5 ms·

“Talking rubber”, a forgotten audio format

63 points by shawndumas 10y ago

danjayh 10y ago
I find it odd that the corporate research lab is popularly acknowledged to be dead when so many large companies maintain corporate research labs: http://www.geglobalresearch.com/ http://www.geglobalresearch.com/ http://research.ibm.com/ http://research.ibm.com/ https://research.google.com/ https://research.google.com/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/ https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/corporate-innovation-labs/ https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/corporate-innovation-labs/ <- a giant list of more labs ... Now, I will admit that corporate research has tapered off significantly since then, but 'tapered off' and 'dead' are two entirely different things. You might think 'But wait! the kind of basic physics research that used to be done by Bell is dead'. I counter with two arguments: - Basic computer science research is an equally valid, equally fundamental thing, and many of the labs listed above conduct it as their primary business - Basic physics research does still happen. I included GE Global Research at the top of my list because they in particular do a lot of research into materials, chemistry, etc (which will eventually be applied to things like turbine blades, batteries, LEDs, etc.).
- batbomb 10y ago
  CS research, for the most part, is a fractional cost compared to basic physics research, materials research, chemistry, etc... mostly due to the capital costs associated with setting up proper labs. The majority of science research, especially the risky exploratory kind vs. the incremental efficiency/process improvement kind, is mostly in universities and to a lesser extent, national labs.
  - shagie 10y ago
    IBM's research projects ( http://research.ibm.com/#featured-projects http://research.ibm.com/#featured-projects ) seem to include areas such as polymer research ( http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/industrialpolymers.shtml#fbid=7xlcoAUWFhM http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/industrialpolymers.shtm... ), semiconductors ( http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/chipchallenge.shtml#fbid=7xlcoAUWFhM http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/chipchallenge.shtml#fbi... ) amongst other domains. While there is certainly CSesque research in the list of areas, it is not the only area.
WalterBright 10y ago
"in 1954 the only way to record sound was to press a phonograph or record sound on film for a movie." There was wire recording: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_recording https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_recording
- joezydeco 10y ago
  AMPEX demonstrated magnetic tape recording in 1947, based on the German magnetophone technology used during WWII. Shipments to radio stations began in 1948. http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/company.histories/ampex/leslie_snyder_early-days-of-ampex.pdf http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/company.histories/ampex/leslie...
  - coroxout 10y ago
    The Dictabelt also became available in 1947, according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictabelt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictabelt An interesting article about archiving of Dictabelt and other audio format recordings: http://thequietus.com/articles/18004-sound-library-british-library http://thequietus.com/articles/18004-sound-library-british-l...
- linker3000 10y ago
  Also the Blattnerphone (steel tape): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Blattner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Blattner
dexen 10y ago
Speaking of forgotten audio formats: Tefifon, old german analog loop of elastic, non-magnetic, tape. More or less ``8-track meet vinyl''. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBNTAmLRmUg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBNTAmLRmUg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tTURrAWVYE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tTURrAWVYE
jacobush 10y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaking_clock https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaking_clock I believe some of these used the same tech
upofadown 10y ago
I think I once actually saw this. When I first started at the local telephone company back in the day I was shown the corporate PBX system which was interesting because it was a small step by step system in an era where such things were considered obsolete. There was a rubber belt running on pulleys in a transparent box. There were several magnetic recording/playback heads in contact with the belt. The bottom of the belt passed through a pool of lubricant. It picked up so much that the heads left a wake and had a kind of a bow wave. lubrication was apparently very important.
- Gibbon1 10y ago
  Likely that the heads rode on a film of oil. Thus was no actual contact between the rubber belt and the heads and so no wear. And also probably the oil film meant that belt moved smoothly under the heads. One could imagine if there was any friction the belt would tend to move unevenly (skips and jerks) leading to crummy voice quality.
agumonkey 10y ago
thetechmoan on youtube often brings old audio formats into light: https://www.youtube.com/user/Techmoan https://www.youtube.com/user/Techmoan not as old as talking rubber usually though

63 points by shawndumas 10y ago

I find it odd that the corporate research lab is popularly acknowledged to be dead when so many large companies maintain corporate research labs: http://www.geglobalresearch.com/ http://www.geglobalresearch.com/ http://research.ibm.com/ http://research.ibm.com/ https://research.google.com/ https://research.google.com/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/ https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/corporate-innovation-labs/ https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/corporate-innovation-labs/ <- a giant list of more labs ... Now, I will admit that corporate research has tapered off significantly since then, but 'tapered off' and 'dead' are two entirely different things. You might think 'But wait! the kind of basic physics research that used to be done by Bell is dead'. I counter with two arguments: - Basic computer science research is an equally valid, equally fundamental thing, and many of the labs listed above conduct it as their primary business - Basic physics research does still happen. I included GE Global Research at the top of my list because they in particular do a lot of research into materials, chemistry, etc (which will eventually be applied to things like turbine blades, batteries, LEDs, etc.).

batbomb 10y ago
CS research, for the most part, is a fractional cost compared to basic physics research, materials research, chemistry, etc... mostly due to the capital costs associated with setting up proper labs. The majority of science research, especially the risky exploratory kind vs. the incremental efficiency/process improvement kind, is mostly in universities and to a lesser extent, national labs.
- shagie 10y ago
  IBM's research projects ( http://research.ibm.com/#featured-projects http://research.ibm.com/#featured-projects ) seem to include areas such as polymer research ( http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/industrialpolymers.shtml#fbid=7xlcoAUWFhM http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/industrialpolymers.shtm... ), semiconductors ( http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/chipchallenge.shtml#fbid=7xlcoAUWFhM http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/chipchallenge.shtml#fbi... ) amongst other domains. While there is certainly CSesque research in the list of areas, it is not the only area.

WalterBright 10y ago

"in 1954 the only way to record sound was to press a phonograph or record sound on film for a movie." There was wire recording: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_recording https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_recording

joezydeco 10y ago
AMPEX demonstrated magnetic tape recording in 1947, based on the German magnetophone technology used during WWII. Shipments to radio stations began in 1948. http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/company.histories/ampex/leslie_snyder_early-days-of-ampex.pdf http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/company.histories/ampex/leslie...
- coroxout 10y ago
  The Dictabelt also became available in 1947, according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictabelt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictabelt An interesting article about archiving of Dictabelt and other audio format recordings: http://thequietus.com/articles/18004-sound-library-british-library http://thequietus.com/articles/18004-sound-library-british-l...
linker3000 10y ago
Also the Blattnerphone (steel tape): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Blattner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Blattner

dexen 10y ago

Speaking of forgotten audio formats: Tefifon, old german analog loop of elastic, non-magnetic, tape. More or less ``8-track meet vinyl''. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBNTAmLRmUg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBNTAmLRmUg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tTURrAWVYE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tTURrAWVYE

jacobush 10y ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaking_clock https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaking_clock I believe some of these used the same tech

upofadown 10y ago

I think I once actually saw this. When I first started at the local telephone company back in the day I was shown the corporate PBX system which was interesting because it was a small step by step system in an era where such things were considered obsolete. There was a rubber belt running on pulleys in a transparent box. There were several magnetic recording/playback heads in contact with the belt. The bottom of the belt passed through a pool of lubricant. It picked up so much that the heads left a wake and had a kind of a bow wave. lubrication was apparently very important.

Gibbon1 10y ago
Likely that the heads rode on a film of oil. Thus was no actual contact between the rubber belt and the heads and so no wear. And also probably the oil film meant that belt moved smoothly under the heads. One could imagine if there was any friction the belt would tend to move unevenly (skips and jerks) leading to crummy voice quality.

agumonkey 10y ago

thetechmoan on youtube often brings old audio formats into light: https://www.youtube.com/user/Techmoan https://www.youtube.com/user/Techmoan not as old as talking rubber usually though