Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

MAGNETIC RECORDING: WESTERN ELECTRIC. Mirrophone, Magnetic Tape Recorder, c.1942, wood and metal case, 395 x 330 x 488 mm, image 1
MAGNETIC RECORDING: WESTERN ELECTRIC. Mirrophone, Magnetic Tape Recorder, c.1942, wood and metal case, 395 x 330 x 488 mm, image 2
Lot 595W

MAGNETIC RECORDING: WESTERN ELECTRIC.
Mirrophone, Magnetic Tape Recorder, c.1942, wood and metal case, 395 x 330 x 488 mm,

5 December 2018, 14:00 EST
New York

US$1,000 - US$2,000

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our History of Science & Technology specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

MAGNETIC RECORDING: WESTERN ELECTRIC.

Mirrophone, Magnetic Tape Recorder, c.1942, wood and metal case, 395 x 330 x 488 mm, front panel with speaker, cathode ray indicator, motorized time indicator, volume dial, selector switch, 1/4-inch microphone jack, side with external 1/4-inch external speaker jack and internal speaker switch, removable back panel with power cord.

Bell Labs had been researching magnetic recording for some time before the development of Mirrophone which used Vicalloy tape—essentially magnetized metal ribbon—to record a 1-minute loop. It was far superior to the wire recording that had been developed by Danish physicist Valdemar Poulsen in 1898. The Germans had also been developing magnetic recording in a slightly different direction at the time, but their work was mostly unknown to the Americans due to WWII.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

Signed to Spencer Tracy 1952 Hemingway, Ernest. 1899-1961. The Old Man and the Sea, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952.

A Presentation Copy of Kennedy's First Book to Spencer Tracy. Kennedy, John F. 1917-1963. Why England Slept. New York: Wilfred Funk, Inc., 1940.

ADVERTISING POSTERfor 'The Suffragette' newspaper, [c.1913-1914]

ILLUMINATED ADDRESS – CLARA CODD Illuminated printed address signed by Emmeline Pankhurst, [1909]

MUSIC & RECORDINGS – ETHEL SMYTH Collection of printed music, song sheets and records, [c.1911-1912]