|
|
|
|
|
|
About inventor Rudolf Hell
HELL was a manufacturer of teleprinter, fax and cipher machines, based
in Kiel (Germany).
The company was founded in 1929 by Rudolf Hell, one of Germany's most
important and most productive inventors of the previous century.
Nevertheless, Hell is generally not well-known.
|
Rudolf Hell was born in 1901 and invented his first device, the so-called
Hellschreiber in 1925. It was patented in 1929, when he started his own
company in Babelsberg, Berlin (Germany) [2].
Before and during WWII, he produced Hellschreibers for the German
Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe.
After WWII, the company was re-established and Hell kept inventing.
Rudolf Hell is also the inventor and patent-holder of the modern Fax (1956),
a colour scanner (1963) and a CRT-based computer typesetter
(Datensichtgerät, 1965). Computer-based typesetters would be used
by the printing industry for the next several decades.
Prof. Hermann Zapf (known for his Zapf-Dingbats and Palatino typefaces),
called him the Father of Digital Word Processing [1].
|
|
|
Over the years a wide variety of machines were built by HELL, but also
by Siemens und Halske to whom they licenced several
designs.
Eventually, HELL was taken over by Siemens AG in 1981.
In 1990, the graphics-related business
was merged with Linotype and became known as Linotype-Hell AG.
In 2002, Rudolf Hell died, 100 years old, in Kiel (Germany).
|
After WWII, HELL also produced a number of cipher machines. These devices were
mainly developed by Hagelin, but were often
improved by HELL. Cipher machines, manufactured by HELL, covered on this website:
|
Rudolf Hell's first invention was the Hellschreiber (1925/1929).
It is sometimes referred to as the forerunner of the fax, and was used to
transmit written text-based messages over radio or telephone lines, similar
to a teleprinter (telex). Unlike a teleprinter however, which uses a 5-bit
digital code, the analogue Hellschreiber is far more immune to radio
interference and noise.
HELL-transmissions can be recognized by their typical 'chirping' sound.
As it transmits a scanned image of a character, it only needs a very narrow analogue radio channel, Being analogue, the text can still be recognized by the
human brain, even when it is scattered by harsh conditions (interference,
noise, fading, etc.).
Hellschreibers were used heavily by the German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe
during WWII. Although they were replaced in the early 1960s by teleprinters
and (later) computers, some countries kept using them well into the 1970s.
|
In the mid-1970s, the war-time Hellschreiber (Feld Hell) was rediscovered
by a group of radio amateurs (hams) in Europe.
Some of them had acquired an original Hellschreiber without knowing exactly
what it was, and went looking for ways to (re)use it.
In the following years, a new (ham) radio-mode
was born and special licences for its use were issued by the authorities.
Today, HELL - in its many flavours - still is a popular radio mode.
|
- Feld Hell (Feldfernschreiber)
- Hell 72 GL
- Hell 73 AGL
- Hell 80
- Presse Hell
- ATF Hell (Abtastfernschreiber, DDR, NVA)
|
|
|
|
Any links shown in red are currently unavailable.
If you like this website, why not make a donation?
© Copyright 2009-2011, Paul Reuvers & Marc Simons. Last changed: Thu,05 May 2011.11:46:50
|
 |
|
|
