Microphone
German inventor Johann Philipp Reis designed an early sound transmitter that used a metallic strip attached to a vibrating membrane that would produce intermittent current. Better results were achieved with the "liquid transmitter" design in Scottish-American Alexander Graham Bell's telephone of 1876 – the diaphragm was attached to a conductive rod in an acid solution. These systems, however, gave a very poor sound quality.
The first microphone that enabled proper voice telephony was the (loose-contact) carbon microphone. This was independently developed by David Edward Hughes in England and Emile Berliner and Thomas Edison in the US. Although Edison was awarded the first patent (after a long legal dispute) in mid-1877, Hughes had demonstrated his working device in front of many witnesses some years earlier, and most historians credit him with its invention. The carbon microphone is the direct prototype of today's microphones and was critical in the development of telephony, broadcasting and the recording industries. Thomas Edison refined the carbon microphone into his carbon-button transmitter of 1886. This microphone was employed at the first ever radio broadcast, a performance at the New York Metropolitan Opera House in 1910.
In 1916, E.C. Wente of Western Electric developed the next breakthrough with the first condenser microphone. In 1923, the first practical moving coil microphone was built. The Marconi-Sykes magnetophone, developed by Captain H. J. Round, became the standard for BBC studios in London. This was improved in 1930 by Alan Blumlein and Herbert Holman who released the HB1A and was the best standard of the day.
Gauge Precision Instruments
In 2007 Chandler Bridges and Rob Chiarelli begin experimentation in loudspeaker and microphone design. In 2008 Gauge Precision Instruments introduces the ECM-87, their first cardioid condenser microphone. Gauge introduced the ECM-47 in 2009, their first multi-pattern Tube microphone. That year Gauge also introduced the USB-87, a Universal Serial Bus powered microphone designed specifically for use with the personal computer, and the ECM-84 and ECM-84SE, their first small diaphragm electret condenser microphone. In 2010, the company introduced the ECM-58, their first hand-held dynamic microphone. The ECM58 was discontinued in April, 2012 and the company introduced the ECM87 Stealth Microphone, an alternate version of the ECM87 Classic. In 2013, the company introduced the MP-1073, their first microphone preamplifier.