Dictabelt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Diktabelt , initially and later rarely also called Memobelt , is an analog recording medium that was launched on the market by the American company Diktaphon in 1947. The device was designed as a dictation machine . It is a WORM media consisting of a 5-mil (0.13 mm) thick clear 3.5 "(89 mm) wide vinyl tape with a 12" (30.48 mm) circumference. The belt is stretched over a pair of metal rollers that drive it like a caterpillar . The analog sound track is fed onto the rotating belt in a spiral . Unlike the pen of a plate engraver, the pen of the Dictabelt is blunt and in recording mode it presses a groove into the plastic instead of making a groove out of it, which would produce chips.

Dictabelts were easier to use and had better sound quality than the reusable wax cylinder they pushed out of the market. The straps could be folded for storage and would fit in a normal envelope. However, the plastic lost flexibility with age. If a belt was stored sharply folded for a long period of time, it would become permanently wrinkled and unplayable without any special treatment. Dictabelts were red until 1964 and blue from 1964 to 1975, then purple until they were no longer produced around 1980. Each has a capacity of about 15 minutes at standard speed. At least one Dictaphone model had a 30-minute option at half speed and lower playback quality.

In the 1960s, the US state of Virginia required all of its county courts to equip themselves with Dictabelt machines.

A Dictabelt, along with a Gray Audiograph, recorded the Dallas Police Department radio during the John F. Kennedy assassination . These recordings have been reviewed by the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David Morton: Off the record: the technology and culture of sound recording in America . Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick 2000, ISBN 0-8135-2747-3 (English).
  2. ↑ Museum Curator: Dictabelt (1947-1980) | Museum Of Obsolete Media . April 30, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
  3. ↑ http://www.archeophone.org/dictabelt/windex.php
  4. ↑ http://www.poppyrecords.co.uk/ADM001/S09.htm
  5. ↑ Dictabelts . Retrieved July 20, 2017.
  6. ↑ about . Dictabelt Rerecord. Retrieved July 20, 2017.

Web links