America’s First Television Pioneer…Charles Jenkins

America’s First Television Pioneer…Charles Jenkins

Below is a photo of Charles Francis Jenkins directing “Shadowgraph” mechanical television November 6, 1929 at W3XK located in Washington DC and later, Wheaton Maryland. According to research from friend of mine, Dr. Horace Newcomb, (who until last year was head of the Peabody Awards committee at The University of Georgia), W3XK was the first experimental television license granted in the US by the Federal Radio Commission and transmission began July 2, 1928. But…on June 13, 1925, Jenkins had provided America’s first public demonstration of television. Now, all this was mechanical television and not electronic like Farnsworth was working on, but none the less…it was television. Charles Jenkins name is almost forgotten, but he was a major inventor and among his accomplishments was the co creation of the first practical motion picture projector in 1894, the founding of The Society Of Motion Picture Engineers (now SMPTE), the invention of the first commercial paper cup, electric starters for cars, altimeters and brake systems for aircraft and much more as he was the holder of over 400 patents. Jenkins was also involved in the first early wireless transmission of photos and teletype messages. Gone but not forgotten. By the way, did you notice the the camera operator is a woman? Another first?

Source