Early Devices 2

Audio Recording & Playback Devices are a popular item, especially with the younger set. They wouldn’t be caught without some sort of audio player and “buds” in their ears! But what about years gone by?

Audio recording has a long history dating back to 1857 when de Martinville invented the phonautograph, a device that could present a graphical representation of sounds, but could not conveniently play them back. This capability was developed by Frank Lambert in 1878 with the phonograph, a device with a cylinder covered with an impressionable material such as tin foil, lead, or wax on which a stylus etched grooves. When the stylus was later run in the grooves, it would reproduce the sound on a vibrating diaphragm. [Wickipedia]

In 1887. Emile Berliner invented the gramophone, which employed imprinted grooves on the flat side of a disc rather than the outside of a cylinder. Thus, the “modern” record player came into being. This device held sway until the development of the magnetic recording devices following World War II.

By 1925 sound recording was done electrically, instead of mechanically; however, electrical reproduction was not generally used until the late 1930’s.

My first personal experience with audio recordings was memories of my mother’s Victrola. I remember going with her to the music store on Saturdays to by 78 RPM records. Memories also included winding up the machine, changing the needles frequently and the inability to change the volume of the sound coming from this strictly acoustical machine.

In 1937, when my parents ran a roadhouse, I was the one that listened to “The Hit Parade” every Saturday night to write down the names of the new “hits” so that we could order them for our jukebox!

Home Movies with Sound

In 1949, I purchased a state-of-the-art magnetic wire recorder. In the mid-1950’s I was able to jury-rig it so that I could add sound to my 8-mm movie projector. I placed a disc with alternating black and white sectors on the wire’s take up reel. The light spilling over from the flashing shutter of the projector would play on the disc. The number of alternating segments of black and white were selected so that the shutter flashes would strobe the disc. I adjusted the projector’s speed with a rheostat to stop the rotation, this establishing a projection speed that matched the magnetic wire. The system worked to a degree, but required that the projectionist keep an eye on the strobed disc, since any fluctuations in the electrical line voltage during recording or playback would inject an error into the system. When this happened, re- synchronization was a manual task.

It was an interesting experiment, but much too unwieldy to be practical!

The Edison Dictaphone

The wax cylinders of this Dictaphone were still in use during the “space age!” Albeit, they were used on a more modern designed machine. In 1960, when I was involved with flight tests of the Discoverer Satellite, the very modern control complex had been outfitted with these modern versions of Edison’s old product. They were put there primarily to allow one shift of controllers to leave notes for the next shift. I seldom used them and don’t believe that others did, as well. It was easier to brief the oncoming crew in person, where they could ask questions and not be mystified by remarks on a cold cylinder.