Microphones have become very firmly established in various spheres of our life. The devices are used almost everywhere, in phones, computers, for work in recording studios, on television and radio. Microphones are constantly used during the performances of vocalists or politicians, entrepreneurs and showmen. In this article we will tell you how the first microphone appeared, what kind of device it was and what was its purpose in the past centuries?
It can be considered March 4, 1877 — the official birthday of the first microphone. The device was created by American inventor Emil Berliner. The man worked together with Thomas Edison (invented the phonograph, kinetoscope). Emil Berliner became the owner of a patent for his new invention. This is a device that could increase the power of voice. Despite the fact that 1877 is an official date, in the era of antiquity there were devices that were built into vessels. These vessels were a kind of resonators and were used in theaters. The devices were attached to the walls and spectator rows. The goal was practically the same, that in ancient times, that in the 19th century.
One can argue for a long time, but when you mention the microphone as an electronic device, Alexander Bell, the head of the telephone company, can also compete for the primacy in creation. A year before the invention of the Berliner, Bell announced at an exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876 that a "liquid transmitter" would soon be born. The device will be able to transmit sounds, pick up incoming audio signals and convert them. The transmitter looked like a container where the diaphragm separated the wire and a light acid solution. The sound wave caused the diaphragm to oscillate, move. At this time, the wire created electric current fluctuations.
Berliner did not stand still. After learning about the invention, he upgraded it a year later. Emil made the sound more powerful, more natural, more transparent. That's how the first microphone appeared. In another way, it was called a "contactless transmitter". It had 2 electrical contacts, which were separated by a layer of carbon. In turn, the diaphragm oscillated when in contact with sound waves.
In the 80s of the 19th century, the carbon microphone was developed. The most famous is the Hughes apparatus, which appeared in 1878 thanks to physicist David Hughes. The modernization of the carbon microphone continued for 25 years. New devices of other types have not yet been created.
Improvements in the 20th century
The first condenser microphone was created in 1916 in the foreign company Bell Labs. The inventor is Eduard Vente. The device worked like this: it was not the resistance during sound conversion that changed, but the tank itself. In the early 20s, a Japanese engineer created a second kind of device — electret microphone.
In previous articles, we have already talked about what types of microphones exist. So, the dynamic microphone was created in 1924 by inventors from Germany — Gerwin Erlach and Walter Schottky. The dynamic microphone has proven its increased performance compared to the carbon microphone. And in technical aspects, the dynamic was even better than the condenser.
And what about Russia?
Russian inventors did not lag behind. In 1925, Sergei Rzhevkin and Alexander Yakovlev demonstrate a piezoelectric microphone. The scheme of operation is simple: the electrical signal was received due to the operation of the piezoelectric. Later, this type of construction was used to create a hydrophone. This is a device that recorded sounds underwater.
In the 30s of the last century, Russian companies actively began to produce microphones. One of the most popular and significant to this day is the Tula plant “Oktava". In Soviet times “Oktava” created carbon microphones, such as MM-1 and MRU. It is noteworthy that in 1961 Yuri Gagarin uttered his famous phrase “Let's go” into the microphone of the Oktava. And in 1974, Vladimir Vysotsky gave a concert in the hall of the Leningrad Institute of Nuclear Physics named after B.P. Konstantinov in Gatchina, using an Oktava ML-16