STORY OF THE BOY WHO INVENTED TELEVISION

This week’s segment of Farnsworth’s fusion story is taken from a taped interview with Steve Blaising who was one of the engineers that worked on Farnsworth’s fusion project. Steve was the last man to turn out the lights and lock the doors on the Pontiac Street, Cave and Pit labs. According to an April 16th 1988 edition of Whitley County’s, The Post and Mail, Sandra Wiley’s headline article read:

BLAISING THERE AS FARNSWORTH PIONEERED FUSION POWER COLUMBIA CITY—Steven Blaising recalls that in 1936 he was fixing radios at the age of thirteen and had also constructed an eight-tube super-heterodyne radio receiver.

Those early efforts were the beginning of a lifelong journey through the world of electronics. Blaising now 64, is retired, and lives with his wife Irene on four wooded acres in Whitley County. Steve said, “The height of my career came during the eight years in the 1960s when I delved into the exciting research of fusion energy as an assistant to Dr. Farnsworth,” better known as the “man who invented television”.

But the beginnings of Steve’s interest in electronics were local, in Fort Wayne, where he graduated from North Side High School in 1942. “A local radio shop offered hours of enjoyment and a chance to ask a million questions,” Blaising said in a recent interview, explaining his childhood interest in radios. “And, I was taught radio trouble shooting by a local expert.”

After several courses in radio theory, he was ready “for the world of radio,” and opened a service shop called Lake Side Radio Services, that serviced radios for Wolf and Dessauer, Grand Leder and several appliance stores in Fort Wayne.

World War II ended the service business, Blaising said, because replacement parts became difficult to obtain. Steve in 1943 joined the Engineering Developmental Department at General Electric Co. After more schooling in radio theory and television, Steve joined Capehart-Farnsworth Corporation in 1950 as a tester on the television line and later as a trouble-shooter. Steve met Philo Farnsworth in 1952 when Philo asked him to join the Farnsworth Research Company and work in his Standard’s Lab…

The Waynedale News learned Steve is still living on the same wooded acres in Whitley County with Irene, except now he’s eighty years old and Irene’s got a new knee. Steve vividly recalled the years he was so privileged to work on Dr. Farnsworth’s fusion project. Steve still keeps a treasured scrapbook full of data, old newspaper articles and many photos.

 

WN: When did you first begin working on Farnsworth’s fusion project?

Steve: It was late 1959, I was employed in the ITT-Farnsworth Instrument and Standards Lab when the phone rang and a female voice said: “Steve, this is Virginia Funk. Dr. Farnsworth would like to speak with you.” In a moment Phil Farnsworth’s voice said: “Mr. Blaising, I am using a 40 KV Beta power supply that is no longer working, could you possibly meet me at my laboratory right away?” Ten minutes later we were shaking hands and that was the beginning of my eight years on the fusion project.

Steve said, “The first thing I noticed besides the blown power supply was a very strange device that looked like a derby hat mounted on top of a vacuum system.

Farnsworth explained the mysterious electronic fusion device to Steve and then signed him on as an engineering assistant. To be continued…