Audichron

Audichron

Audichron was a talking clock, or a time announcer which was developed and produced by the Audichron Company, starting in the 1930s. There were several types of Audichron machines including the stand time piece (STM), M12, temperature machine (TEMP) and the Comparator.

Types

TM

This was the standard time piece. It made announcements such as: "Save by the 10th, earn from the first, at Central Brevard National Bank. Time one forty two." The STM had three recording drums and two sound heads. The drum on the left side of the machine was the widest; it held the customers' messages. On the right side of the machine were the hour drum and the minute drum. The hour drum was the narrowest of the three drums; it simply had the hours 1 through 12 recorded on it. The minute drum had the minutes 1 through 59 and o'clock recorded on it.

Inside the STM were a series of gears that caused the drums to rotate and index independently to new messages (there were up to twelve messages on a drum), new hours and new minutes. There was a sound head on each side of the machine. The first would come down and play the message. Then it would be raised and the one on the left would drop down to play the hours and minutes. STMs were typically used in small towns with fairly low traffic volume.

M12

This machine was similar in design to the STM machine. However, it had a feature called TLP (traffic load protection). M12s were used in larger cities that had lots of call volume. When call volume got very heavy, the M12 would shorten the message and then give the time. For example, "Central Brevard National Bank Time four o'clock." This allowed the phone company to handle more calls without overwhelming its system.

Temp

This was the temperature machine. It consisted on a long rotating drum (perhaps 18 inches long). Recorded on the drum were a series of temperatures (minus 40 °F to 120 °F, or −40 °C to 50 °C)). A single soundhead was attached to a lead screw. A thermometer was placed on top of the telephone company central office and connected to the Audichron temperature machine. This would cause the leadscrew to rotate and position the soundhead on top of the correct temperature recording.

Thus with a time and temperature machine, a caller might hear: "Save by the 10th, earn from the first, at Central Brevard National Bank. Time one forty two. Temperature 98." In reality they were hearing announcements with four rotating drums on two separate machines. Audichron sometimes made special temperature machines that went up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) for desert cities in such states as California, Arizona as well as others.

Comparator

The comparator units were found only in the largest cities. They were similar to M12 units but had an extra drum for seconds. Callers heard messages such as: "At the tone, the time will be twelve fifteen and 10 seconds" followed by a tone. The comparator units used an oscilloscope to monitor the National Bureau of Standards radio station WWV to ensure the time was accurate. WWV used an Audichron machine to broadcast the time over the radio.

External links

* [http://www.etcia.com/z-10.html Audichron Z-10]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Audichron Company — was a company founded in the 1930s by John Franklin in Doraville, Georgia [cite web|title= Audichron information |publisher=VoIP electronic mailing list archive|author=John Novack|date=2005 11 21|accessdate=2007 08… …   Wikipedia

  • Duquesne Brewing Company — Location Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Owner(s) Mark Dudash Year opened …   Wikipedia

  • Mary Moore (Time Lady) — A human speaking clock prior to the invention of automated equipment. In the United States of America, Mary Moore was the first national voice of the Bell System s standardized speaking clock[1] and also provided the voice behind many telephone… …   Wikipedia

  • Jane Barbe — (birth date|1928|07|29 mdash;Dda|2003|07|18|1928|07|29) was an American voice actress known as the “Time Lady” [Koppel, Ted. “Nightline.” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAjb DpBBhM# Voice Mail Jail] . ABC News, 1996. News Program. American… …   Wikipedia

  • John Doyle (announcer) — John Doyle is a professional announcer whose voice was used by, amongst others, the National Institute of Standards and Technology on their radio clock WWV. He was also a time and temperature voice for the Audichron Company.He was also a veteran… …   Wikipedia

  • Dial-A-Joke — refers to a telephone service that users can call to listen to previously recorded jokes. Jokes are recorded on an automatic answering machine. In the past, many jokes were recorded on cassette tape and then played sequentially, each caller… …   Wikipedia

  • Pat Fleet — Infobox actor name = Pat Fleet imagesize = caption = Fleet in studio, August, 2008 birthname = Patricia Trumble birthplace = Ohio, United States occupation = Voice Actor yearsactive = 1981–present spouse = William Fleet (1991 present) children =… …   Wikipedia

  • Don Elliott Heald — Don Elliot Heald (born July 7, 1922 in Concord, Massachusetts; died February 19, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia) graduated from University of Florida in 1947 and began his career at WRUF in Gainesville, Florida. He then took a news job at WSB radio and …   Wikipedia

  • ARIS — • Apollo Range Instrumentation Ship (Satellite Tracking Network, NASA, MSFN) • ARchitektur (integrierter) Informationssysteme ( > A.W. Scheer: Architektur Integrierter Informationssysteme Grundlagen der Unternehmensmodellierung , Springer… …   Acronyms

  • ARIS — [1] Apollo Range Instrumentation Ship (Satellite Tracking Network, NASA, MSFN) [2] ARchitektur (integrierter) Informationssysteme ( > A.W. Scheer: Architektur Integrierter Informationssysteme Grundlagen der Unternehmensmodellierung , Springer… …   Acronyms von A bis Z

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”