If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giant

By Isaac Newton
The quotation says that the learning and the contributions of the people in the
past may help us in order to become more productive. We can use the learning that
they have shared to us and make it as our pattern to build our own learning that we can
share to the next generation.

Magnetic Tape
The magnetic tape is the oldest memory media for computers, still in use today. A tape
was used for the first time to record data in 1951 in the Mauchly-Eckert UNIVAC I
computer, and still in use today as a cheap and reusable archive media.
Oberlin Smith patent as one of the possible beginnings of the story of the magnetic
recording happened on September 8th, 1888, when in the article "Some Possible Forms
of Phonograph" of the British magazine Electrical World, Oberlin Smith (1840-1926), the
founder of Ferracute Machine Co. in Bridgeton, New Jersey, USA, published one of the
earliest known works, dealing with magnetic recording, and suggested the use of
permanent magnetic impressions for the recording of sound.
In 1877 Oberlin Smith learns of the invention of magnetic sound recording device
(Phonograph) by Thomas Edison and decided to improve the Edison phonograph,
without initially getting away from magnetic sound recording. In 1878 Smith conceived a
Electric Phonograph or Recording Telephone and draws up a "Caveat" (temporary
patent) for the US Patent Office to a certain extent as a preliminary stage for a patent
application on an Electric Phonograph or Recording Telephone, which deals exclusively
with magnetic sound recording. Oberlin had fabricated a cotton or silk thread (see the
nearby drawing from the 1878 "Caveat"), into which steel dust or short clippings of fine
wire would be suspended. These particles were to be magnetized in accordance with
the alternating current from a microphone source. Smith also discussed the possibility of
using a hard steel wire, but thought it scarcely possible. It seems however that a
working unit was never built.
Poulsen TelegraphoneThe Smith's ideas were further developed by the Danish
engineer Valdemar Poulsen (1869–1942). In 1894 Poulsen discovered the magnetic
recording principle while working as a mechanic in the Copenhagen Telegraph
Company. In 1898 in his Telegraphone (see the nearby image) he implemented for the
first time the magnetic wire, and it was the first practical apparatus for magnetic sound
recording and reproduction. In the same 1898 Poulsen obtained patent in Denmark for
his device, and later did the same in other countries, see for example US patent
661619). Magnetic wire recording, and its successor, magnetic tape recording, involve
the use of a magnetizable medium which moves past a recording head. An electrical
signal, which is analogous to the sound that is to be recorded, is fed to the recording
head, inducing a pattern of magnetization similar to the signal. A playback head (which
may be the same as the recording head) can then pick up the changes in the magnetic
field from the tape and convert them into an electrical signal.
Poulsen later developed other magnetic recorders that recorded on steel wire, tape, or
disks. None of these devices had electronic amplification, but the recorded signal was
easily strong enough to be heard through a headset or even transmitted on telephone
wires. On the 1900 World Exposition in Paris, Poulsen had the chance to record the
voice of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria, today preserved in the Danish Museum of
Science and Technology as the oldest magnetic sound recording in existence.
When Poulsen's patent expired in 1918, it was Germany to led efforts to improved
magnetic recording. In the early 1920's German inventor and entrepreneur Dr. Curt
Stille (1873-1957) from Berlin modified Poulsen's Telegraphone to use electronic
amplification and marketed the patent rights to the device, a wire recorder, to German
and British companies. In 1928, Stille formed the Echophone Co. and contracted with
Ferdinand Schuchard AG and its talented young engineer Semi Joseph Begun (1905-
1995) to manufacture the Dailygraph, the first cassette (magnetic wire) recorder. Semi
Joseph Begun also developed the Stahltone-Bandmaschine steel 6 mm wide tape
recorder in 1935. Wire and steel tape however were not a good solution and would be
replaced in the 1930s by thin plastic tape, conceived by Fritz Pfleumer.
Dr. Fritz Pfleumer (20 March 1881, Salzburg, Austria – 29 August 1945, Radebeul,
Germany) was a German-Austrian engineer. He graduated engineering at University of
Dresden in 1902. Pfleumer had developed a process for putting metal stripes on
cigarette papers, and reasoned that he could similarly coat a magnetic stripe, to be
used as an alternative to wire recording. In 1927, after experimenting with various
materials, Pfleumer used very thin paper which he coated with iron oxide powder using
lacquer as glue. Pfleumer was granted in 1928 a patent in Germany for the application
of magnetic powders to strip of paper or film.
The Magnetophone and the Magnetic Tape Fritz Pfleumer with his magnetic tape
machine (1931)
In 1930 the AEG (Allgemeine Elektrizitatsgesellschaft) company in Berlin, decided to
start the development of the Magnetophone machine, based on the Pfleumer principle
and in 1932 Pfleumer granted the right