jfohn L. Baird 25 



years will be appreciated when we add that not only was 

 the reproduction of the face sharp and clear, but every 

 movement of the lips came through clearly enough for a 

 lip-reader to have read what was being said. Later, both 

 sides of a one-pound Treasury note were televised and 

 were clearly recognizable. 



Even more remarkable, when one remembers that first 

 flickering Maltese cross seen at Hastings in 1923, was the 

 spanning of the Atlantic by television. This was first 

 accomplished in February 1927, when recognizable images 

 of persons were transmitted from London to New York. 

 The signals were sent by land-line from London to the 

 Baird transmitter at Coulsdon, Surrey, and there sent by 

 wireless on 45 metres. They were tuned in at an amateur 

 station at Hartsdale, New York. Commenting upon this 

 demonstration, the New York Times said: " His success 

 deserves to rank with Marconi's sending of the letter S 

 across the Atlantic/' 



Another milestone on the road to television in the home 

 was passed when early the following year Mr Brown, wire- 

 less officer of the Berengarta, received and recognized the 

 features of his fiancee sitting before the transmitter in 

 London, 1500 miles away. The television apparatus was 

 in no way affected by the vibration or rolling of the vessel, 

 and in this demonstration, as in the others we have men- 

 tioned, only two operators were engaged, one at each end. 



With the success of these varied experiments the 

 problem of television was solved. That the transmission 

 will be further improved is certain, but the secret which 

 men groped after in dozens of laboratories for half a 

 century had been discovered. 



Having told the story of Baird's greatest achievement, 

 we must add a word about the original Baird televisor 

 itself. A detailed description of this earlier apparatus 

 would be too technical to be understood by any but the 

 expert, but the principle behind it is as follows : 



