Emile Berliner, German-American Inventor

Berliner, with the model of the first phonograph machine which he invented. Emile Berliner (May 20, 1851 - August 3, 1929) was a German-born American inventor. He became interested in the new audio technology of the telephone and phonograph, and invented an improved telephone transmitter (one of the first type of microphones). The patent was acquired by the Bell Telephone Company, see The Telephone Cases. But on February 27, 1901 the United States Court of Appeal declared the patent void. In 1886 Berliner began experimenting with methods of sound recording. He was granted his first patent for what he called the gramophone in 1887. The first gramophones recorded sound using horizontal modulation on a cylinder coated with a low resistance material such as lamp black, subsequently fixed with varnish and then copied by photoengraving on a metal playback cylinder. This was similar to the method employed by Edison's machines. In 1888 Berliner invented a simpler way to record sound by using discs. Berliner's other inventions include a new type of loom for mass-production of cloth; an acoustic tile; and an early version of the helicopter. Between 1907 and 1926, Berliner dedicated himself to improving the technologies of vertical flight through the development of a light-weight rotary engine, which he improved upon throughout the 1910s and 1920s. Berliner experimented with the use of a vertically mounted tail rotor to counteract torque on his single main rotor design. And it was this configuration that led to the mechanical development of practical helicopters of the 1940s. Berliner, who suffered a nervous breakdown in 1914, was also active in advocating improvements in public health and sanitation. He died of a heart attack in 1929 at the age of 78

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Berliner Disc Emil German American German Born German-american German-born Gramophone Phonograph Transmitter

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