5 groundbreaking communication devices invented in the USSR (PHOTOS)
1. The ‘Talking Paper’
In 1931, engineer Boris Skvortsov proposed an idea that seemed crazy at the time – recording sound not on a record, but on ordinary paper. The recording and reading principle was optical, like with film.
Sound tracks were printed on strips at a typography and then glued into a long ribbon. The first serial ‘Talking Paper’ devices appeared in 1940. They looked almost like a radio. By Spring 1941, about 700 units had been assembled. But, after the war, the invention was displaced by long-playing records and, later, by cassette recorders.
2. The ‘SVD-1’ radio receiver
Another breakthrough technology was made in the field of radio communication. In 1936, the Alexandrov Radio Plant began producing the first Soviet superheterodyne receiver (it had better signal quality with amplification). The design was not entirely original, but that was when household receivers of this type entered into mass production.
It has some other technical advantages, such as a powerful speaker and the ability to catch short and long waves and, moreover, it had an elegant, aesthetic design. It was produced until 1941; after that, technologies moved on.
3. The ‘B-2’ mechanical television
The ‘B-2’ began being produced in 1935 at the Leningrad Kozitsky Plant. Its screen was the size of a postage stamp and, through it, you could see a flickering monochrome image. But, in the 1930s, even this was perceived as a miracle. A mechanism that rotated a disk with the picture was installed inside!
Essentially, the ‘B-2’ was just a TV set-top box that could decode the picture from a received signal. You also had to buy a tube receiver and a receiver for sound. And, in 1931, the first mechanical television broadcast took place – for a whole 30 minutes!
4. The ‘Agat’ personal comoputer
This was the first Soviet mass-produced personal computer. It came out in the 1980s and could still be found as late as the 2000s. It was essentially an analogue of U.S. brand ‘Apple’, but Soviet engineers changed almost everything in its design and technology and, in some ways, even surpassed the American prototype.
The ‘Agat’ had a wider color range, which made it possible to create colorful educational and game programs with animation. It was specifically oriented toward education – Soviet schoolchildren first encountered PCs through it.
5. The ‘Altai’ mobile system
Mobile communication existed in the USSR as early as the 1960s. And it worked right up until the early 2010s, when it was displaced by 2G and 3G digital cellular networks.
The first station with an antenna was installed on the Stalin-era high-rise on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment in Moscow. Soviet officials used this system and radio communication points were installed in their ‘Volga’ cars.
By 1983, the system served dozens of cities and thousands of users. Communication was very reliable and you could talk just like on a regular phone. But, there was a serious flaw – the channel was open and easily interceptable.
You can see these and other exhibits in the new permanent ‘The Age of Information. Humanity's Journey Through Eras and Technologies’ exhibition at the branch of the Polytechnic Museum in Veliky Novgorod.