Radio today (Sept 1935-Dec 1936)

Two million dollars' worth of these radio-speaker organs were sold during the past twelve months. THRU THE LABORATORY KEYHOLE RADIO-TUBE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS SEEN AS COMING INDUSTRY * IN the average radio set, tubes are used to reproduce music. But similar tubes and circuits can be used as original sources of musical tones, so that a performer may sit before a keyboard and create music from such electrical oscillations. For centuries people have delighted in creating their own music. Prior to the advent of the phonograph and radio broadcasting, nearly all music was individually created in this way This universality of musical interest suggests that large market opportunities exist for individually played, creative musical instruments employing electrical oscillations instead of vibrating strings or air columns. Already a number of such radiotube musical instruments have been developed, and some are being offered on the market. So far, however, i adio-receiver manufacturers have not gone into this field (with the exception of RCA's entry into Theremin production several years ago). Opportunities missed That radio-set makers have not gone into the musical-instrument business is, however, not surprising. The telephone was not developed by the telegraph interests. Electric lights were not pioneered by the oil-lighting magnates of the day. Bailroads did not promote airplanes. Instead, in each case it was left for an entirely new group to develop the innovation and carry it to the point of commercial use. If this history is repeated in the electrical-instrument field, radio-set makers will be overlooking a logical extension of their own business that is already bringing in many hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly, declared Benjamin F. Miessner, radio inventor and experimenter of Millburn, N. J., who already has a number of important radio-receiver inventions to his credit. $2,000,000 sales Speaking before the Institute of Badio Engineers at New York last month, Mr. Miessner presented demonstrations of several new electronic music instruments, whose recent commercial development has set a phenomenal first year's sales record exceeding $2,000,000. Over 1,500 Hammond organs have been sold, retailing at $1,250, he said. Electricallyamplified guitars, banjos, ukuleles, violins, and other portable instruments have also been produced in considerable numbers. "It is regrettable that the radio industry has given such scant attention to this the youngest member of the electronic family," commented Mr. Miessner. "We are seeing a revolution in the methods of generating and controlling musical tones, and the future of this infant industry is exceedingly promising. All indications point to a considerably larger business this coming year." Miessner, a pioneer inventor in this field with 32 patents of his own — traced the evolution of electric tone production, pictured the important developments, and demonstrated a number of the new instruments. He stated that the U. S. patents alone in this field already number about 300, and that these are rapidly increasing; that the normal incubation period of forty years for radically new inventions has already transpired, and that commercial activities are now well under way. New instruments Among the instruments demonstrated were the Hammond electric organ, the Telefunken Trautonium, the Rickenbacher guitar, and a new electronic organ developed by Mr. Miessner, using air-blown harmonium reeds as the original vibration sources and fitted with electrostatic pickup devices for converting these vibrations into electric voltages. As a guide to other inventors and research workers, Mr. Miessner tabiilated the various methods which can be applied to the development of individually played electrical musical instruments as follows : /. Pure electrical sources of oscillations (a) Oscillating arcs or any device with negative resistance characteristics such as dynatrons, crystal contacts, etc. (b) Belaxation oscillators (c) Vacuum tube with feed-back (d) Thyratron oscillator (e) Condenser-inductance discharge (f) Magnetostriction oscillators (g) Badio-frequency beat system (h) Electrolytic //. Rotary (scanning) devices Variable area, distance, impedance, or intensity (a) Magneto electric : generators, modulators, etc. (b) Electro-static : generators, modulators, etc. (c) Photo-electric (d) Acoustic siren (e) Phonographic : mechanico-acoustic-electric, mechanieo-magnetoelectric, mechanico-electrostaticphotoelectric, magneto electric, mechanico-piezo-electric, etc. (f) Impedance contact interrupters and modulators ///. Vibratory (a) Self-interrupter (b) Telephone howler (acoustic or mechanical feed-back) 14 Radio Today