This full mathematical analysis of mechanical television optical systems was published by L M Myers of the Marconi-EMI concern in 1936, a part of his book on "Television Optics" (Pitman's, London, 1936, pps 157 - 238).
Almost every form of mechanical scanner used up to that time was analysed, and in no small way these calculations were the "death knell" of mechanical scanning as far as the Marconi-EMI interests were concerned. The problem was that engineers could not overcome the inverse relationship between definition and optical efficiency. Only by the usage of the charge storage principle during the whole frame scanning period were sensitive camera tubes of high image definition practicable. In the 1930s, this condition was only met by the iconoscope or Emitron camera tube.
Today, many of the fundamental hardware limitations of the 1930s have been overcome. The Luxeon, for example, gives us a readily modulated light source with extremely fast rise time, and the optical storage principle pioneered by J H Jeffree has been extended in its application in its subsequent incarnations.
These calculations provide a quantitative basis for the comparative appraisal of different optical scanning devices. Surprisingly, the standard Nipkow aperture scanning disc rates highly among these devices, while the mirror drum is decidedly less attractive for more than 50-line scanning, as Myers explains...
I hope that this material will find some usage among the NBTVA membership.
Chris Long VK3AML.