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Postwar American Television
DuMont Duoscopic
Courtesy of Don Patterson
Two TV sets were in the cabinet, with mirrors and
polarizing filters to combine the images. By wearing polarized glasses,
two people could watch different programs at the same time. This
prototype was made in the early 50s but was never sold to the public.
Here is a replica made in the 1990s.
Nat Pendleton provided the following additional
information:
The Smithsonian Institution has a Duoscopic in its collection.
Also, the South Carolina State Museum has a console prototype with
two RA-101 chassis (like the Chatham, 12-inch) and screens
side-by-side. This prototype predated the Duoscopic by a year or
two. It had a switch to select volume for either TV. It shows
that DuMont had this "thing" for creating a TV unit that could run
two separate programs at once. This is a few years before Zenith's
remote Space Command and the idea of surfing came about; and it is
30 or 40 years ahead of the Picture-in-Picture technology of the
80s.
The whole idea sounds eccentric in that it would have been easier,
cheaper and more versatile to have just bought 2 TV sets. But the
set in South Carolina and then the later Duoscopic at the
Smithsonian show that DuMont was serious about developing his idea.
When DuMont died, the Smithsonian got many of his antique sets.
Thomas T. Goldsmith gave his collection of TVs and gear in 1988 to
the South Carolina State Museum. |
Courtesy of Tom Buckley
Randy Riddle speculates that the Duoscopic was originally designed for 3D. His comments can be found here.
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