When was the first television invented that's not electric?

Answer 1

Firstly, the transmission of any RF signal has to involve electricity, but the first non electronic (and indeed, first ever) television system was developed in the UK by John Logie Baird, a Scot.

His system used a Nipkow disc to demonstrate a working semi mechanical analogue television system to the BBC in Februiary 1924.

Before WW2, the BBC broadcast in both Baird 240 vertical line semi mechanical format and the new EMI-Marconi developed electronic scanning system, which produced 405 horizontal lines.

At the onset of WW2, BBC television broadcasts were stopped, although Baird's system was already being phased out due to its two stage production method (images had to be put onto cinefilm before being scanned for broadcast. Baird went to the US where he demonstrated a colour TV system using a much improved mechanical scanning system fitted with coloured filters, a method taken up by both CBD and RCA. He also demonstrated an experimental 3D television system with 500 line resolution.

In 1944 Baird built and demonstrated the world's first fully electronic colour television system with a resolution of 600 lines.

Baird's mechanical system, although the first ever TV broadcast system, and certainly innovative, was heavily dependent on mechanics and 240 lines looked like being the upper limit for the mechanics. It also required very high levels of illumination, which resulted in severe highlights and black shadows (imagine those black & white album covers of the 60s with no grey at all)

Baird developed a 1000 line TV system back in 1943, called Telechrome. Its picture quality was easily comparable to today's HDTV, but it was never adopted by an American market which favoured cheap and cheerful over technical excellence.

As an aside, the BBC demonstrated an experimental large screen 3D television system in 2008, just over 60 years after Baird first demonstrated his.