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N0KFQ > TODAY 10.08.10 18:15l 57 Lines 2681 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Aug 10
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Sent: 100810/1538Z @:N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA #:14084 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:14084_N
From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@WW
Aug 10, 1937:
First-ever electric guitar patent awarded to the Electro String
Corporation
Versatile, inexpensive and relatively easy to play, the acoustic
guitar was a staple of American rural music in the early 20th
century, particularly black rural music such as the blues. But a
significant physical limitation made it a poor fit in ensembles
made up of brass, woodwind and orchestral string instruments:
The acoustic guitar was simply too quiet. What transformed the
guitar and its place in popular music, and eventually
transformed popular music itself, was the development of a
method for transforming the sound of a vibrating guitar string
into an electrical signal that could be amplified and
re-converted into audible sound at a much greater volume. The
electric guitar—the instrument that revolutionized jazz, blues
and country music and made the later rise of rock and roll
possible—was recognized by the United States Patent Office on
this day in 1937 with the award of Patent #2,089.171 to G.D.
Beauchamp for an instrument known as the Rickenbacker Frying
Pan.
Inventor G.D. Beauchamp, partner with Adolph Rickenbacher in the
Electro String Instrument Corporation of Los Angeles,
California, spent more than five years pursuing his patent on
the Frying Pan. It was a process delayed by several areas of
concern, including the electric guitar’s reliance on an
engineering innovation that dated to the 19th century. When a
vibrating string is placed within a magnetic field, it is
possible to "pick up" the sound waves created by that string’s
vibrations and convert those waves into electric current.
Replace the word "string" with the word "membrane" in that
sentence, however, and you also have a description of how a
telephone works. For this reason, Beauchamp’s patent application
had to be revised multiple times to clarify which of his
individual claims were truly novel and which were merely new
applications of existing patents.
On August 10, 1937, the Patent Office approved the majority of
Beachamp’s claims—primarily those relating to the unique design
of the Frying Pan’s "pickup," a heavy electromagnet that
surrounded the base of the steel strings like a bracelet rather
than sitting below them as on a modern electric guitar.
Unfortunately for the Electro String Corporation, Beauchamp’s
specific invention had long since been obsolesced by the
innovations of various competitors, rendering the patent awarded
on this day in 1937 an item of greater historical importance
than economic value.
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