February 24, 2019 at 12:06Sound on the wire: the history of the telegraph
The first ever magnetic sound recorder, the telegraph, was invented in 1898. But success came to him only 45 years later, a year after the death of the inventor.
We talk about the appearance of the gadget, its commercial failure and unexpected revival. Photo Wikimedia / CC BY-SA
The first theoretical basis of magnetic sound recording was formulated by American inventor Oberlin Smith (Oberlin Smith). The scientist's attempts to create a reliable recording device failed, so in 1888 he shared the idea with the public on the pages of Electrical World magazine.
11 years later, Smith’s laurels were stolen by a young self-taught engineer from Denmark - Waldemar Poulsen . In 1898, he created a telegraph - the first finished device for magnetic sound recording. Dane's lawyers claimed that the engineer was not familiar with Smith's work. Whether this is true or not is still unknown.
The Poulsen telegraph consisted of a cylinder wrapped in steel wire and a magnetic recording head mounted on a chassis. Head connected to microphone,magnetized the wire as the cylinder rotates. To reproduce the sound, the head was replaced with a telephone speaker.
In 1900, Poulsen presented his invention at the World Exhibition in Paris. The telegraph attracted the attention of the public and brought its creator a grand prix for innovation. To this day, the voice recording of the Austrian emperor , created by an engineer during a demonstration of the device , has been preserved .
Initially, they planned to sell the telegraph as a telephone answering machine. However, the device did not find demand in Europe, and by 1903 its production almost ceased. Poulsen left the business and returned to scientific work, the result of which was another important invention - an arc radio transmitter .
Poulsen’s partners decided to start selling the telegraph in the United States, but things went wrong on the American market. Bell phone monopolists banned connecting the device to their networks, so the concept of an answering machine had to be abandoned. The telegraph began to be positioned as a voice recorder.
But the telegraphs of that time did not differ in a good price / quality ratio. In 1905, two models were produced .devices. The first consisted of more than a thousand parts and was very expensive. The second was simpler and cheaper, but used fragile metal disks instead of wire. They contained only one and a half minutes of audio.
Attempts to develop a more affordable product took almost two years, during which the company almost went bankrupt. But the new model turned out to be uncompetitive. Phonographs circulating at that time were four times cheaper, and records of popular artists were distributed on vinyl cylinders. The difference in quality was not enough to draw attention to the telegraph.
By the beginning of the 1920s, the company finally went bankrupt. The last nail in the coffin of the American branch was scored by Edwin Rood, the new manager, who had hopes to save the company. He did not consult with managers and made decisions based on his experience in managing watch production.
Over the next 20 years, the device was used only by a small number of European radio journalists. And no one suspected that with the onset of World War II, technology would rise from the dead.
In the 1940s, the US Navy needed a compact recording device, the development of which was entrusted to researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Phonographs were not suitable for this purpose: their carriers were too fragile and required a strict temperature regime. Therefore, the choice of engineers fell on steel wire.
A new device appeared in 1943 and was called a wire recorder, or wire recorder. It could be used in the most extreme conditions - even during a parachute jump . All this made the device ideal for soldiers and military reporters.
At first, wire devices were used as business dictophones: for example, psychotherapists recorded conversations with patients on them. Then the devices began to buy home. People recorded on them the voices of loved ones or interesting radio programs. Such amateur “wire” recordings have survived to the present day: on the site of one of the American technology museums you can listen to excerpts from the radio broadcast of the 1948 election debate.
Someone used the format to communicate from a distance. In 1950, the Wirespondence club appeared in Chicago (wire + correspondence, or “wire + correspondence”). Its members mailed voice messages recorded on wire to each other.
The format has left its imprint in the world of music. In 1944, Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh used the wire apparatus to create one of the first works in the genre of specific music . The sounds of the exorcist zar ritual recorded by the composer on the streets of Cairo served as the basis for this experimental work . Also on the wire was the first recording of Buddy Holly, dated 1949. The rock and roll icon was then only 12 years old.
The wave of demand for wire recorders did not last long. Already in the early 1950s, tape recorders became cheaper and easier to use, and magnetic tape pushed the wire out of the market.
But the old technology did not disappear completely: NASA continued to use it on board satellites and other spacecraft. The choice was dictated by the size of the devices and their tolerance to temperature extremes. However, when strong magnetic tapes appeared in the 1970s, wire recorders were abandoned.
Now the devices are often searched and repaired by people who inherited coils with wire. Although many of these records cannot be restored, they are an important part of the history of both specific families and all of humanity.
What we write in the "World Hi-Fi» and channel-Telegram:
How to turn the graphics to the sound, and why they need
What tells a previously unknown record of the Soviet mission "Zond-6" The first techno album, which will be sold on cartridges
We talk about the appearance of the gadget, its commercial failure and unexpected revival. Photo Wikimedia / CC BY-SA
Magnetic Recording and First Telegraph
The first theoretical basis of magnetic sound recording was formulated by American inventor Oberlin Smith (Oberlin Smith). The scientist's attempts to create a reliable recording device failed, so in 1888 he shared the idea with the public on the pages of Electrical World magazine.
11 years later, Smith’s laurels were stolen by a young self-taught engineer from Denmark - Waldemar Poulsen . In 1898, he created a telegraph - the first finished device for magnetic sound recording. Dane's lawyers claimed that the engineer was not familiar with Smith's work. Whether this is true or not is still unknown.
The Poulsen telegraph consisted of a cylinder wrapped in steel wire and a magnetic recording head mounted on a chassis. Head connected to microphone,magnetized the wire as the cylinder rotates. To reproduce the sound, the head was replaced with a telephone speaker.
In 1900, Poulsen presented his invention at the World Exhibition in Paris. The telegraph attracted the attention of the public and brought its creator a grand prix for innovation. To this day, the voice recording of the Austrian emperor , created by an engineer during a demonstration of the device , has been preserved .
American frustration
Initially, they planned to sell the telegraph as a telephone answering machine. However, the device did not find demand in Europe, and by 1903 its production almost ceased. Poulsen left the business and returned to scientific work, the result of which was another important invention - an arc radio transmitter .
Poulsen’s partners decided to start selling the telegraph in the United States, but things went wrong on the American market. Bell phone monopolists banned connecting the device to their networks, so the concept of an answering machine had to be abandoned. The telegraph began to be positioned as a voice recorder.
But the telegraphs of that time did not differ in a good price / quality ratio. In 1905, two models were produced .devices. The first consisted of more than a thousand parts and was very expensive. The second was simpler and cheaper, but used fragile metal disks instead of wire. They contained only one and a half minutes of audio.
Attempts to develop a more affordable product took almost two years, during which the company almost went bankrupt. But the new model turned out to be uncompetitive. Phonographs circulating at that time were four times cheaper, and records of popular artists were distributed on vinyl cylinders. The difference in quality was not enough to draw attention to the telegraph.
By the beginning of the 1920s, the company finally went bankrupt. The last nail in the coffin of the American branch was scored by Edwin Rood, the new manager, who had hopes to save the company. He did not consult with managers and made decisions based on his experience in managing watch production.
Over the next 20 years, the device was used only by a small number of European radio journalists. And no one suspected that with the onset of World War II, technology would rise from the dead.
Golden age of wire
In the 1940s, the US Navy needed a compact recording device, the development of which was entrusted to researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Phonographs were not suitable for this purpose: their carriers were too fragile and required a strict temperature regime. Therefore, the choice of engineers fell on steel wire.
A new device appeared in 1943 and was called a wire recorder, or wire recorder. It could be used in the most extreme conditions - even during a parachute jump . All this made the device ideal for soldiers and military reporters.
After the war, the device attracted the attention of mass consumers. At that time, the phonographs had become outdated, and the tape recorders were still too expensive.
At first, wire devices were used as business dictophones: for example, psychotherapists recorded conversations with patients on them. Then the devices began to buy home. People recorded on them the voices of loved ones or interesting radio programs. Such amateur “wire” recordings have survived to the present day: on the site of one of the American technology museums you can listen to excerpts from the radio broadcast of the 1948 election debate.
Someone used the format to communicate from a distance. In 1950, the Wirespondence club appeared in Chicago (wire + correspondence, or “wire + correspondence”). Its members mailed voice messages recorded on wire to each other.
The format has left its imprint in the world of music. In 1944, Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh used the wire apparatus to create one of the first works in the genre of specific music . The sounds of the exorcist zar ritual recorded by the composer on the streets of Cairo served as the basis for this experimental work . Also on the wire was the first recording of Buddy Holly, dated 1949. The rock and roll icon was then only 12 years old.
End of popularity
The wave of demand for wire recorders did not last long. Already in the early 1950s, tape recorders became cheaper and easier to use, and magnetic tape pushed the wire out of the market.
But the old technology did not disappear completely: NASA continued to use it on board satellites and other spacecraft. The choice was dictated by the size of the devices and their tolerance to temperature extremes. However, when strong magnetic tapes appeared in the 1970s, wire recorders were abandoned.
Now the devices are often searched and repaired by people who inherited coils with wire. Although many of these records cannot be restored, they are an important part of the history of both specific families and all of humanity.
What we write in the "World Hi-Fi» and channel-Telegram:
How to turn the graphics to the sound, and why they need What tells a previously unknown record of the Soviet mission "Zond-6" The first techno album, which will be sold on cartridges