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Sunday, May 26, 2024

Reel to reel facts - US vs. Germany 😏

 


After WW II, John "Jack" T. Mullin, who was in the US Army Signal Corp, brought back to the US, 2 German Magnetaphon reel-to-reel magnetic tape recorders. Mullin took the 2 Magnetophons apart and shipped them back to the US in 18 boxes to comply with US war souvenir size requirements. Also included were 50 rolls of German magnetic tape.


In late 1945 as Mullin was returning from France, he shared the Magnetophon information with a friend, Col Richard Ranger. Ranger decided to go to Germany, research the information and build an American version of the Magnetophon.


When Mullin arrived at his home in San Francisco he was happy to find the 18 boxes had arrived safely. He decided to go to work with a friend William A. Palmer who had founded W.A. Palmer & Co., a film production company in San Francisco in 1936.





After tweaking the electronics and converting to US tubes the Magnetophons were used to support Palmer's film business. To their knowledge, this was the first time magnetic tape was used to record motion picture sound with the subsequent transfer to film.


https://museumofmagneticsoundrecording.org/ManufacturersAmpex.html




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