History of Microphones
See the photos below. In the future we will include more information on this history.
Carbon Microphone- 1879 - 1920's - (aka Button Microphone, Carbon Transmitter)
Inventor: dispute between Thomas Edison and Emile BerlinerThis type of micropone was low cost to produce and used in early telephone systems. It was used in early AM radio, including Reginald Fessenden's first long-distance transmission in 1906. It was disgaurded in the 1920's due to high noise and poor performance. It was used as a telephone repeater, which boosts signal to sent it down the line. That use was made obsolete when vacuum tubes replaced them in the 1920's. Telephone companies continued to use this type of microphone until the 1980's.
Video below: using early carbon microphones to record on a wax cylinder
See the examples below:
An "American Company" carbon microphone from the 1920's
Other types of microphones:
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