Oberlin Smith

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Oberlin Smith was an engineer who published one of the earliest works dealing with magnetic recording in 1888. In an article that appeared in the British magazine - Electrical World, he suggested (probably for the first time) the use of permanent magnetic impressions for the recording of sound. Smith had fabricated a cotton or silk thread, into which steel dust or short clippings of fine wire would be suspended. These particles were to be magnetized in accordance with the alternating current from a microphone source. Smith also discussed the possibility of using a hard steel wire, but thought it scarcely possible. A working unit was never built. Many of Smith's ideas were used by Poulsen when he developed the first true magnetic recorder.