Nipkow disk

A Nipkow disk is a mechanical, geometrically operating image scanning device (by itself, it performs neither image acquisition or reproduction), invented by Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, which was primarily used as a fundamental component in mechanical television.

Physical Description

The device itself is nothing more than a mechanically spinning disk of any suitable material (metal, plastic, cardboard, etc.), with a series of equally distanced circular holes of equal diameter drilled in it.

Related Topics:
Disk - Diameter

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These holes trace form a single-turn spiral starting from an external radial point of the disk and proceeding to the center of the disk, much like a gramophone record. The holes, when the disk rotates, trace circular ring surfaces, with inner and outer diameter depending on each hole's position on the disk and thickness equal to each hole's diameter.

Related Topics:
Spiral - Gramophone record - Diameter

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These surfaces may or may not partly overlap, depending on the exact construction of the disk.

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