History (1998): First Patent on Magnetic Technology Filed in 1898

According to Grolliers Encyclopedia, the first patent on magnetic technology was filed in 1898, just a century ago, by Valdemar Poulsen, a Danish telephone engineer and inventor (b. 1869, d. 1942).

His invention was called the Telegraphone, the first practical apparatus for magnetic sound recording and reproduction. It recorded the varying magnetic firls produced by a given sound onto a wire. The magnetized wire could then be used to play back the sound.

The Telegraphone received considerable attention when it was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900. The few words that Austrian emperor Franz Josef spoke into the device at the expo are believed to be the earliest surviving magnetic recording.

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 131 on December 1998 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.