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Jennifer A. Cutting asked:
Do any of you have any contact information for people using an optical
reading system for transfer of cylinder recordings?
Yes. During the 1980s, Bill Storm and Ken
Whistler worked to develop such non-contact optical playback technology for
cylinder records, at the Belfer Audio Laboratory and Archive of Syracuse
University (Syracuse, New York). Their results were interesting, but far
too "noisy" to supplant traditional electrical-pickup means of
cylinder playback.
Work continues at Syracuse, now under the
leadership of Dr. William A. Penn, Adjunct Professor of Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science. Dr. Penn's project to develop an
effective laser-based system was described in the article "Bringing Back
Voices From the 19th Century," in the Circuits (Technology) section of the
January 20, 2000 New York Times.
If you wish to contact Dr. Penn, you could
try:
You might also wish to discuss your needs with Susan T.
Stinson, the Curator of the Belfer Audio Laboratory and Archive. Sue has
long experience with the management, cataloging, and preservation of cylinder
records, at Belfer.
As Chair of the ARSC Cylinder Subcommittee (of the ARSC Technical Committee), I am
currently directing a project to develop recommended
technical guidelines for archival-quality cylinder playback equipment.
This is a collaborative effort to study and pool the best
technical ideas, to define the elements of optimal cylinder playback
technology. Through communication with participating equipment makers,
users, and technical experts, the ARSC project team plans to publish the ARSC
Guidelines for Cylinder Playback Equipment, representing a consensus on the
technical tradeoffs involved.
The ARSC Guidelines will describe preferred features and minimum performance levels, to offer a basis for: (1) the design and development of new equipment, and (2) the specification and procurement of commercial products. The goal is to define the means to play cylinder records accurately, and without harm, for increased access to these recordings. The ARSC document will be under development during at least the next year, but should ultimately provide
a solid technical basis for the development or evaluation of cylinder playback
equipment.
Jennifer, if you would like to discuss various equipment that
has been built to play cylinders, please feel free to telephone me at (440)
564-9340. I welcome dialog with anyone interested in this
subject.
Regards,
Bill
___________________ Bill Klinger 13532 Bass Lake Road Chardon, OH 44024 |