E. BERLINER, Microphone

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

E. BERLINER, Microphone (No Model.) E. BERLINER, Microphone. No. 234,744. Patented Nov. 23, 1880. SS (), /av// N. Peters, Photo-LTHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTN, c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. EMILE BERLINER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. MCRO PHONE. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 284,744, dated November 23, 1880. Application filed March 31, 1880. (No model.) Patented in France January 8, 1880, in Belgium January 9, 1880, in Italy February 15, 1880. To all whom it may concern: the plate D and bears upon a piece of soft Be it known that I, EMILE BERLINER, of rubber on the diaphragm B, and by means of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of this screw the distance of the lower extremity Massachusetts, have invented a certain new of the plate D from the vibrating diaphragm and useful Improvement in Microphones or can be varied at will to any desired extent. Contact-Telephones, of which the following is The pressure of the end of the screw on the a specification, reference being had to the ac vibrating diaphragm also acts to damp the 55 companying drawings. vibrations of the diaphragm, and it is obvious This invention relates to that form of mi that this pressure admits of adjustment. O crophone or contact-telephone described and E is a permanent magnet, which is attached claimed in Letters Patent of the United States, to the plate D, and may either be a bar-mag No. 225,790, March 23, 1880, in which one elec net, as shown, or a horseshoe-magnet. trode forms part of or is attached to a pendu G is the pendulous weight, having a carbon lous weight, which is kept from reaching its tip in contact with the carbon block P, and to point of rest by contact with the other elec this weight is fixed a plate, H., of soft iron, trode; and the improvement consists, first, in which forms the armature of the magnet E, the combination, with said pendulous weight, and is attracted and held to the magnet by its of an adjusting device whereby its angle of edge, so that it is able to oscillate freely on inclination to the other electrode and pressure the same from its point of suspension. upon the same can be varied at will; second, A copper wire, K, may be used for retain in the combination, with the vibrating surface ing this weight in position. 7 O of the microphone or contact-telephone, of an One pole of the battery is connected to the elastic arm to which one of the electrodes is plate D by the screw, which is insulated from attached, and an adjusting-screw the point of the diaphragm, and from thence the current 25 which is in contact with said surface and forms passes through the magnet to the carbon elec a damper to the same; third, in suspending the trode on the pendulous weight, and the other 75 pendulous weight from a magnet which holds pole of the battery is connected by the metal the said weight by attraction; and, fourth, in lic strip R to the carbon block P. electroplating the surface of the said magnet. By raising or depressing the free end of the In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is plate D by means of the screw M, the angle of a view, in perspective, of the back of a micro inclination of the weight G to the surface of phone or contact-telephone containing my im the electrode P and its pressure upon the same provements herein described, that part of the can be varied at will, so as affect the contact instrument which contains the induction-coil between the two electrodes as may be desired, 35 having been removed; and Fig. 2 is a vertical to secure the proper transmission of sounds. section through the same. It has been found that in microphones or In these several figures the same letters re contact-telephones containing a frictional con fer to the same parts. tact it is advisable to have the surfaces in con A is the block which supports the vibrating tact as smooth as possible. In this device this 4.O diaphragm B; and Pis a block of carbon, form result is attained at the contact of the arma ing one electrode of the circuit, which block ture H with the magnet E by electroplating is suitably attached to the center of the dia the surface of the magnet at that point. 9o phragm. By the use of an adjustable second armature D is an elastic plate of metal, which is fixed upon the magnet E, the force of attraction ex 45 at one extremity, by a screw or in any other erted upon the armature H can be varied as suitable manner, to the top of the block A and may be desired. 95 is free at its other end. This end is made an What I claim as my invention, and desire nular, so as to surround the carbon electrodeP. to secure by Letters Patent of the United A screw, M, passes through the lower end of States, is h ) 234,744 1. A microphone or contact - telephone in said pendulous weight, substantially as and which one electrode is held in position by be for the purpose set forth. ing suspended from or attached to a perma 4. In a microphone or contact-telephone, the ment magnet by attraction, substantially as combination of the diaphragm B, carbon block and for the purpose set forth. P, adjustable weight G, plate H, forming an 2. In a microphone or contact-telephone, the armature-magnet, E, elastic plate L, and ad combinatiou of a vibrating surface, a damper justing-screw M, substantially as and for the 25 consisting of an elastic arm provided with an purpose set forth. adjusting-screw, the extreme point of which 5. In a telephonic apparatus, a magnet form. bears against the said vibrating surface, and ing an electric contact and electroplated on two electrodes in variable contact with one its face in contact, substantially as and for another, which are situated between said screw the purpose set forth. point and the edge of said vibrating surface. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my 3. In a microphone or contact-telephone, the hand in presence of the subscribing witnesses. combination of a vibrating surface forming EMILE BERLINER, one electrode of an electric current, a pendu Witnesses: lous weight forming the opposite electrode, CHAS. E. BURLING-AME, and a device for changing the inclination of ALEX. L. HAYES. .
Recommended publications
  • The Early Years of the Acoustic Phonograph Its Developmental Origins and Fall from Favor 1877-1929
    THE EARLY YEARS OF THE ACOUSTIC PHONOGRAPH ITS DEVELOPMENTAL ORIGINS AND FALL FROM FAVOR 1877-1929 by CARL R. MC QUEARY A SENIOR THESIS IN HISTORICAL AMERICAN TECHNOLOGIES Submitted to the General Studies Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of BACHELOR OF GENERAL STUDIES Approved Accepted Director of General Studies March, 1990 0^ Ac T 3> ^"^^ DEDICATION No. 2) This thesis would not have been possible without the love and support of my wife Laura, who has continued to love me even when I had phonograph parts scattered through­ out the house. Thanks also to my loving parents, who have always been there for me. The Early Years of the Acoustic Phonograph Its developmental origins and fall from favor 1877-1929 "Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snov^. And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go." With the recitation of a child's nursery rhyme, thirty-year- old Thomas Alva Edison ushered in a bright new age--the age of recorded sound. Edison's successful reproduction and recording of the human voice was the end result of countless hours of work on his part and represented the culmination of mankind's attempts, over thousands of years, to capture and reproduce the sounds and rhythms of his own vocal utterances as well as those of his environment. Although the industry that Edison spawned continues to this day, the phonograph is much changed, and little resembles the simple acoustical marvel that Edison created.
    [Show full text]
  • The Marriage That Almost Was Western Union Has Always Been R.Idiculed for Rejecting the All Telephone
    RETROSPECTIVE .Innovation The marriage that almost was Western Union has always been r.idiculed for rejecting the telephone. But what actually happened wasn't so ridiculous after all The hirth of the telephone.,-one hundred years ago railway and illuminating gas to Cambridge, Mass. this month-is a fascinating story of the geJ;Jius and Long intrigued by telegraphy, he decided to do persistence of on.e man. In addition, it is an instruc­ something about what he called "this monopoly tive demonstration of how an industrial giant, in with its inflated capital which serves its stockhold­ this case the Western Union Telegraph Co., can ers better than the 'public and whose:rates are ex­ miss its chance to foster an industry-creating orbitant and prohibiting of many kinds of busi­ breakthrough-something that has happened again ness." Between 1868 and 1874, he lobbied unceas­ and again in electronics and other fields. ingly, shuttling back and forth betweep. homes in Between ·1875 and 1879, Western Union's chiefs Boston and Washington. for a private "postal tele­ engaged in an intricate minuet with Alexander graph company" to be chartered by Congress but Graham Bell and his associates. On more than one with Hubbard and some of his friends among the occasion, the telegraph colossus came excruciating­ incorporators. As Hubbard envisioned it, the com­ ly close to absorbing the small group of ~ntre­ pany would build telegraph lines along the nation's preneurs, That the absorption was finally avoided rail and post roads and contract with the Post was probably the result of a technological gamble Office Department to send telegrams on its wires ~t that simply didn't payoff, as rates roughly half those being charged by Western ••• The place: the ollie of well as a clash of personali­ Union.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress
    ANNUAL REPO R T O F THE LIBR ARIAN OF CONGRESS ANNUAL REPORT OF T HE L IBRARIAN OF CONGRESS For the Fiscal Year Ending September , Washington Library of Congress Independence Avenue, S.E. Washington, DC For the Library of Congress on the World Wide Web visit: <www.loc.gov>. The annual report is published through the Public Affairs Office, Office of the Librarian, Library of Congress, Washington, DC -, and the Publishing Office, Library Services, Library of Congress, Washington, DC -. Telephone () - (Public Affairs) or () - (Publishing). Managing Editor: Audrey Fischer Copyediting: Publications Professionals LLC Indexer: Victoria Agee, Agee Indexing Design and Composition: Anne Theilgard, Kachergis Book Design Production Manager: Gloria Baskerville-Holmes Assistant Production Manager: Clarke Allen Library of Congress Catalog Card Number - - Key title: Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP Washington, DC - A Letter from the Librarian of Congress / vii Library of Congress Officers and Consultants / ix Organization Chart / x Library of Congress Committees / xiii Highlights of / Library of Congress Bicentennial / Bicentennial Chronology / Congressional Research Service / Copyright Office / Law Library of Congress / Library Services / National Digital Library Program / Office of the Librarian / A. Bicentennial / . Steering Committee / . Local Legacies / . Exhibitions / . Publications / . Symposia / . Concerts: I Hear America Singing / . Living Legends / . Commemorative Coins / . Commemorative Stamp: Second-Day Issue Sites / . Gifts to the Nation / . International Gifts to the Nation / v vi Contents B. Major Events at the Library / C. The Librarian’s Testimony / D. Advisory Bodies / E. Honors / F. Selected Acquisitions / G. Exhibitions / H. Online Collections and Exhibitions / I.
    [Show full text]
  • Inventing Television: Transnational Networks of Co-Operation and Rivalry, 1870-1936
    Inventing Television: Transnational Networks of Co-operation and Rivalry, 1870-1936 A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the faculty of Life Sciences 2011 Paul Marshall Table of contents List of figures .............................................................................................................. 7 Chapter 2 .............................................................................................................. 7 Chapter 3 .............................................................................................................. 7 Chapter 4 .............................................................................................................. 8 Chapter 5 .............................................................................................................. 8 Chapter 6 .............................................................................................................. 9 List of tables ................................................................................................................ 9 Chapter 1 .............................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2 .............................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 6 .............................................................................................................. 9 Abstract ....................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Penn Discourse Treebank 2.0 Annotation Manual
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons IRCS Technical Reports Series Institute for Research in Cognitive Science 12-17-2007 The Penn Discourse Treebank 2.0 Annotation Manual Rashmi Prasad University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Eleni Miltsakaki University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Nikhil Dinesh University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Alan Lee University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Aravind Joshi University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, and the Computer Engineering Commons Prasad, Rashmi; Miltsakaki, Eleni; Dinesh, Nikhil; Lee, Alan; Joshi, Aravind; Robaldo, Livio; and Webber, Bonnie L., "The Penn Discourse Treebank 2.0 Annotation Manual" (2007). IRCS Technical Reports Series. 203. https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports/203 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports/203 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Penn Discourse Treebank 2.0 Annotation Manual Abstract This report contains the guidelines for the annotation of discourse relations in the Penn Discourse Treebank (http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~pdtb), PDTB. Discourse relations in the PDTB are annotated in a bottom up fashion, and capture both lexically realized relations as well as implicit relations. Guidelines in this report are provided for all aspects of the annotation, including annotation explicit discourse connectives, implicit relations, arguments of relations, senses of relations, and the attribution of relations and their arguments. The report also provides descriptions of the annotation format representation. Keywords natural language processing, discourse analysis, discourse structure, discourse coherence, annotation Disciplines Arts and Humanities | Computer Engineering Author(s) Rashmi Prasad, Eleni Miltsakaki, Nikhil Dinesh, Alan Lee, Aravind Joshi, Livio Robaldo, and Bonnie L.
    [Show full text]
  • Guide to the Charles Sumner Tainter Papers
    Guide to the Charles Sumner Tainter Papers NMAH.AC.0124 Robert Harding 1984 Archives Center, National Museum of American History P.O. Box 37012 Suite 1100, MRC 601 Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 [email protected] http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Scope and Contents........................................................................................................ 4 Arrangement..................................................................................................................... 4 Biographical / Historical.................................................................................................... 2 Bibliography...................................................................................................................... 4 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 5 Container Listing ............................................................................................................. 6 Series 1: Papers, 1878-1937, undated.................................................................... 6 Series 2: Laboratory Notes, 1881-1908................................................................... 8 Series 3: Artifacts, undated...................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • E. Berliner, Gramophone
    (No Model.) E. BERLINER, GRAMOPHONE, No. 372,786, Patented Nov. 8, 1887. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. EMILE BERLINER, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT of COLUMBIA. GRAMoPHONE. SPECIFICATION forming part offetters Patent No. 372,786, dated November 8, 1857. Original application filed May 4, 1887, serial No. 30. Divided and this application fled September 26, 1887, serial No. 250,721. m - - (No model.) e To all whom it may concern overcoming this defect it has been attempted Beit known thatferresertner, a citi. to engrave instead of indent a record of the zen of the United States, residing at Wash vibrations of the diaphragm by employing a 55 ington, in the District of Columbia, have in stylus shaped and operating like a chisel upon 5 vented certain new and useful Improvements a suitably prepared surface; but even in this in Gramophones, of which the following is a case, the disturbing causes above referred to specification. are still present. In addition to this, if in the . This invention has reference to a novel apparatus of the phonograph or graphophone 6o method of and apparatus for recording and type it is attempted to avoid the disturbing Io reproducing all kinds of sounds, including influence of the increase of resistance of the spoken words, and is designied to overcome. record-surface with the depth of indentation the defects inherent in that art as now prac or cut as much as possible by primarily ad ticed and in the apparatus used therefor. justing the stylus so as to touch the record- 65 By the ordinary methodofrecording spoken surface only lightly, then another disturbing is words or other sounds for reproduction it is influence is brought into existence by the fact attenpted to cause a stylus attached to a vi.
    [Show full text]
  • History of Communications Media
    History of Communications Media Class 6 [email protected] What We Will Cover Today • Radio – Origins – The Emergence of Broadcasting – The Rise of the Networks – Programming – The Impact of Television – FM • Phonograph – Origins – Timeline – The Impact of the Phonograph Origins of Radio • James Clerk Maxwell’s theory had predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves that traveled through space at the speed of light – Predicted that these waves could be generated by electrical oscillations – Predicted that they could be detected • Heinrich Hertz in 1886 devised an experiment to detect such waves. Origins of Radio - 2 • Hertz’ experiments showed that the waves: – Conformed to Maxwell’s theory – Had many of the same properties as light except that the wave lengths were much longer than those of light – several meters as opposed to fractions of a millimeter. Origins of Radio - 3 • Edouard Branly & Oliver Lodge perfected a coherer • Alexander Popov used a coherer attached to a vertical wire to detect thunderstorms in advance • William Crookes published an article on electricity which noted the possibility of using “electrical rays” for “transmitting and receiving intelligence” Origins of Radio - 4 • Guglielmo Marconi had attended lectures on Maxwell’s theory and read an account of Hertz’s experiments – Read Crookes article – Attended Augusto Righi’s lectures at Bologna University on Maxwell’s theory and Hertz’s experiments – Read Oliver Lodge’s article on Hertz’s experiments and Branly’s coherer What Marconi Accomplished - 1 • Realized that
    [Show full text]
  • Emile Berliner by Bob Estreich Lexander Graham Bell Invented the There He Saw Bell's Telephones
    Emile Berliner by Bob Estreich lexander Graham Bell invented the There he saw Bell's telephones. There was telephone. Well, he invented one that general amazement at the new device, but Aworked, but not very well. Bell's eventual Berliner noticed its faults as well. Although the success rested on the work of other inventors Centennial phone and its later derivatives were who fixed the problems or found a better way. adequate receivers if they had a strong enough Emil (he later changed it to Emile) Berliner was signal, they were poor transmitters. They were one such. faint, noisy and clumsy. Watson described using the phones as like holding a packing case in Berliner was born in Hanover, Germany on May each hand. They were based on the induction 20, 1851. In 1870 he left Hanover for the United principle - a varying electric current passed States. He had been offered a job with a family through a coil and influenced a nearby friend, and he left Germany to avoid military diaphragm (receiver), or the movement of the service. He worked as a shop assistant for some diaphragm influenced the current flowing years, then got a job as cleanup man in the through the coil (transmitter). The signal laboratory of Constantine Fahlberg, who dropped off quickly with increasing distance. invented saccharine. This fired his interest in The receiver part was also the microphone, so science and inventing. He furthered his any outside noise interfered with the received education at a night school run by the Cooper voice. Institute, and learnt basic physics from a textbook given to him by a local drugstore Berliner came up with two improvements.
    [Show full text]
  • Using the Internet, Use the Information Below to Determine Which Year These Events Occurred
    Name _______________ Period ___ Using the internet, use the information below to determine which year these events occurred. 1877 Thomas Alva Edison, working in his lab, succeeds in recovering Mary's Little Lamb from a strip of tinfoil wrapped around a spinning cylinder. He demonstrates his invention in the offices of Scientific American, and the phonograph is born. 1878 The first music is put on record: Jules Levy plays "Yankee Doodle" on the cornet. 1881 Clement Ader, using carbon microphones and armature headphones, accidentally produces a stereo effect when listeners outside the hall monitor adjacent telephone lines linked to stage mikes at the Paris Opera. 1887 Emile Berliner is granted a patent on a flat-disc gramophone, making the production of multiple copies practical. 1888 Edison introduces an electric motor-driven phonograph. 1895 Maroni successfully experiments with his wireless telegraphy system in Italy,leading to the first transatlantic signals from Poldhu, Cornwall, UK to St. John's, Newfoundland in 1901. 1898 Valdemar Poulsen patents his "Telegraphone," recording magnetically on steel wire. 1900 Poulsen unveils his invention to the public at the Paris Exposition. Austria's Emperor Franz Josef records his congratulations. Boston's Symphony Hall opens with the benefit of Wallace Clement Sabine's acoustical advice. 1901 The Victor Talking Machine Company is founded by Emile Berliner and Eldridge Johnson. Experimental optical recordings are made on motion picture film. 1906 Lee DeForest invents the triode vacuum tube, the first electronic signal amplifier. 1910 Enrico Caruso is heard in the first live broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera, NYC. 1912 Major Edwin F.
    [Show full text]
  • Lord's Prayer / Twinke Twinkle Little Star
    “Lord’s Prayer” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”— Emile Berliner recordings (c. 1890) Added to the National Registry: 2003 Essay by Mark Caruana-Dingli (guest post)* Emile Berliner With the production of these seemingly unremarkable five-inch diameter flat disc records, the era of mass-produced commercial music began. The history of the disc record started with the German- born Emile Berliner, who immigrated to the United States in 1870. On the heels of his successful invention of a practical microphone in 1877, and the sale of this valuable patent to Alexander Graham Bell, Berliner set out to perfect the recording and reproduction of sound. When Emile Berliner turned his attention to the field of sound in the early 1880s, things had not progressed much since the initial excitement that met Thomas Edison’s invention of the first primitive recording and reproduction phonograph in 1877. Recordings from this era were made by capturing sound waves as vertical indentations onto a tinfoil sheet, which was wrapped around a spirally-engraved, hand-rotated drum or cylinder. As astounding as the technology was for the time, the machine was severely limited, suffering from a lack of uniform speed and recordings with little fidelity, clarity or, perhaps most importantly, any durability of the fragile tin-foil recording. With his track record of success, Berliner set to work solving these problems in the tiny lab he had set up in his apartment in Washington, DC. Knowing that his competitors were already staking out considerable territory with a wax-coated cylinder format, he focused his inventive genius on pursuing a format for recording which seemed to have been completely abandoned by others in the field: the flat disc.
    [Show full text]
  • Post Defense Draft
    Vox Machinae: Phonographs and the Birth of Sonic Modernity, 1877-1930 by Jacques Vest A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) in the University of Michigan 2018 Doctoral Committee: Professor Howard Brick, Co-Chair Professor James Cook, Co-Chair Associate Professor John Carson Professor Charles Garrett Assistant Professor Perrin Selcer Jacques Vest [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5891-9541 © Jacques Vest 2018 DEDICATION For Mom, Dad and Brandon. !ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I’d like to express my gratitude, first, to my dissertation committee. Charles Garrett was a remarkably generous outside reader whose enthusiasm and encouragement buoyed this project at every stage. Perrin Selcer graciously signed onto the committee mid-stream and has been an invaluable resource in thinking through the technology-related problems of this dissertation. Even though he was on the other side of the globe, John Carson made a full-time job of reining in my more exuberant historical claims and this project would not be nearly as well-articulated were it not for our many Skype conversations. These pages have also benefited enormously from committee co-chair Howard Brick’s impatience with sloppy writing and thinking. I do not, as it turns out, have much to say about Marxian commodity fetishism. I would like to extend a special thanks to my advisor and committee co-chair Professor Jay Cook. It is safe to say that Jay and I represent two opposite ends of the cognitive spectrum. Jay is a meticulous planner, efficient and even-tempered. I am often disorganized, forgetful, and impulsive.
    [Show full text]