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This chapter examines C. Francis Jenkins' dispute with Thomas J. Armat over the Phantoscope patent that began in 1895. Armat partnered with Jenkins for a short period of time and then moved on to establish the Armat Moving-Picture Company, making millions while leaving Jenkins in a lifetime of aggravation. Before discussing the Jenkins and Armat controversy that led to the collapse of their partnership, this chapter provides a background on Armat and how he met Jenkins. It then considers Jenkins' early experimental work with the camera-projector as well as his collaboration with Armat on experiments that would result in the successful projection of motion pictures. It also looks at the patent-interference case pitting Armat vs. Jenkins, Armat's protest regarding the Smithsonian's photography exhibit, and Jenkins' demonstrations of his device at the Franklin Institute. The chapter concludes with an analysis of issues and evidence relevant to the Jenkins–Armat conflict, along with Henry D. Hubbard's defense of Jenkins.

This chapter examines C. Francis Jenkins' photographic inventions that he used to demonstrate motion pictures in a variety of applications. Despite losing in the early battle with Thomas J. Armat, Jenkins declared himself the inventor of the motion-picture projector. With the Phantoscope, he ventured into home and educational use. He would travel west, filming a Hopi Snake Dance, teach photographic expression, and invent fireproof protections for the projector. This chapter first provides an overview of Jenkins' first Phantoscopes and the patents he obtained for them before turning to his demonstrations of the use of motion pictures at home and in science. It then recounts Jenkins' use of his motion-picture camera to film the Hopi tribe in northeastern Arizona performing the Snake Dance. It also discusses the Jenkins Phantoscope Company's manufacturing of Phantoscopes for educational household use, along with Jenkins' other inventions such as the Marveloscope and a high-speed camera. Finally, the chapter considers Jenkins' promotion of the use of photography in education by teaching photographic expression.

This chapter focuses on the Jenkins Television Corporation, founded by C. Francis Jenkins on November 16, 1928, under the laws of the State of Delaware. Jenkins Television combined Jenkins' television and Lee De Forest's radio patents, their technology, and their salable names. It was designed for manufacturing and selling equipment created by the Jenkins Laboratories, and was financed to meet the demands for receivers. This chapter begins with a discussion of Jenkins' relocation of W3XK to Wheaton, Maryland, along with some of the station's program innovations. It also considers Jenkins Television's creation of two television stations, W2XCR in Jersey City and WGBS in New York City; demonstrations of a “flying laboratory” for home transmission of radio movies; and lawsuits that hounded Jenkins and Jenkins Television. Finally, it examines the impact of the stock market collapse in 1929 on Jenkins' companies and the eventual downfall of the Jenkins Television Corporation before reflecting on Jenkins' death in 1934.

This chapter provides a background on C. Francis Jenkins' heritage and youth. Jenkins' life spanned six decades of American history that witnessed the birth of photography, radio, television, the automobile, and the airplane. He lived in an age dominated by things mechanical, from the Industrial and Gilded Ages through World War I, the Roaring Twenties, and the Great Depression. Jenkins, a Quaker farm boy, was born just north of Dayton, Ohio, on August 22, 1867. Two years after his birth, Jenkins' parents moved to Richmond, Indiana, where he grew up through his teenage years. This chapter first discusses Jenkins' early years on the farm, his family and family values, and his education before considering his sojourn to the West Coast. It also examines Jenkins' time in Washington, D.C., where he worked for the Life Saving Service and where he also met his future wife, Grace Hannah Love, culminating in their wedding on January 30, 1902.

This chapter focuses on the history of RadioVision, conceived by C. Francis Jenkins as an instrument of industry and government communication through the wireless transmission of photographs and text messages. While others have been developing radiotransmitted speech, addressed to the ear, Jenkins centered his efforts on the development of radio-transmitted pictures, an address to the eye. RadioVision evolved into a system for transmitting still pictures, maps, messages, and eventually into an early form of televised motion entertainment. By the 1920s, wireless had become “one of the most interesting subjects before the scientific community,” and Jenkins RadioVision would be in the forefront. This chapter discusses Jenkins' pioneering ideas and patents in the field of telecommunication, including designs for prismatic rings and the use of radio for “mailing” messages.

This chapter focuses on C. Francis Jenkins' television inventions, including the electronic television. Historians consider Jenkins as the American inventor of mechanical television and often portray him as something of a failure because by the early 1930s, his ideas were purchased by competitive corporate powers and then overtaken with the far-better Farnsworth and Zworykin electronic scanning techniques. However, Jenkins' fundamental contributions in television cannot be simply ignored. This chapter begins with an overview of Jenkins' experimental television, followed by a discussion of his various ideas such as the “telectroscope” and optical electrical television. It then takes a look at the Jenkins Laboratories, Discrola Inc., and the Radio Pictures Corporation. It also recounts Jenkins' demonstration of how radio movies could be transmitted and received before concluding with an assessment of Jenkins' collaboration with the American Radio Relay League in television-related initiatives.

This chapter focuses on C. Francis Jenkins' pioneering work in radio. In 1925, Jenkins began his first experimental television station in Washington, D.C. Called 3XK (later W3XK-TV), it was among the first licensed experimental television stations in the United States. Jenkins envisioned that it would follow patterns established in the growth of commercial radio. This chapter first considers Jenkins' radio-related ideas, including receivers called “Radiovisor Kits,” and goes on to discuss some of the challenges he faced in trying to improve receiver technology. It then considers the Radio Act of 1927, which shifted the Department of Commerce's licensing authority to a new Federal Radio Commission, along with Jenkins' concept for a large theater-sized television screen. It also recounts Jenkins' demonstration of his television technology for Federal Radio Commissioners in 1928 and the W3XK inaugural programming that same year. Finally, it assesses Jenkins' role in the development of television standards.

This chapter focuses on C. Francis Jenkins' inventions that he sold through several business startups. Until the late 1920s, Jenkins had no significant outside corporate sponsors. To support himself, he began selling his inventions that reflected his broad interests. This chapter first discusses the incorporation of the Jenkins Automobile Company under the laws of Delaware in 1900 and its production of several steam-propelled vehicles, including automobiles and trucks. It then considers Jenkins' patents in the field of aeronautics, such as those for an “aeroplane or flying machine,” camera adaptations that resulted in improved motion pictures, airplane catapult, and altimeter; patents for milk bottles and home improvement accessories; and novelty inventions ranging froma mathematical pocket calculator to a Christmas-tree holder and talking signs. It also recounts Jenkins' “Ocean to Ocean” automobile tour in 1911.

This chapter focuses on C. Francis Jenkins' demonstrations of RadioVision and his radio-pictures technology. The earliest “official demonstration,” as Jenkins called it, of radio transmission of photographs took place on December 12, 1922, with leaders of the military and the motion-picture industry in attendance. Jenkins transmitted still pictures between his lab and the Anacostia naval radio station NOF in Washington, D.C. On March 3, 1923, under the auspices of the North American Newspaper Alliance, radio photos were publically demonstrated, this time transmitting over a distance of 130 miles from NOF in Anacostia to the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin's newspaper building. This chapter discusses Jenkins' other demonstrations of his pictorial transmissions, along with his establishment of the Radio Pictures Corporation. It also considers Jenkins' participation in a project with a network of scientists from the U.S. Signal Corps, who were listening for radio signals from Mars; his collaboration with the American Radio Relay League; and his wireless transmission of weather maps.

This chapter discusses C. Francis Jenkins' life and work, calling him a visionary for his breakthrough inventions in film and television. In a world of dramatic change in motion pictures and television, Jenkins was a pioneer. In film, he sold his controversial Phantoscope projector patent, which led to large-screen movie projection. In television, he bridged mechanical with electronic technology, later experiments related to fiberoptics, and electro-optical receivers. He was the only inventor who participated in the birth of both motion-picture photography and television. Over the period of 1894 through 1933, Jenkins filed nearly 300 patents, several granted after his death. This chapter provides an overview of Jenkins' youth, focusing on how his agrarian upbringing created within him an independent will, an untiring work ethic, and strong character. It then describes Jenkins' traits as a man, his legacy as an inventor, his career as entrepreneur and businessperson, and his works as an author. It also reflects on the relationship between Jenkins' approach of the late 1920s and modern technology.

This chapter focuses on C. Francis Jenkins' early film experiments. The large-screen projector and the concept of intermittent motion remain Jenkins' most lasting contributions to the industries of film and motion pictures in television. His projector was the first to freeze a frame of film for a fraction of a second, as it flowed past the lamp and lens of the projector. The late 1870s into the early 1900s was a time of growing industrial opportunity. Still photography was becoming a popular hobby, while inventors such as Louis and Auguste Lumiere, Emile Reynaud, Thomas A. Edison, George Eastman, and Thomas J. Armat were working on ways to add motion. This chapter discusses Jenkins' early demonstrations of his inventions, including the Phantoscope camera-projector, as well as his growing popularity as an inventor.

This chapter focuses on the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), an organization founded by C. Francis Jenkins in 1916. The formation of the SMPTE (formerly Society of Motion Picture Engineers, SMPE) was one of Jenkins' most significant and lasting contributions in the film and television industries. In less than four decades, the SMPTE has evolved into an international association with industry, technological, and creative influence around the world. This chapter provides an overview of the atmosphere that led Jenkins to establish the SMPTE, whose sole purpose would be a discussion of technology and its standards. It also considers the first SMPE meeting and how its influence grew since then, along with its final meeting under Jenkins as president, held in Cleveland in November 1918. Finally, it cites the accolades and foundations established for the SMPE and their impact on the industries of motion pictures and later television engineering.

This epilogue summarizes C. Francis Jenkins' pioneering ideas that have all come to fruition, a testament that he was a man with a vision. Jenkins dreamed of uniting television and motion pictures with his patents and inventions. He saw the potential of television and film as educational and entertaining tools, a visual art of communication with the capability of unifying people and nations. He envisioned cities and individuals being connected by multiple systems and services, as well as television surpassing radio's success in terms of audience. This epilogue also asks speculative and rhetorical questions of alternative history related to Jenkins and his work, for example, what would happen if: Jenkins had been given a stronger management role in the Jenkins Television Corporation and the overall De Forest organization; the Great Depression had not occurred; or the Radio Corporation of America had followed Jenkins' electro-optical scanning theories instead of burying them in favor of Vladmir Zworykin's electronics.

This prologue recounts C. Francis Jenkins' first-ever demonstration of his camera-projector on a makeshift screen. Jenkins premiered his invention on June 6, 1894, for a small group of family and friends at the Jenkins and Company Jewelry Store in Richmond, Indiana. They watched as the screen showed lifelike images of “Annabelle the Dancing Girl,” a beautiful young lady dressed in a butterfly costume. As the ballerina lifted her skirt, she revealed her ankle, prompting the ladies in the audience, all Quakers, to storm out of the store in protest over such a display of nudity. This gesture might be considered the first film protest, but the demonstration changed the world of motion-picture film and paved the way for Jenkins' pioneering venture into television.