Despite its mechanical design, Baird’s primitive television system was revolutionary for its time. Understanding Baird’s mechanical system helps explain both its breakthrough nature and ultimate limitations. John Logie Baird and his first publicly demonstrated television system. While Farnsworth was officially awarded the first electronic television system patent in 1930, Zworykin had filed the first U.S. patent in 1923. His mechanical breakthrough had paved the way for the electronic systems that would dominate broadcasting, but the rapid pace of technological change left him behind.