Invention of the Headphones – by Bradley Patrick
Headphones play an important part in the day-to-day life of the population. Either while waiting to go to work on the subway and listening to music or while talking to a client on a phone. More and more people use headphones daily.
Headphones were invented before traditional speakers were. They were invented by Nathaniel Baldwin (1878-1961) in 1910. Nathaniel Baldwin was always building as a child. He built his own bicycle and steam engine. When he got older Nathaniel went to Stanford University and earned a degree in electrical engineering. He then went on to teach theology and physics at Brigham Young University.
Nathaniel Baldwin was fundamentalist Mormon. He was going to church and was having trouble hearing the speakers while sitting far away in the back. This led him to work in his kitchen one night. He sat down and began tampering with coil and different parts. Finally, by using a compressed air amplifier, he then connected two sound receivers for each ear and thus the first pair of headphones was invented. Nathaniel then tried to sell his new invention and it was going nowhere fast. Then the United States Navy heard of the invention Nathaniel had created and knew they would be able to use it in the upcoming Would War. Nathaniel sold 100 pairs of his headphones to the Navy and with that money he started his company, The Baldwin Radio Company. Here he worked on improving his invention and produced more products relating to radio and amplifiers.
Work Citied
Brompton.co.uk (2012) Nathaniel Baldwin: A Sound Man | Brampton Bicycle. [online] Available at: http://www.brompton.co.uk/
Earphonesolutions.com (1919) A Look at Headphones through Time. [online] Available at: http://www.earphonesolutions.
Hefferan, VirginiaNytimes.com (2011) The Argument Against Headphones - NYTimes.com. [online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/
No comments:
Post a Comment