April 20, 2008

Hand Set for Television Uses Midget Screen (Dec, 1938)

Filed under: Television — @ 9:49 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1938

Hand Set for Television Uses Midget Screen
Nicknamed a “television monocle,” a miniature unit recently on display at an exhibition in London, England, is a complete sight-and-sound receiving set. Shaped like a hand-type telephone, the apparatus has an earphone through which the user hears the sound accompanying a televised broadcast while watching the moving images flash across a small built-in screen, two inches wide, placed so that it is directly before the eyes. The instrument, which weighs just under two pounds, can be used even in a lighted room with good results, it is said. An exhibition visitor is shown at the right trying out the television hand set.

4 Comments »

  1. It’s amazing how far advanced they were back then. A 2 inch TV is now hard to get, but Sony introduced an 8 inch OLED set recently, and they used to have smaller ones in the past.

    However I don’t think that this is a comfortable viewing distance for such a screen.

    Comment by Casandro — April 21, 2008 @ 11:49 am

  2. Phew… i thought at first it was a television for midgets.
    Not sure I am relieved to see it’s a handheld eyeball-melter though…

    Comment by angrydroid — April 21, 2008 @ 1:28 pm

  3. At under two pounds, I think a tripod or a pole would be a good accessory for veiwing a 30 minute program.

    Comment by mike brisendine — April 21, 2008 @ 4:37 pm

  4. Midget! Made my day. ;)

    Comment by Compwalla — April 21, 2008 @ 6:25 pm

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