In their book The Difference Engine, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling explore what might have happened if Babbage's Analytical Engine had actually been built and started the computer age a century early. In this Lab and the next we will explore another "what if" and consider how mechanical television might have developed if Farnsworth and Zworykin hadn't invented their electronic imaging devices. We will however allow other modern marvels that were not available to the early television pioneers: silicon photodiodes, LEDs, permanent magnet DC motors, operational amplifiers, photographic fabrication techniques, and Delrin.
By going directly to a modern realization of a mechanical television system, we've skipped a lot of fascinating history. If you want to find out more about what happened between then and now here's some suggested reading material: