Tape Splicer
date: label: date made
content: 1952
name: label: maker
content: Tech Laboratories Inc.
label: maker
content: Tall, Joel
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Not all inventions are momentous affairs that change human society. In 1952 audio engineer Joel Tall designed a device to securely hold plastic recording tape so that accurate splices could be made. Unlike modern digital recording techniques, editing tape involved making physical changes to the recording media. If one wanted to move a segment of a recording from one part of the tape to another, the editor cut the tape at the desired point and then placed it in the new location using adhesive strips. An experienced engineer could make such a splice so that only a well-trained ear could detect the transition.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Tall’s splicing block features a concave groove running lengthwise along the block. The top edges of the groove canted inward slightly and locked the tape in place. Cross-cut grooves at 90 and 45 degrees to the slot enhanced the accuracy of the cut. Tall received U.S. Patent number 2,599,667 for this invention which was manufactured by Precision Tech, Inc. of New York. This splicing block was used at CBS Studios in New York from 1952 until 1962.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Magnetic Recording
label: See more items in
content: Communications
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Joel Tall
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.334864
label: catalog number
content: 334864
label: accession number
content: 312352
objectType: label: Object Name
content: splicer
label: Object Name
content: recording tape splicer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 in x 6 1/2 in x 1/2 in; 2.54 cm x 16.51 cm x 1.27 cm