Augusto Bissiri (10 September 1879 – 25 February 1968) was an Italian inventor born in
Seui
Seui (Sardinian and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of South Sardinia in the Italian region Sardinia, located about north of Cagliari and about southwest of Tortolì. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,525 and an ...
, Sardinia in 1879 to a poor family.
Augusto Bissiri is credited as one of the first developers of television and the
cathode ray tube.
In 1900 he developed an anti-collision device applied on railways, used for the first time by Luigi Merello for the ''Tranvie del Campidano'' (Tramways of Campidano) on a steam train which linked
Cagliari to
Quartu Sant'Elena
Quartu Sant'Elena (; sc, Cuartu Sant'Aleni; ), located four miles East from Cagliari on the ancient Roman road, is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It is the third biggest city of Sardinia with a populat ...
, in
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
. His patent was later acquired by the
Westinghouse Electric Company
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, includi ...
.
He moved to New York in 1902, where he worked in some record and printing companies.
He transmitted, in 1906, a photograph image from one room to another, and in 1917, he successfully transmitted an image from London to New York City. He patented his apparatus in Los Angeles in 1928, where he moved in.
In 1913 moved to Los Angeles.
He also patented other inventions:
* The ''Alipede'' (an innovative means of transport);
* An ashtray which allows the automatic cigarette butts shutdown;
* The ''Lettera Disco'' a portable sound recording device:
* A device with pedals to turn the pages of musical scores.
References
External links
*
Augusto BissiriBissiri dall'Ogliastra a New YorkL'antenato del tubo cattodico è stato inventato da un sardoAUGUSTO BISSIRI (SEUI 1879 – LOS ANGELES 1968), UNO “STRUMENTO DEL PROGRESSO”
1879 births
1968 deaths
20th-century Italian inventors
People from the Province of Nuoro
Television pioneers
Italian emigrants to the United States
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