The Farnsworth Story

The story of Philo T. Farnsworth is a sad chronicle of how big business pushes out the little man in American history. He was a fairly uneducated man who taught himself electronics using magazines in his family’s attic. When he was only in high school Philo began to draw sketches of electron tubes. This fascination continued and he eventually decided to try his hand at making an electronic television. He convinced a few investors to back him and set up a small lab in California. This became like a family, with even his investors working by his side to create the first electronic television. Eventually, after much work, he accomplished his goal and was able to transmit an image.

At the same time, RCA was working towards the same goal. Their researcher, Vladimir Zworykin, visited Farnsworth’s lab in 1930 and essentially stole much of his work sending back to RCA a 400 word telegraph. Realizing that they would need to buy Farnsworth out because he had documentation for his discovery, they offered him a lump sum for his design. Farnsworth saw the need for his invention and joined the company Philco in an attempt to protect himself within a large company.

RCA would not stop and began to pull Farnsworth through a long legal battle. Eventually Farnsworth left Philco for personal reasons. He then had his own company which broadcast television regularly. Unfortunately, he was drug through the courts over and over again, eventually giving up and selling out to RCA. This caused him to have severe psychological damage and was an alcoholic for a large part of his life. The television was revealed at the World’s Fair in 1939 as though it was brand new, with no mention of Farnsworth.

This story, though sad, is just another example of a little person being pushed out by big business. Farnsworth was a genius and had amazing ideas. What he didn’t have was enough money to be able to withstand a long legal battle with one of the biggest corporations in the nation. RCA did not want to pay Farnsworth for using the parts he had patents on and instead tried to force him into submission. They used their power, which was money, to force a small businessman into selling out his idea.

While it is comforting to think that this doesn’t happen anymore, that there are enough laws to protect small businesses, it would be a naïve view of the world at best. Wal-mart is tearing through communities and sentencing the small business to death. My parents own a small business and they cannot raise their prices because there is a Wal-mart down the street. So, they are forced to make significantly less than what they should be making because they have to compete with a corporation with an endless supply of money. In America that is what it comes down to in business, those with money on top and those without on the bottom.

Source:

Philo T. Farnsworth. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth