Fidelipac

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Fidelipac , commonly referred to as NAB-Cartridge (NAB-Kartusche) or simply as Cart (Wagen), was a magnetic tape - sound recording format for playing for radio transmission of music, radio commercials , jingles , source identification of the transmitter. "Fidelipac" is the actual name of the industry standard for this tape cassette . It was developed by George Eash in 1954 , with the invention of the Fidelipac also being attributed to Vern Nolte of the Automatic Tape Company. In addition, it was commercially introduced by Collins Radio in the NAB Agreement in 1959 as a NAB cassette and was used by radio stations until the late 1990s, when formats such as MiniDisc and computer-controlled broadcast automation dominated.

history

The Fidelipac was the first commercially available tape cassette and was based on the endless tape loop developed by Bernard Cousino in 1952 . Sitting in the office of Cousino's electronics store in the early 1950s, Eash decided to license the fully developed Fidelipac format to Telepro Industries in Cherry Hill, New Jersey . Telepro produced and marketed the format under the brand name Fidelipac.

Band dimensions

Fidelipac was originally a tape divided into two tracks, ¼ inch (= 6.4 mm) wide, of which one track was the analogue sound recording in mono and the other a signal track that contained markings for controlling the playback device. There was a recorded sound signal on it, which stopped the device, another sound signal rewound the remaining empty remainder of the endless tape to the splice point and to the start of the recording. In some models there were two different beeps. A third tone that was only used by some devices triggered connected external devices. Later versions used three tracks, two for stereo sound and the third as a signal track.

The standard tape speed for Fidelipac devices in the broadcasting industry was 7½ IPS (~ 19 cm / s), some playback and recording devices could use other tape speeds such as 3¾ (~ 9.5 cm / s) or 15 IPS (~ 38 cm / s). s) can be set.

Cassette format

In contrast to the 8-track cassette , which was later marketed to home customers and was developed by Bill Lear in 1964 and in which the pressure roller was built into the cassette, the Fidelipac had a hole in the front right lower corner of the cassette into which the pressure roller of the Playback device was folded in to enable the tape drive via capstan. While later devices from ATC, ITC, Harris - and others - automatically inserted the pressure roller into the cassette when the play button was pressed and the capstan motor started when the cassette was inserted, early devices such as Sparta and Spot matic had a separate lever that the operator had to physically push or pull to set the pinch roller on the tape and capstan before tape transport was possible. The 8-track cassette with built-in pressure roller was played at half the tape speed and had insufficient tape guides and thus did not achieve broadcast quality. The lower speed with 8 tracks resulted in higher noise and a lower frequency response.

Three sizes of Fidelipac cartridges were available. The 4-inch-wide size A (Fidelipac model 300, 350 and MasterCart), which corresponded to the size of the 8-track cassette and with a maximum of 10½ minutes playing time at 7½ IPS (~ 9.5 cm / s) tape speed and the was the most common size of Fidelipacs. The 6-inch-wide size B (Fidelipac Model 600) offered more playtime. The even larger, 8-inch-wide size C (Fidelipac Model 1200) was often used for background music.

The Fidelipac size A formed the technical basis of the year 1963 by Earl "Madman" Muntz along with George Eash brought out Muntz Stereo-Pak system (including 4-track cassette called), which differs in the number of traces used - four, of which two are played simultaneously for stereophony and the tape speed of 3¾ IPS (~ 9.5 cm / s) - identical to the 8-track cassette - in contrast to Fidelipac with 7½ IPS (~ 19 cm / s). Fidelipac machines used a fixed sound head , while the Stereo-Pak system used a moving sound head to switch between the two recordings, similar to the 8-track tape recorder which moved the sound head between four positions to listen to each of the stereophonic recordings to access the cassette.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SAC Debuts Tape Cartridge Players . In: The Billboard . tape 71 , no. 7 . Nielsen Business Media, Inc., February 16, 1959, p. 24 ( books.google.com ).
  2. ↑ James Wong: A History . The Audio Circuit.
  3. ^ The History of Recording Technology. ( Memento from June 3, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ New Fidelipac Tape Magazine Used in Radio . In: The Billboard . Nielsen Business Media, Inc., September 14, 1959, p. 41 ( books.google.com ).
  5. ^ David Morton: Sound Recording: The Life Story of a Technology . The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md. 2006, ISBN 0-8018-8398-9 , pp. 158 ( books.google.com ).
  6. ↑ Michael Talbot-Smith: Audio Engineer's Reference Book . Focal Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-240-51685-1 .