoscopic colour television systems were shown in December 1940 and December 1941 respectively. Baird was the first person, anywhere, to design, construct, and exhibit (in 1944) a multi-gun colour television tube (the telechrome tube).
Despite poor health, Baird continued his endeavours until he died, from coronary thrombosis, at his rented home, Instow, 1 Station Road, at Bexhill, Sussex, on 14 June 1946. He was buried in Helensburgh cemetery.
Baird had a flair for marketing, and from 1917 to 1922 sold—at different periods in Glasgow, the West Indies, and London—medicated socks, boot polish, solid scent, jam, honey, fertilizer, coir fibre, and soap. His initiatives were mostly successful, even though he was dogged by the ill health which was a feature of his life. In 1922 he retired to Hastings to recuperate from a severe illness and, while there, began to study the problems of transmitting and receiving visual signals, namely, television. His resources were meagre: he lacked formal research training, he did not have access to workshop or laboratory facilities, and his financial position was precarious. Nevertheless, he rented an attic and began to assemble apparatus using what were, on the face of it, most unpromising materials. His investigations attracted some very modest support, and by April 1925 Baird was able to demonstrate, in public, at Selfridge's Oxford Street store, in London, the transmission of crude outlines of simple objects. Later, on 2 October 1925, he succeeded in reproducing an image of an object, which had tone gradation. A formal demonstration was given to about forty members of the Royal Institution on 26 January 1926. This was the world's first demonstration of television (albeit at a very rudimentary stage), which had been sought by many inventors since 1878, when the possibility of ‘seeing at a distance’ was first proposed. It was an outstanding achievement. Subsequently his basic television scheme was adopted by inventors and companies in France, Germany, the USA, and elsewhere.
An examination of Baird's modus operandi in the 1920s shows that he endeavoured to emulate the policies which, from 1896, had ensured success for Marconi and his companies. Baird and his supporters followed a plan which embraced publicity and the demonstration of ‘firsts’, the accumulation of patents, and company formation. Television Ltd was registered on 11 June 1925, Baird Television Development Company Ltd was established in April 1927, and Baird International Television Ltd was launched on 25 June 1928. Baird tried to anticipate every conceivable application of television and to safeguard by patent protection its practical implementation. He eventually held 178 patents: of these, eighty-eight were granted by the end of 1930. From 1926 to 1931 Baird demonstrated, sometimes for the first time ever, low-definition noctovision (in which subjects were illuminated by infra-red rays), daylight television, colour television, stereoscopic television, phonovision (the recording of sound and image on a gramophone disc), large-screen television, and zone television. Unfortunately, the exaggerated and premature claims made by Baird's business partners reflected adversely on Baird himself. However, a critical appraisal of his early work, to 1931, shows that his thoughts on television, and the realization of those thoughts, were entirely consonant with the television concepts of the well endowed Bell Telephone Laboratories, whose demonstrations in the same period were unsurpassed anywhere. On 30 September 1929 the BBC transmitted, using the Baird 30-line system, its first experimental television broadcast. Later, on 22 August 1932, the first public (in the UK), 30-line television service was inaugurated by the BBC; it remained in operation until 15 September 1935.
In November 1931, in New York, Baird married Margaret Cecilia (d. 1996), a concert pianist, daughter of the late Henry Albu, diamond merchant, of Johannesburg. They had one son, Malcolm, and one daughter, Diana.
Baird's ‘blind spot’ was to ignore for too long the inevitable move towards high-definition television, using very high frequencies and all-electronic means. When the London television station was opened by the BBC on 2 November 1936, two systems of television were employed, on an alternate basis. The ensuing trial highlighted the advantages of the 405-line, all-electronic system recommended by Isaac Shoenberg of EMI compared to Baird Television's 240-line system, which was based on mechanical scanning. The former was chosen for the new station, and the last BBC transmission using the Baird system was sent out on 30 January 1937.
Undaunted, Baird continued his work, concentrating on large-screen, colour, and stereoscopic television. He had his own private laboratory (set up in 1933) and he operated entirely independently from Baird Television Ltd. In December 1936 he demonstrated 120-line theatre television using a 2.4 × 2 metre screen; and in February 1938 he displayed large-screen (3.65 metres × 2.75 metres) colour television pictures. Both demonstrations were at the Dominion Theatre, London. 600-line colour television and stereoscopic colour television systems were shown in December 1940 and December 1941 respectively. Baird was the first person, anywhere, to design, construct, and exhibit (in 1944) a multi-gun colour television tube (the telechrome tube).
Despite poor health, Baird continued his endeavours until he died, from coronary thrombosis, at his rented home, Instow, 1 Station Road, at Bexhill, Sussex, on 14 June 1946. He was buried in Helensburgh cemetery.
SubjectTelevision, Engineering
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