Mechanical TV?

Most people know about electronic television. If you're reading this, then you're familiar with the concept. What most people don't know about is mechanical television. Yep, mechanical! Invented by a Scotsman in the early 20th century, John Logie Baird devised a method of mechanical television transmission that didn't rely on the then-superior cathode ray tube. Due to opressive corporate entities (i.e., The Man), Baird's mTV didn't live past the 1930's as the BBC enacted an agreement with the newly-formed EMI, which developed their own version of the technology.

Baird didn't stop there - he later went on to prototype 600-line TVs in the 40s, urged government types to consider HDTV of 1000+ lines of resolution for post-war development, developed the basis for television recording and did the first color cinema showing. Read more about John Logie Baird.