When was the first condenser microphone invented

Their demise had less to do with sound quality and more to do with the fragility of ribbon mics, which limited their usage. However, recent improvements have given rebirth to this old technology. The sound produced by ribbon microphones is close to that of what the human ear catches.

The clear, warm, natural sound makes them the perfect choice for guitar cabinets, drums, and vocals. WWII put mic technology on hold for a while, but things began to pick up soon after.

Ribbon mics improved thanks to better magnets. The Shure Model 55 Fatboy became a regular site in music circles from It was breakthrough technology that used a single dynamic element to achieve pattern control [10].

The Shure Model 55 has become the most iconic model of all time. Modern versions of it continue to sell well to this day. Technology and ideas began to pick up soon after the Fatboy. SM means Studio Microphone. The cardioid polar pattern became ideal for noisy stages. That makes them perfect for solo vocalists and working in rooms that have poor acoustics. Many would argue that Emile Berliner was the true inventor of the microphone, while others would argue it was Edison, even though the two did work together on the project.

The carbon microphone is a variable resistance device that turns sound waves into electrical audio signals. One plate is thicker and stationary, while the other plate is very thin and acts as a diaphragm. Varying sound pressure sound waves at the diaphragm causes it to vibrate and exert varying pressure on the carbon granules. This, in turn, causes a changing electrical resistance between the plates. A steady DC voltage is applied across the plates. The varying resistance between these plates causes modulation in the current that coincides with the diaphragm movement.

Again, Emile Berliner is often credited with the invention of the first carbon microphone in along with Thomas Edison. In , after a controversial legal discussion, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Edison had invented the microphone and the original patent was overturned and awarded to Edison. Prior to the widespread use of vacuum tube technology in the s, the carbon microphone reigned supreme as the only practical method of producing high-level audio signals. Carbon microphones were used in a majority of telephone systems until the s when electret microphones became a cheaper and higher quality option.

Ernst Werner von Siemens, the German electrical engineer and inventor, was awarded a German patent for the invention of the moving-coil dynamic microphone in Some say he has initially invented the microphone as early as This primitive microphone worked with a diaphragm and attached moving-coil within a permanent magnetic field.

As the diaphragm and coil moved, a small electrical current was induced across them. Though this microphone worked and was a huge step forward in microphone development, it did not gain popularity in its time. The advent of transformers and stronger permanent magnets the s would eventually bring moving-coil dynamic microphone technology into the realm of practicality. Note that in , the magnetophone was invented a moving-coil microphone with stronger magnets and amplifiers that used transformers and vacuum tubes.

In , American scientists Edward C. Wente and Albert L. Thuras invented a close approximation of the modern moving-coil dynamic microphone. Improvements in material and design have happened since then, but the basic design has remained the same. Many names are mentioned when discussing the inventor of the electrical transformer including William Stanley, Nikola Tesla, and George Westinghouse. Since then, many microphones have benefitted from both step-up and step-down transformer-coupled outputs.

He found that the carbon worked better if roasted. This, combined with a few structural improvements, produced what is known as the carbon-button microphone.

This improved type of carbon mic would ultimately be used in all Bell telephones until the s. In , Sir John Ambrose Fleming, an English electrical engineer and physicist, invented the first vacuum tube. By the s, vacuum tubes became widely used in technology and were starting to be experimented with in the world of microphones. Lee De Forest, in , invented the first triode vacuum tube the basic tube used in microphones. The patent was awarded in In , Edward Christopher Wente, an American physicist, invented the first-ever condenser microphone while working at Western Electric.

Like its predecessor the carbon microphone , the condenser microphone utilized two plates. However, the condenser microphone did not include any carbon granules and rather had an empty space between the plates. A consistent voltage was applied across the plate to hold a fixed charge. As had been done with the carbon microphone, one of the plates was very thin and acted as a diaphragm, moving in sympathy with the sound waves that hit it. The other plate the backplate was thicker and stationary.

As the diaphragm moved, the distance between the plates changed, which altered the capacitance of the parallel-plate capacitor. By maintaining a fixed charge across the plates, any change in capacitance caused an inversely proportional change in voltage.

Therefore, the moving diaphragm caused a coinciding AC voltage mic signal to be outputted from the mic. The condenser microphone is one of the two main microphone transducer types on the market today. In , Paul Langevin, the French physicist, was the first person to use piezoelectric crystals to detect sound. This sound capturing device, however, was used as an ultrasonic submarine detector.

It was used in conjunction with an ultrasound frequency emitter. Together, the devices were used to calculate the distance of enemy submarines by knowing the amount of time it took the signal from the emitter to travel to the submarine, echo off, and travel back to the microphone.

It is said that in , Alexander Nicolson not the Scottish lawyer produced the first piezoelectric microphone for capturing sound waves. He did so while also developing piezoelectric loudspeakers and phonograph pickups. The electret microphone is said to have been invented in the s patent awarded to Gerhard Sessler in However, the earliest electret microphone was perhaps invented in by the Japanese scientist Yoguchi. This primitive electret microphone worked similarly to the aforementioned condenser microphone.

The backplate of the microphone was made of an electret material, which was designed to hold the required fixed charge across the plates. Electret materials, at this time, could not sustain this charge for very long, so this microphone design never reached the market and was quickly forgotten. The Marconi-Sykes magnetophone was the first-ever moving-coil type microphone. It was invented by the English engineer Captain Henry Joseph Round in during his time as chief engineer at Marconi.

The microphone quickly became the standard for BBC studios in London and remained so until The magnetophone was made of a cylindrical iron pot with a carefully place cylindrical pole piece in its centre.

This odd-shaped magnet had a thin cylindrical cavity with one magnetic pole to its interior the pole piece and the other magnetic pole to its exterior the iron pot.

At the top of this magnetic piece was a paper diaphragm. The diaphragm was attached at its outer circumference to the iron pot and was connected to the pole piece in the centre, giving it an annular shape. A light coil of conductive aluminum wire was attached to the paper diaphragm via cotton-wool pads fixed with rubber solution. This light coil was suspended inside the cylindrical cavity of the magnetic piece. As the annular diaphragm moved, so too did the aluminum coil.

As this coil moved within the magnetic field of the iron pot and pole piece, an electrical voltage was produced across the coil via electromagnetic induction.

The mic signal was then sent through two amplifier stages each made of an input transformer, multiple vacuum tubes, capacitors, resistors, and an output transformer. The signal was then sent through a final output transformer and outputted as a relatively strong audio signal. Figure E1. Figure E2. Figure E3. RCA Type 1. Western Electric A. Ellis Electrical Laboratory Model 30N. Continental Model Figure E4.

The History of Microphones. Emile Berliner and the History of the Gramophone. Elisha Gray and the Race to Patent the Telephone. Famous Black Inventors of the 19th- and Early 20th-Centuries. History's 15 Most Popular Inventors. May Calendar of Famous Inventions and Birthdays. The Most Important Inventions of the 19th Century. Thomas Edison's Greatest Inventions.

Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for ThoughtCo. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. I Accept Show Purposes.