--when he set off to find these two people, who call themselves The "Ritters."
They are Dore Strauch, and Dr. Ritter. Dore Strach was a beautiful woman, as shown by the
photo above. And Dr. Ritter equally handsome. The two had resolved to move from Germany and and create a new Eden in the South Seas. They selected Floreana, one of the Galapagos group of Islands in the South
Pacific Ocean. The couple were resolved
to live as Adam and Eve in paradise, and equally unclothed.
(Note: Isn’t that the dream of nearly every man and
woman—to get away from this mad world and its wars, and to live in a paradise
of their own making?)
The Commander had perhaps heard rumors of their existence and had resolved to find them and learn their story. So he fitted out the Mizpah for a South Pacific adventure, and with some friends, set out to find the Ritters. At the same time-quixotically--he was prepared to search for pirate treasure .
 |
| The Mizpah |
Commander McDonald didn’t just sailed his yacht the Mizpah
on Lake Michigan. The Mizpah was 143
feet in length and fully capable of
sailing the ocean blue. When it traversed Lake Michigan, it was classed as a
“boat,” but when on the ocean, it was called a “ship”, and it a ship it was.
So he set off down the Intercoastal waterway,
through the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean, and set course for the Galapagos
Island located in the
South Pacific. As a captain of ships, and as a
world-class navigator, he was fully capable of doing this. After all, he had been in command of the one
of the two ships that made up Commander MacMillan’s exploration of the Arctic ( as
reported in Post 11).
 |
| Eugene F. McDonald Jr. |
But let's let McDonald tell the story of his South Seas adventure in his own words.
While on a cruise
to the South Seas on my yacht Mizpah in the winter of 1930, I put in for a day
or so at Post Office Bay on the rocky coast of Floreana, or Charles, Island, in
the Galapagos group. This island, just a few miles south of the equator, was
supposed to be uninhabited. But here we thought to find The Ritters.
Author’s
Note: The Galapagos are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean created
eons ago by an underseas volcanic
eruption. Among them is a tiny island
called “Floreana,” shown at the bottom of the map. That is the island where the
Mizpah dropped anchor.
.The bay was empty. A barrel, which has served this part of the Pacific as an unofficial post-office since early whaling days, stood on the shore. I had heard of this famous barrel, so went ashore with my guests to investigate. In the barrel we found a note in German directed to the master of any vessel that might anchor. Two people were on the island, we learned from the note. They were short of food and had been forced to move inland for water. One of them was injured. They requested the master to sound his whistle or fire a gun and they would come to the shore. We blew our whistles and sirens, fired our one-pounder, and played our searchlight over the island during that first night, but no one appeared.
The following morning I organized four searching parties made up of my guests and ship's officers and started them out in different directions to search the island. One of my searching-parties as headed by Baker Brownell of the Northwestern University faculty, who incidentally was the only man among my guests who knew German, found Dr. Ritter and Dore Strauch. They were well inland, about an hour's march on a faint trail through the desert brush and over broken lava rock, but had heard our gun and were headed towards the shore. They were dressed in ragged clothes and their shoes were cut to pieces by the rocks. They greeted joyfully the little group headed by Mr. Brownell.
Mr. Brownell brought them out and aboard the yacht. We had a long talk with them and got part of their story. They had come to the island five months before, well supplied with food, but they had been forced to move inland to the mountains because of the shortage of water. They had left most of their stores in a cache near the beach. These stores had been stolen by men from some vessel, perhaps a fishing-boat. Without medicines or antiseptics, with no guns, very few tools and almost no food, Dr. Ritter and Dore were in a bad way. She had fallen on the sharp lava rocks and had cut her knee to the bone. This almost disabled her. He had injured his arm and side in a fall through the branches of a tree. The red-bearded doctor, about forty years old, and the young and beautiful girl could probably not have kept going much longer
We gave them enough supplies for a year or more—food, medications, tools, a rifle, pickaxes, shovels, even dynamite, for among our other adventures we had been digging for treasure on Cocos Island; and then we sailed away.
As we left the island
I sent a radiogram from my yacht to Jim Foster of the Associated Press, telling
him of our experience. This was the first news that came to civilization from
the Galapagos Islands about the Ritters. By giving this first news I
unintentionally started the avalanche of publicity that has fallen on the
Ritters through the past five years. After weeks of cruising with my six
guests, U. J. Herrmann, Charles Hanna, John Lock, Baker Brownell, George Fox,
and L. G. Fitzgerald, and the crew of the Mizpah, among lonely islands of the
Caribbean and the tropical Pacific, this seemed a bit of harmless news. Of the
public attention that followed and its eventual effect on the Ritters there was
no foretelling.
A warm friendship
sprang up between us and the Ritters. I sent them letters and supplies whenever
I learned that a boat was calling there, and they in turn wrote me whenever a
ship came by. Some of their letters to Mr. Brownell and I were edited and
published by the Atlantic Monthly in the form of three articles signed by Dr.
Ritter. The reports of yachtsmen and others who later visited the Ritters were
worked up into innumerable feature stories in the Sunday supplements and
the magazines.
Then came Dr. Ritter's tragic and still
mysterious death and Dore Strauch's return to Germany. I urged her to set down
the account of her experiences on the island and her brave life with the man
for whom she left home and friends. She has a marvelous story to tell. It is
far stranger and more fascinating than many an imagined tale of adventure.
You can get this book from Amazon--Amazon (Click on the underscored word Amazon.)
Note 1: You can also read excerpts of the book by opening the cover where it says: "Read Inside This Book."
Note 1: You can also read excerpts of the book by opening the cover where it says: "Read Inside This Book."
McDonald’s account that
you read in the beginning of this article became the foreword to the
book Satan Comes to Eden. McDonald persuaded Dore Strauch to write an account of
the adventures of "the Ritters," and the book that resulted became an
international best seller, as Dore Strauch proved to be a superb writer.
Theirs is a story of
what became a mad adventure featuring the Ritter's attempt to achieve their dream
on an island that was far from natural paradise, but rather a rugged, forbidding
chunk of of lava erupted from the sea,
and a landscape full of mysterious caves, and a sharp terrain that would
actually cut the shoes from your feet. It is a story of an island peopled largely by refugees
from society, and included a mad “baroness” who had resolved to make Floreana
her own kingdom , and nearly succeeded, although
opposed bitterly by Dore Strauch.
 |
| The Baroness. (Sorry that the photo is so bad.The word description below is better. ) |
The Baroness differed from all the others in that she did not come
on foot, but riding on a donkey, with her retinue on foot beside her. She was
of rather less than medium height, and platinum blond. Her very wide red mouth,
with the rather prominent protruding teeth, was her most conspicuous feature.
Her eyes were hidden behind dark spectacles. She wore a kind of workman's
overall with sandals on her bare feet, and a béret sat jauntily upon her head.
It was all obviously composed for effect, but was not without a certain
artificial charm. If this was a mere Baroness, she certainly behaved as though
she were at least a queen. The most assiduous of her courtiers was the young
German Wittmer had referred to. He now carefully helped her to dismount, and
without waiting for an invitation pulled over one of our deck chairs and
settled her solicitously in it. This done, the Baroness “received” me.
I bade her welcome, though somewhat with the feeling that she
regarded Friedo more or less as hers already. I pointedly ignored the hand-kiss
she evidently expected, by simply shaking hands with her in the ordinary
manner. By the slight shade of annoyance which crossed her face, I realized
that a duel between us had begun and that the first point had gone to me.
The sexual demands of
the baroness were said to be insatiable,
and the two young men who attended her solely for that purpose were said to be
physically exhausted.
Satan Comes to Eden is a thrilling story and well worth a mid-summer's read.
Satan Comes to Eden is a thrilling story and well worth a mid-summer's read.
* * * * * * * *
The story of McDonald's South Sea Adventure was made available by Bryan McDonald, grandson of Commander McDonald. The description written by McDonald was used as the foreword of the book Satan Came to Eden.
Like his grandfather, Bryan is a sea-loving sailor. He is seen often in
Facebook.
 |
| Bryan McDonald |
Facebook.
* * * * * * * *
It turns out that not only was a book published about this adventure, but also a movie titled The Galapagos Affair. It is available from Barnes and Noble. It is titled--
Available from Barnes and Noble. To read the review, just click on the underscored title--The Galapagos Affair
* * * * * * * *
In the last Post, Post 31, we talked about "throwing the baby out with the bath water," a term applied to John Nevin's discarding promising products. It means, of course, discarding engineering products deemed worthless, even though they are producing some revenue along with a promise of more.
Casting about for a drawing or cartoon that illustrated this, the author came upon this 15th Century print--
Some of the "babies thrown out" include--
- The entire Zenith Research Department under Bob Adler, and all of its products, as described in Post 29.
- The Government and Special Products Division under William Van Slyck, and all of its products described in Post 12.
- Alfred Ditthardt's Paging System
- Miscellaneous products considered marginal, like the facility for renovating picture tubes.
- The light amplifier.
- Many et ceteras.
WALTER S. CICIORA has prepared an historical document on
important aspects of Zenith’s history, especially those centered on the
development of the products that brought Zenith success. The following comprises
text excerpts from his paper titled Zenith and the ‘Information Age.’ Comments
on Zenith Cable & Subscription Television and Teletext,” by Walter S.
Ciciora, Ph.D.
 |
| Walter Cicora |
Because
of its length and invaluable details,Walt's paper will be offered in
installments, one installment in each coming Post of this Weblog. The First Installment covers Walt’s work with
television signals and the problems with multipath. This Second Installment in this Post 31 covers
Walt’s work and comments on Phonevision.
Installment 2. Ciciora’s Comments on Phonevision and Cable Systems
(Author’s
Note: The three internet addresses (URL’s) shown in the following provide
invaluable supplements to Ciciora’s comments. Just clicking on the underscored word will
take you right to the article. If not, just copy and paste the URL into the address bar of your browser.)
Zenith
pioneered pay television with research that began in 1931. Zenith’s president, Commander Eugene F.
McDonald, Jr., believed that advertising would not support sufficient
programming to generate a vibrant market for television receivers. So he assigned the R&D department to
develop an over–the-air pay television system called Phonevision. He believed
that pay television would be a reason to purchase television receivers. The wonderful early television museum (http://www.earlytelevision.org) has a
great collection of pictures on its web site and television equipment at the
museum, including very early mechanical television receivers with rotating
disks that actually work. A visit to
that museum is mandatory for anyone interested in television history. The story of Phonevision is on one of their
web pages: (To view the article, just click on the URL.)
Phonevision was introduced on May 1, 1950 in Chicago using telephone
lines to supply synchronization signals that were deleted at the television transmitter.
After much further development and
testing, an advanced Phonevision system was launched on June 19, 1962 in
Hartford, Connecticut. That test lasted
until January 31, 1969. Phonevision was
discontinued in 1970. Its two main
problems were massive opposition from the Theater Owners of America and the
fact that television was still mostly monochrome. Also, see
* * * * * * * *
Dr. Ciciora’s
Comments on the Zenith Cable System
I
worked in Zenith’s R&D as a summer student in 1966 and 1967 and
began full time in 1969. My first
project involved digital signal processing to securely scramble the analog
television signal. A great deal of
RandD went into methods for securing pay TV signals. Zenith would return to pay TV much later.
In 1975, HBO demonstrated the practicality of delivering
television via geostationary satellite.
This is a satellite traveling in an orbit that enables it to travel
around the earth at the same speed as the earth rotates. It appears to be stationary over a point on
the earth’s surface. A satellite
receiver dish could be aimed at just one point and would not have to track the
satellite’s motion. The breakthrough HBO
program was the “Thrilla in Manila,” a Heavyweight Championship prize fight between
Mohammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Cable
system growth sky rocketed after that.
 |
| Mohammed Ali |
Numerous specialized cable networks copied HBO's lead and went nationwide via satellite. For example, John Coleman, the well-known
Chicago weather man attended cable conventions and then co-founded the Weather
Channel.
 |
| Chicagoans will recall this group! John Coleman is shown at the left. (Photo by Wikipedia.) |
Everyone wanted cable.
But it takes time and money to build cable systems. This presented an opportunity for Oak
Industries and Hollywood entrepreneur Jerry Perenchio to create ON-TV in
1977. ON-TV used a simple scrambling
system on UHF over the air television stations to sell pay TV to areas that did
not yet have cable. The business model
was similar to Zenith’s Phonevision. Monty
Rifkin was president of American Television and Communications, ATC, then the
largest U.S. cable company.
 |
| Monty Rifkin |
Monty Rifkin liked the idea of over-the-air subscription television for
places ATC had not yet built cable systems.
He tried to buy the technology for his use. But Jerry Perenhio insisted on a percentage
of the revenue in addition to selling the set top boxes to Rifkin. This was not acceptable, and so Rifkin hired
entrepreneur John R. Thompson to develop a scrambling system specifically
designed not to infringe the Oak patents.
Thompson invented the Suppressed
Sync and Active Video Inversion, SSAVI, system covered by U.S. patent
4,222,068, assigned to ATC, filed November
1978 and issued in September of 1980.
The next consideration was the manufacture of the Subscription
Television, STV decoder.
Thompson had a
previous relationship with Zenith and knew about Zenith’s modular television
design. He approached Zenith about
purchasing the tuner module and other components. Zenith’s Jim Faust had a
better idea. He negotiated a deal in
which Zenith would manufacture the entire decoder for ATC for over-the-air
subscription television. The SSAVI
system was superior to the other scrambling systems which were beginning to be
defeated by “pirates.” Gordon Kelly
headed a small group of engineers who developed the SSAVI STV decoder
implementation. Richard Merrell was
heavily involved in the digital aspects of the decoder and Ken Karner did the
mechanical design.
It was clear that this technology could also be used to
secure cable television set top boxes. Jim
Faust negotiated a license to produce and sell a cable version of the SSAVI
scrambling system. It was a bit more
expensive than other scrambling systems, but it more strongly resisted
compromise. And it had Zenith’s superior
infrared remote control. Nearly all
other remote control systems had to be carefully aimed at the receiver and
required fresh batteries. Zenith’s
patented digital signaling system developed by Robert Podowski, was extremely
sensitive, requiring almost no aiming and was very reliable. It was a major advantage over competing set
top boxes.
Teletext
Meanwhile another important technology was under development
at Zenith based on systems developed and deployed in the United Kingdom, and
under development in France and Canada.
The technology was the beginning of the information age in consumer
electronics. The system was called
Teletext.
Teletext and its development, as described by Dr. Ciciora, will be
covered in a later Installment.
* * * * * * * *
Alfred Ditthardt and Zenith’s Video Disc Program
First, a little background. Everyone is familiar with the CD and the DVD, and both are in everyday use by those who use the common tools of communication. They are essentially “video discs,” and Zenith Research scientists and engineers were a part of the earliest investigations, as well as a part of multi-company efforts to develop the video disc. Al Ditthardt worked on this project at Zenith. He provides some of his reminiscences in the following.account.
But first, a little background. Here are the common video discs made today--
Now, Al Ditthardt’s description in his own words--
In Germany, work was being done by Telefunken-Decca on a mechanical system using a thin plastic disc spun under a very small mechanical sled-stylus pickup. The pictures from a new disc were of good quality, but after a few plays, the disc would become worn and noisy. But the idea of an inexpensive home video player was still intriguing. The concept was brought to the attention of Zenith, and a research team was assigned in the hope that improvements in the concept could be made.
A second program was being pursued by Thompson CSF in France. Thompson CSF also used a thin plastic disc, but the readout was accomplished via laser optics, and on a thin, transparent plastic disc. To keep the laser on the correct track, the readout lens was moved radially with piezo ceramic actuators that kept the laser light on the correct spiral track. If I recall, the lens mechanism resonated and was tricky to control. However, aspects of the helium neon laser optical system looked promising, and a second team of Zenith researchers was put to work on this concept.
Yet a third video disc methodology--a capacitive system--existed at RCA. A very small probe--which was not in contact with the disc--but was used to form a capacitor with the metallic information on the disc. Variations in this capacitor modulated a microwave oscillator which was then demodulated down to video. The effective readout spot was smaller than that of a laser, offering the possibility of storing more video or computer data on one disc. However, handling the disc was difficult, and its surface could be easily scratched or otherwise damaged.
So there was a kind of competition between groups and companies to arrive at the best video disc technology. The irony of this is that the technology that eventually won out worldwide were magnetic tape players in the form of first Betamax, and then VHS cartridges. (Who can forget those two , and the struggle between them for ascendancy?)
I was assigned to the optical video disc program at Zenith Research located in some back rooms next to the loading dock. There was a team of perhaps 20 researchers working on mechanical, capacitive and optical disc players. The figure shows a laboratory prototype player operated by a much younger Al D.
The player used a red helium neon laser mounted under the playing deck and multiple mirrors to bring the light to the readout optics at the lower right. The spinning disc hovered over the two angled aluminum plates and slowly moved under the readout optics.
It is a small mirror that can move quickly both side to side as well as up and down. Early versions had the problem of resonance similar to that of the Thompson-CSF player in France. If you accidentally hit the player, the readout would be interrupted. This mirror had the benefit of a small copper ring next to the mirror which damped out the oscillations. and provided a more stable readout. The nice part of this solution is that any unwanted mirror movement in any direction could be controlled.
Working on the disc was fun. I had promised fellow engineer Karl Wossidlo a beer if he could “do” +/-2 degrees of movement of his mirror. He did the two and I had to pay up!
(Note: Wossidlo once was once an officer in Rommel’s Africa Corps Army who was captured and became an American POW. He stayed in the U.S after the war and became a U.S. citizen. He was a great raconteur of his adventures in the war! He was also happy to tell you that he had a GI mortgage (which he had "assumed," of course.)
Ditthardt continues--
Another time, we all gathered in John Rennick’s lab to see the very clear video they had produced by filtering out noise from the optical signal. We were all pleased by the improvement in picture quality. The earliest recordings made at Zenith were of a Budweiser commercial, and I can still visualize those giant Clydesdale horses moving across the screen!
The next photo shows the player" lash-up" made by our group—
We took this cart all over, giving demos at dealer shows, conferences and even board rooms. We were in Tucson, Los Angeles, and Newark, and even in Toronto at a Sears-Simpsons store. It showed the world that Zenith Research was doing advanced stuff. Usually we would arrive late at the demo site and have to hustle to get the optics back in alignment, or fix a loose connection. But it was fun.
The advantages of the video disc, even in its embryonic stage at Zenith, were: (a) high density storage of information, (b) easy replication of discs by stamping and (c) easy location/retrieval of info in playback mode. It was the “child: of the laser. The disadvantages of the Zenith disc, at that time, were that the thin disc could not be protected against scratches, and that low-cost sources of laser light and optics were not as yet available. It would only be a few years, and the solid state laser would arrive.
The major disadvantage of the video disc was that magnetic video tape cassettes could be recorded using over-the-air material for programs. That not being able to record should be such a marketing disadvantage, should have been anticipated by a more astute marketing group. Information on desirable new products usually filtered up from the large Zenith sales network and, in my view, new product marketing advice on the video disc was weak.
Another irony was that Zenith Research had two engineers who had worked at Cartridge Television Company in California. The company had developed a successful magnetic player, but went bankrupt. I car-pooled with these two engineers whose names are Crosno and Brown, and they would often discuss magnetic players all the way home. They knew what the improvements were that could be made to a magnetic system, and how to make them. Crosno and Brown even approached Zenith management with their ideas for developing an improved magnetic player, but were rebuffed.
In the early days at Zenith, the optical laser system used a transmissive disc where the light passed through a clear disc to a detector below. This detector kept the readout spot at the right location, and also changed the optical laser light information to an electronic signal. A close-up picture of the disc itself is shown in the next Figure—
The master stamper is recorded using a more powerful laser modulated to create these pits. Figure 4 provides an even closer view of these pits, which are about one-third of a micron wide!—
A human hair is about 100 microns so the information storage possibilities were readily apparent early on.
What is not apparent from the photo is that there are very minute changes in the spacing of the pits that are read out by the player’s laser, and are converted to an analog electronic carrier. This carrier, not unlike analog broadcast TV, contains the video and analog tracks. (Ed. Note: So the all the picture information--and there is an enormous amount of it, lies in the spacing of the pits. That is indeed quite incredible )
The system introduced by electronics giant Philips had a thicker disc, and most importantly, placed the information under a layer of plastic to protect it from scratches. This improvement became the successful 12-inch diameter video disc used in professional audio video systems. It did not see much success in the consumer market, however. What was extremely successful was the 4.8 diameter compact disc and after that DVDs of the same size based on a similar optical technology as the Philips disc. (These discs are those shown in the foreword part of this article.
The video disc was unique and promising because of its high density of data storage. For example, the data stored on a single disc was 10 gigabits, if I remember correctly. The disc could be copied by an ordinary press such as one used in stamping dies, and it took 10 seconds to press a disc. This was the fastest data transfer known to man at that time! The access time to large amounts of data was stunning when compared to magnetic tape or floppy disc.
The question is: could aspects of our optical disc have been patented and so give Zenith marketing advantages? Yes, I believe they could have. I offer the example of the video-encoding methods developed by Carl Eiler's group for the disc. The group went on to develop video signal-encoding methods useful in HDTV that are used today, and the associated patents produced revenue for LG, which took over the entire Zenith patent portfolio when it assumed ownership of Zenith Electronics Corporation
--by Alfred Ditthardt
(--and that conclusion could have been applied to Phonevision as well, as Eugene F. McDonald had learned years ealier. )
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
Alfred Ditthardt and Zenith’s Video Disc Program
First, a little background. Everyone is familiar with the CD and the DVD, and both are in everyday use by those who use the common tools of communication. They are essentially “video discs,” and Zenith Research scientists and engineers were a part of the earliest investigations, as well as a part of multi-company efforts to develop the video disc. Al Ditthardt worked on this project at Zenith. He provides some of his reminiscences in the following.account.
But first, a little background. Here are the common video discs made today--
 |
 |
The "CD" and the "DVD" shown are commonly known world-wide. The discs are usually rotated and "read" in a little player that emerges
like a drawer from the side of a major playback unit, in this case, a lap-top computer--
Now, Al Ditthardt’s description in his own words--
In the 1970’s, engineers from Zenith
Research had traveled to European technical conferences where presentations of possible
new video recording methods were being given. Remember, that up to this point
in electronics, most people could only view live over-the-air television, as there were no VCRs or DVRs as we know
them today. Broadcast networks used tape-recording devices, but these were very expensive, bulky and hardly a consumer-usable item. Predictors of
the future had the sense that there
would be a market for video players. And
there was!
In Germany, work was being done by Telefunken-Decca on a mechanical system using a thin plastic disc spun under a very small mechanical sled-stylus pickup. The pictures from a new disc were of good quality, but after a few plays, the disc would become worn and noisy. But the idea of an inexpensive home video player was still intriguing. The concept was brought to the attention of Zenith, and a research team was assigned in the hope that improvements in the concept could be made.
A second program was being pursued by Thompson CSF in France. Thompson CSF also used a thin plastic disc, but the readout was accomplished via laser optics, and on a thin, transparent plastic disc. To keep the laser on the correct track, the readout lens was moved radially with piezo ceramic actuators that kept the laser light on the correct spiral track. If I recall, the lens mechanism resonated and was tricky to control. However, aspects of the helium neon laser optical system looked promising, and a second team of Zenith researchers was put to work on this concept.
Yet a third video disc methodology--a capacitive system--existed at RCA. A very small probe--which was not in contact with the disc--but was used to form a capacitor with the metallic information on the disc. Variations in this capacitor modulated a microwave oscillator which was then demodulated down to video. The effective readout spot was smaller than that of a laser, offering the possibility of storing more video or computer data on one disc. However, handling the disc was difficult, and its surface could be easily scratched or otherwise damaged.
So there was a kind of competition between groups and companies to arrive at the best video disc technology. The irony of this is that the technology that eventually won out worldwide were magnetic tape players in the form of first Betamax, and then VHS cartridges. (Who can forget those two , and the struggle between them for ascendancy?)
I was assigned to the optical video disc program at Zenith Research located in some back rooms next to the loading dock. There was a team of perhaps 20 researchers working on mechanical, capacitive and optical disc players. The figure shows a laboratory prototype player operated by a much younger Al D.
 |
| Al Ditthardt with lab-type prototype |
The player used a red helium neon laser mounted under the playing deck and multiple mirrors to bring the light to the readout optics at the lower right. The spinning disc hovered over the two angled aluminum plates and slowly moved under the readout optics.
A feature of the Zenith player is shown in below--
It is a small mirror that can move quickly both side to side as well as up and down. Early versions had the problem of resonance similar to that of the Thompson-CSF player in France. If you accidentally hit the player, the readout would be interrupted. This mirror had the benefit of a small copper ring next to the mirror which damped out the oscillations. and provided a more stable readout. The nice part of this solution is that any unwanted mirror movement in any direction could be controlled.
Working on the disc was fun. I had promised fellow engineer Karl Wossidlo a beer if he could “do” +/-2 degrees of movement of his mirror. He did the two and I had to pay up!
(Note: Wossidlo once was once an officer in Rommel’s Africa Corps Army who was captured and became an American POW. He stayed in the U.S after the war and became a U.S. citizen. He was a great raconteur of his adventures in the war! He was also happy to tell you that he had a GI mortgage (which he had "assumed," of course.)
Ditthardt continues--
Another time, we all gathered in John Rennick’s lab to see the very clear video they had produced by filtering out noise from the optical signal. We were all pleased by the improvement in picture quality. The earliest recordings made at Zenith were of a Budweiser commercial, and I can still visualize those giant Clydesdale horses moving across the screen!
The next photo shows the player" lash-up" made by our group—
We took this cart all over, giving demos at dealer shows, conferences and even board rooms. We were in Tucson, Los Angeles, and Newark, and even in Toronto at a Sears-Simpsons store. It showed the world that Zenith Research was doing advanced stuff. Usually we would arrive late at the demo site and have to hustle to get the optics back in alignment, or fix a loose connection. But it was fun.
The advantages of the video disc, even in its embryonic stage at Zenith, were: (a) high density storage of information, (b) easy replication of discs by stamping and (c) easy location/retrieval of info in playback mode. It was the “child: of the laser. The disadvantages of the Zenith disc, at that time, were that the thin disc could not be protected against scratches, and that low-cost sources of laser light and optics were not as yet available. It would only be a few years, and the solid state laser would arrive.
The major disadvantage of the video disc was that magnetic video tape cassettes could be recorded using over-the-air material for programs. That not being able to record should be such a marketing disadvantage, should have been anticipated by a more astute marketing group. Information on desirable new products usually filtered up from the large Zenith sales network and, in my view, new product marketing advice on the video disc was weak.
Another irony was that Zenith Research had two engineers who had worked at Cartridge Television Company in California. The company had developed a successful magnetic player, but went bankrupt. I car-pooled with these two engineers whose names are Crosno and Brown, and they would often discuss magnetic players all the way home. They knew what the improvements were that could be made to a magnetic system, and how to make them. Crosno and Brown even approached Zenith management with their ideas for developing an improved magnetic player, but were rebuffed.
In the early days at Zenith, the optical laser system used a transmissive disc where the light passed through a clear disc to a detector below. This detector kept the readout spot at the right location, and also changed the optical laser light information to an electronic signal. A close-up picture of the disc itself is shown in the next Figure—
The master stamper is recorded using a more powerful laser modulated to create these pits. Figure 4 provides an even closer view of these pits, which are about one-third of a micron wide!—
A human hair is about 100 microns so the information storage possibilities were readily apparent early on.
What is not apparent from the photo is that there are very minute changes in the spacing of the pits that are read out by the player’s laser, and are converted to an analog electronic carrier. This carrier, not unlike analog broadcast TV, contains the video and analog tracks. (Ed. Note: So the all the picture information--and there is an enormous amount of it, lies in the spacing of the pits. That is indeed quite incredible )
The system introduced by electronics giant Philips had a thicker disc, and most importantly, placed the information under a layer of plastic to protect it from scratches. This improvement became the successful 12-inch diameter video disc used in professional audio video systems. It did not see much success in the consumer market, however. What was extremely successful was the 4.8 diameter compact disc and after that DVDs of the same size based on a similar optical technology as the Philips disc. (These discs are those shown in the foreword part of this article.
The video disc was unique and promising because of its high density of data storage. For example, the data stored on a single disc was 10 gigabits, if I remember correctly. The disc could be copied by an ordinary press such as one used in stamping dies, and it took 10 seconds to press a disc. This was the fastest data transfer known to man at that time! The access time to large amounts of data was stunning when compared to magnetic tape or floppy disc.
The question is: could aspects of our optical disc have been patented and so give Zenith marketing advantages? Yes, I believe they could have. I offer the example of the video-encoding methods developed by Carl Eiler's group for the disc. The group went on to develop video signal-encoding methods useful in HDTV that are used today, and the associated patents produced revenue for LG, which took over the entire Zenith patent portfolio when it assumed ownership of Zenith Electronics Corporation
In conclusion, there was a real opportunity for Zenith with
the video disc, and its form of optical data storage created was to go on to become
very successful in consumer and computer
markets. Furthermore, had we been more responsive to our engineers that knew
magnetic systems, we might have arrived at a VCR before Sony. However, we had assembled
a great team, learned a lot from talented people, and had fun doing it!
--by Alfred Ditthardt
And so, what became of the Zenith Video Disc effort? Bob Adler answered that in a letter to the
author of this blog-
 |
| Robert Adler |
“We
should remember that Nevin was no more consistent than the rest of us. When it looked as if, working together with
the Thompson-CSF group in Paris, we might soon have an optical video disc (we
knew Phillip’s had one, but ours had certain advantages), Nevin told us: “don’t
spare the horses, and if you need more people, go ahead and get them.” Until, of course, one day he came to the
conclusion that if all you had was a video disc player but you did not own
movies or movie studios, you would lose your shirt. So he stopped the video disc program
cold. Later developments proved him
right. “ –Robert Adler
(--and that conclusion could have been applied to Phonevision as well, as Eugene F. McDonald had learned years ealier. )
* * * * * * * *
And so ends Post 31 of the Zenith Book weblog. Whether there will be any more Posts leading to a published Zenith book is uncertain. The humble author of this weblog faces an uncertain health problem which comes with the territory of 95 years of age. The problem is the knees, one of which is so shot that it may not be repairable. So I creep about with the help of an electric wheelchair, one made in China, and like a bucking horse in operation. Keeps me "tuned up."
So, Ciao and Mizpah.
Ralph Clarke
So, Ciao and Mizpah.
Ralph Clarke
