Name: | Scophony Ltd.; London (GB) |
Abbreviation: | scophony |
Products: | Model types |
Summary: |
Scophony Ltd. Scophony-Baird Ltd. Scophony was one of the most highly original television manufacturers of the 1930s. Their innovative optical-mechanical television systems produced large-screen high-definition pictures for both the home and cinema. The company’s contributions to television’s technological history have certainly not received the attention they deserve, in part because the Television Committee formed in 1935 made its decisions before Scophony’s technologies had been fully developed, and because no complete Scophony television sets survive today either in museums or private collections. The most complete Scophony television in existence belongs National Science & Media Museum, Bradford. In late 1948, Scophony merged with John Logie Baird Ltd. to become Scophony-Baird and later in 1954 was acquired by Hartley Electromotives Ltd. |
Founded: | 1930 |
Closed: | 1954 |
Production: | 1932 - 1954 |
History: |
Entrepreneur Solomon Sagall after seeing a demonstration of low-definition television in Berlin by Denes Von Mihaly in March 1929 decided to begin his first venture into television by purchasing the British rights to the Telehor television system from Mihály, founding a company called British Telehor Ltd. 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 April 1935 Scophony Limited was registered as a private company with a capital of £140,000 in shares of £1 to take over from a previous company of the same name certain processes and world patent rights in the field of television, cinematography, and commercial communications, which are in the main the invention of Mr. G. W. Walton. The Board consisted of:
Scophony's system used several innovative devices:
In September 1936 Scophony, Ltd., became a public company to increase the capital from £140,000 to a nominal capital of £300,000 consisting of 1,200,000 in 5s. shares. An Ekco-Scophony receiver was shown at the 1936 radio show, which although probably never entered production was enough to demonstrate the performance of their system. It produced a relatively bright picture clearly superior to the 10 x 8 picture obtained from the early 12-inch CRTs. [4] 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 theatre operation, one producing a 6ft x 5ft image and the other a 9ft x 12ft image. With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, 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 February 1940 the company experimented with using the Skiatron in a large-screen projection television Projection. [5] Late in 1948 Scophony Ltd. acquired John Logie Baird Ltd. and its associate company W. Andrew Bryce and Co. of Lancelot Rd, Wembley; a new factory was opened at Wells and expansion of television production at the Wembley factory. [6] In late 1948 the company name changed to Scophony-Baird Ltd.; offering for sale a line of four Baird-branded television sets the following year. 1949 Scophony Ltd. became Scophony-Baird Ltd., of Lancelot Road, Wembley, Middlesex. [7] 1949 W. Andrew Bryce and Co. and John Logie Baird Ltd. were voluntarily wound up. [8] 1952 In September, Scophony-Baird Ltd. changed its name to Baird Television Ltd. In 1954 Hartley Electromotives Ltd. acquired Baird Television Ltd; a new company Hartley Baird Ltd. was formed. [1] Television & Shortwave World May 1935, Page 290. |
This manufacturer was suggested by Gary Cowans.
Country | Year | Name | 1st Tube | Notes |
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GB | 38 | Scophony Home-Receiver ES104 | The Scophony home receiver gives a projected picture 24" x 20" of very pleasant bl... | |
GB | 37 | Theatre Projector Junior | Scophony Theatre Projector Junior Model The Theatre Projector type of receiver is ba... | |
GB | 38 | Scophony Television Master Generator | The Scophony master generator consists of a disc having teeth on its periphery which route... | |
GB | 38 | Universal Film Transmitter | By using the Scophony optical principles it was possible to construct a successful film tr... |
Further details for this manufacturer by the members (rmfiorg):
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Problems for Mechanical TV
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Roy Johnson
31.Dec.10 |
1
Scophony had to withdraw at the last moment from demonstrating their Home and Public Hall TV Receivers at the August 1937 Radiolympia Show. This was due to the "irregular timing and phase shifting" (jitter) in the BBC broadcasts on the 405 line system from Alexandra Palace. Because the mechanical system cannot adjust rapidly enough to the synchonising pulses, an unstable picture resulted. Scophony had been complaining about this to the BBC and to the Television Advisory Committe for many months. The BBC stated that it was developing new equipment to be installed in late August 1937 and that they would "take all possible steps" to ensure that the signal radiated would function to a standard to suit the Scophony equipment. This problem no doubt caused the company severe financial problems at a time of TV growth when appearance at the show was so important in promoting and selling new sets. RJ (Source Wireless World+) |
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Scophony Two Foot Screen Home Receiver
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Georg Richter
07.Aug.06 |
1 The 'Scophony Two Foot Screen Home Receiver' see Manufacturer EKCO, Model ES104. |
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