What was the first microphone made of

This particular model was often referred to as the "candlestick" microphone. Figure E5 is newspaper clipping featuring the Kellogg T32 "Candlestick" microphone being used by a U.

Figure E1. Figure E2. Figure E3. RCA Type 1. Western Electric A. Ellis Electrical Laboratory Model 30N. Continental Model Figure E4. Figure E5. Field-effect transistors would not show up practically in microphone technology until the mids. However, this invention has changed the world of microphones and the world in general! The FET was designed to be a solid-state alternative to the triode vacuum tube which it ultimately ended up being.

However, the materials and technology available at the time could not produce a functioning model. For more information on microphones, transistors, and the aforementioned transformers, check out my article Do All Microphones Have Transformers And Transistors? The mic featured an omnidirectional polar pattern with both sides of the capsule polarized and a cardioid polar pattern with only the front side of the capsule polarized.

Plus Top 3 Most Popular Capsules. However, the first recorded patent for a wireless microphone only happened in It was filed by Raymond A. Litke, an American electrical engineer. Litke is historically credited with having invented the wireless microphone. His models included a handheld mic and a miniature lavalier. With all that being said, Shure had introduced the wireless Vagabond 88 microphone to the market in This marked the invention of the first-ever unidirectional top-address microphone.

The Unidyne III capsule featured a single diaphragm and an air volume cavity at its rear. This allowed the capsule to be positioned at the end of a microphone, pointing out from the top of the mic top-address rather than pointing out of the side of the mic side-address, like every microphone until this point. James E. West developed the Electroacoustic Transducer Electret Microphone. They received the patent for their invention in With no need for external power, these capsules and their microphones could be manufactured at a lower cost than externally polarized capsules.

Today, electret microphones are the most common type of mic on the planet though MEMS microphones may very well exceed them in the near future. With the advent of the transistor, vacuum tubes began getting phased out and replaced with the cheaper, longer-lasting FETs.

It was only a matter of time before solid-state transistors began replacing the vacuum tubes in microphone designs. With Mic Examples. Hohm and Gerhard M. Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems. Pulse-code modulation PCM , a common way of digitally representing analog signals, was invented in by the British scientist Alec Reeves.

Digital audio has been developing since then, with a particular rise in development in the s. The first commercial digital recordings were released in In the s, digital recording really gained popularity. Today, the vast majority of audio is recorded digitally. Because microphones are inherently analog devices, their signals need to be converted into digital audio for digital processing.

This is typically done with an external analog-to-digital signal converter. In , engineers at Georg Neumann invented the first-ever digital microphone and released it to the market under the name Solution-D D The design of this microphone is simple in theory.

The D has an analog-to-digital converter built inside its body. Therefore, the microphone itself outputs digital audio. With the rise of computers and audio recording software, the market decided that USB microphones with built-in-analog converters would do well.

USB microphones of varying quality began surfacing around Mic Output Designs. Inventing a type of microphone is a great accomplishment. Another major step forward with new microphone technology is the introduction of commercial microphone models. Here is a table outlining the first commercially available microphones of each type:. The CMV3 featured the Neumann M1 omnidirectional with its large, gold-sputtered colloidal diaphragm and RE triode-based tube electronics.

Neumann had a worldwide distribution deal with Telefunken, and so much like the future Neumann microphones, the CMV3 models exported outside Germany had Telefunken logos. Back to the list of first microphones. Olson and his team at RCA. This photophone-type mic had a very limited run about 50 units and was released in The creation of a practical ribbon microphone was a major breakthrough in microphone technology. The PB was the first of many ribbon mics to hit the market at this time.

Ribbon microphones, at the time, outperformed condenser mics in frequency response, clarity, and realism. The introduction of the first moving-coil dynamic microphone happened in the same year as the first ribbon mic: In , Edward C. This omnidirectional microphone has a duralumin diaphragm clamped around the outer edge of its cobalt-steel alloy magnet. A coil of aluminum ribbon was attached to the rear side of the diaphragm.

As the diaphragm and coil move relative to the stationary permanent magnet, an audio signal was induced. The Bogen Company produced the first-ever commercially available electret microphone. It was called the No-Voltage Velotron and it had a short production run from to Therefore, these early electret mics did not catch on until the s, when electret materials had vastly improved, and transistors were available to convert the electret capsule impedances. In , Georg Neumann brought another first to the microphone market.

The legendary Neumann U 47 with selectable omnidirectional and cardioid polar patterns was the first multi-pattern microphone to hit the market.

Later in , the capsule would be replaced by the improved Neumann K 49 capsule, which had biaxially oriented PET film as its diaphragm material.

By polarizing both diaphragms of the U 47 capsule, an omnidirectional polar pattern was achieved. By only polarizing the front diaphragm of the capsule, a cardioid polar pattern was produced. The mic was actually 5 dB more sensitive in cardioid mode since the capacitance losses of having the rear diaphragm engaged were eliminated.

However, in , the Shure Brothers Sidney N. This system was named the Vagabond 88 and was sold from to The MD 82 featured a 1-metre long interference tube. Sound could enter the tube from a slot that ran from one end of the tube to the other. In , Ernie Seeler of the Shure company finalized the first unidirectional top-address mic design, and the company released its Model microphone.

Collecting sound from the top of the microphone rather than the side may seem like a small detail. The Unidyne III capsule is a single-diaphragm directional capsule. The rear side of its diaphragm is open to an air volume that allows sounds to enter but at a reduced rate. This causes the unidirectional cardioid polar pattern. Of course, this may sound simple nowadays, but this technology marked a giant step forward in microphone technology.

The first-ever transistorized microphone to hit the market was the Schoeps CMT 20, which was released in The transistor was used to convert impedance rather than a vacuum tube , but the only way to keep the noise low was to use a radio-frequency circuit in which the capsule modulated an RF carrier.

Schoeps claims the CMT 20 to be the first-ever phantom powered microphone, running on volts DC supplied through the balanced audio cable. With this new powering method just established, Neumann boldly presented the world with the first-ever phantom powered microphone, the Neumann KM The KM 84 was a small-diaphragm externally polarized condenser microphone. It was a top-address mic with a cardioid microphone.

This microphone used an output transformer. The ECMP is a small-diaphragm electret condenser pencil microphone. Electret materials, at this time, would hold their charge for a long time, though the charge would slowly fade.

The ECMP could run on phantom power or batteries to power its active transistorized circuitry. In , the first commercial Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems microphone was introduced to the market. It was produced by Knowles and called the SiSonic. The Water Microphone was introduced in , and as the name suggests, used water to transmit sound waves.

It was never very successful in its intended purpose, but this invention is credited as an inspiration in the field, as inventors furthered their work in the field of sound technology in order to invent something…anything! This device gave inventors great insight into how microphone works and workings needed to be set up to allow sound waves to vibrate more accurately.

The transformer itself was a metal cup filled with water and sulphuric acid, which helped with electric conductivity. The diaphragm was stretched across a small horn, with a needle attached, which was also submerged in the liquid without touching the cup itself.

As sound vibrated against the diaphragm, the needle would vibrate within the water, causing the resistance within the water to fluctuate. A wire that was submerged in the liquid would then carry the resulting electric signal to a speaker.

This device was one of the most successful attempts at sound amplification, and had several of the advantages of modern microphones, such as high output, low impedance, and a reasonable cost to produce.

Of course, early models had limited frequency response, and thus low reproduction quality, but carbon microphones became the standard for telephones and radio broadcasting until the condenser microphone was invented in the s.

Like the previous inventions, the carbon microphone uses variable resistance to manipulate sound waves into electrical audio signals. The internal mechanism is comprised of two metal plates and carbon granules.

Later models had a carbon button in between the plates instead of granules. One of the metal plates is thick and stationary. The second plate is the diaphragm, and is thin and movable.

As the sound waves vibrate the thinner plate, the sound pressure it places on the carbon in the middle varies. The varied pressure causes the electrical resistance between the plates to change, as well, and when a direct current is applied to both plates, the variation in vibration creates the current that leads to the production of the audible voice. While there was still plenty of room for improvement, the basic mechanisms and concepts of these early microphones set the standards for the microphones we use today.

On one hand, we can credit Philipp Reis with his work in creating a movable diaphragm that responded to vibrations. Or perhaps it was Sir Wheatstone, as he explained how the concept would work in the first place. Alexander Graham Bell certainly had his part, as well, with the Water Microphone. However, there was a bit of a tussle surrounding the official invention. Thomas Edison and Emile Berliner are often credited with the creation of the carbon microphone.

Edison is credited with creating a carbon telephone transmitter, as well as several follow up improvements, while Emile Berliner had a similar loose-contact transmitter in development simultaneously. At the exact same time that Edison and Emile Berliner were preparing to debut their creations, David Edward Hughes was working on a nearly identical device. David Edward Hughes would never receive credit for his creation, however.

The first Bell telephone used a liquid transmitter, and required modification for mass production. By this time, Philipp Reis was already deceased, having passed away from tuberculosis in Therefore, when Edison attempted to file patent for his version of the carbon microphone, a patent war ensued.

The case was taken to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled in that Edison had invented the microphone, and awarded him the patent.

In yet another turn of irony, it is said that Edison developed his carbon microphone from the work Bell exhibited with the Water Microphone, and borrowed some concepts directly from the Reis Telephone, as well. So, while multiple inventors brought the microphone into existence, the credit goes to Thomas Edison, simply due to his keen timing in filing a patent and getting Americans excited about his product. For example, the transformer was invented in