Rangertone

reel to reel tape recorders

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Manufacturer Profiles

© 2018 Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording  •  Webmaster • All pictures and content on this web site are the property of the Theophilus family,the Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording and reel2reeltexas.com • Photos of items in our collection are available for sale. We do NOT provide copies of ads, nor photos from other sources! All photo work is billed at studio rates and a deposit is required.

This is a list of information we have gathered from a variety of sources on some of the major analog reel to reel tape recorder and related equipment manufacturers. While we have strived to provide the best information available to us, there will be corrections and additions. We include personal stories about the companies when they are provided to us.  We always invite input on corrections and updates. Thank you!

Statistics 20142015  •  News coverage #1  News coverage #2  • view overview video of tape recorder collectionmobile videomore info • See also Multi-Track recording

Go to: • 3MAEG/MagnetophonAIWAAkaiAltecAmplifier CorpAmpexAmproA. R. VetterAstaticAstrocom/MarluxBang & OlufsenlBell & HowellBell LabsBerlant ConcertoneBeyerdynamicBrenellBraun GmbH/ASEBrüel & KjærBrushCetec GaussConcordCraigCrown • DenonDokorderDualEdisonEicoElectro SoundElectro VoiceEMI/GramophoneFairchildFerrographFostexFreemanGEGrundigHeathKitITCJVCKLHLeevers RichLyrecMagnecordMara MachinesMarantzMaxellMCIMitsubishiNagraNakamichiNeumannNewcombNeveOkiOtariPentronPhilipsPioneerPrestoRadio Shack/RealisticRangertoneRCAReeves SoundcraftRevereRobertsRolaSansuiSanyoScullySennheiserShureSolid State LogicSonySoundcraftSpectoneStancil HoffmanStellavoxStephensStuder ReVoxTandbergTape-AthonTapesonicTeac/TascamTechnicsTelefunken • ThorensTolnai ToshibaUher VikingVortexion Ltd UKWebster Chicago/WebcorWebster ElectricWestern Electric/AltecWilcox-GayWollensak

View calendar which lists company creation dates associated with world and recording history

 

 

Rangertone

Richard Howland Ranger (13 June 1889 – 10 January 1962) was an American electrical engineer, music engineer and inventor. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of John Hilliard and Emily Anthen Gillet Ranger, He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War I, earning the rank of Major. After the war, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1919 to 1923.

As a designer for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), in 1924, Richard Ranger invented the wireless photoradiogram, or transoceanic radio facsimile, the forerunner of today’s fax machines. A photograph of President Calvin Coolidge sent from New York to London in November 1924 became the first photo picture Richard Ranger with his Rangertone Organreproduced by transoceanic radio facsimile. Commercial use of Ranger’s product began two years later.

In 1930, he formed a company, Rangertone, Inc., in Newark, New Jersey. The company, which marketed the electronic 'Rangertone Organ', was sold after his death, and remains privately owned as Rangertone Research, Inc.

In 1932, he invented the NBC chime machine, an automatic device to reproduce the familiar hand-struck NBC chimes used by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) radio network. By connecting his electrically operated chimes with outdoor loudspeakers, he was later able to create the effect of church bells. He also did other work relating to electronic organs. (Photo right) Capt. Richard H. Ranger (left), the inventor of the pipe-less organ, the bell-less carillon and RCA's facsimile transmission, explains his latest invention to O.B. Hanson, manager of Technical Operations and Engineering of the National Broadcasting Company. The new automatic device now supplants the familiar three-note NBC chimes. (photo left) In this close-up view, the rotating drum with the metal 'fingers' that pluck the tuned reeds, as in a music box, can be seen. The notes G and E have just been sounded and the tuned reeds for the C note are being struck. At the end of the shaft on the left side of the rotating drum is what appears to be a cam that opens a set of contacts to stop the drum after one complete rotation. At the bottom center of the picture can be seen the top of a vacuum tube mounted in a horizontal position.

Richard Ranger presenting his reel tape recorder to Bing Crosby.  Unfortunately Ampex won the contract from Crosby.During World War II, he returned to the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a Colonel and was put in charge of radar and communications at the Radio and Radar Test Labs in Orlando, Florida. He later went to Europe as part of Field information Agency, Technical, an investigative team between 1944 and 1946 to examine German advances in electronics and wrote a series of technical reports on electrical components, communications, television, and (most significantly) magnetic tape recording.

After the war, Ranger's work led to further development of magnetic tape recorders. He developed a product using the German technology, and demonstrated it to potential users, including the members of the Institute of Radio Engineers, the National Broadcasting Company, the Radio Corporation of America, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and individuals like singer Bing Crosby.


His subsequent refinements led to improved synchronization of sound and visual portions of films. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Ranger with an Oscar in 1956 for his development of the tape recorder and synchronization of film and sound.


Richard H. Ranger was inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 1997.  Wikipedia

Ads from 1948 and 1949

 

Additional photos:

Richard Ranger sitting at his Rangertone organ - photo in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection  Richard Ranger photo description of his  Rangertone organ - photo in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection  Rangertone sync device for the Ampex 600   Rangertone RC-4 reel to reel tape recorder produced in 1947 in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection    Rangertoner reel to reel tape recorder produced in 1948 in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection   

Rangertone reel to reel tape recorder information in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection    Rangertone reel to reel tape recorder information in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection  Rangertone reel to reel tape recorder information in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection 

Two photos below provided by Jennifer Ritter with Digitec Interactive

Rangertone photo provided by Jennifer Ritter with Digitec Interactive  Rangertone photo provided by Jennifer Ritter with Digitec Interactive

Rangertone reel to reel tape recorder information in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection   Rangertone amplifier in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection  Rangertone amplifier in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection     Rangertone amplifier in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection  

Rangertone amplifier in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection   Rangertone amplifier in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection   Rangertone amplifier in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection   Rangertone amplifier in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection  


1948 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection

1948 Rangertone Brochure - clip to view pdf


Early Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection

Early Rangertone brochure - clip to view pdf


1949 - The Rangertone Tapeworm Newsletter

1949 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection  1949 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection  1949 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection  1949 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection

1950 - The Rangertone Tapeworm Newsletter

1950 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection  1950 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection  1950 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection  1950 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection

1951 - The Rangertone Tapeworm Newsletter

1951 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection  1951 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection  1951 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection  1951 Rangertone brochure in the MOMSR/Reel2ReelTexas/Theophilus vintage tape recorder collection


1956 Rangertone brochure of reel tape recorders and other products in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection  1956 Rangertone brochure of reel tape recorders and other products in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection  1956 Rangertone brochure of reel tape recorders and other products in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection   1956 Rangertone brochure of reel tape recorders and other products in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection      

Richard Ranger (left in photo below) designed a speaker system for JBL

Rangertone reel to reel tape recorder information in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection  Rangertone reel to reel tape recorder information in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection  Rangertone reel to reel tape recorder information in the Reel2ReelTexas.com vintage reel tape recorder recording collection  Richard Ranger (left)

   
 

See also Multi-Track recording

Go to: • 3MAEG/MagnetophonAIWAAkaiAltecAmplifier CorpAmpexAmproA. R. VetterAstaticAstrocom/MarluxBang & OlufsenlBell & HowellBell LabsBerlant ConcertoneBeyerdynamicBrenellBraun GmbH/ASEBrüel & KjærBrushCetec GaussConcordCraigCrown • DenonDokorderDualEdisonEicoElectro SoundElectro VoiceEMI/GramophoneFairchildFerrographFostexFreemanGEGrundigHeathKitITCJVCKLHLeevers RichLyrecMagnecordMara MachinesMarantzMaxellMCIMitsubishiNagraNakamichiNeumannNewcombNeveOkiOtariPentronPhilipsPioneerPrestoRadio Shack/RealisticRangertoneRCAReeves SoundcraftRevereRobertsRolaSansuiSanyoScullySennheiserShureSolid State LogicSonySoundcraftSpectoneStancil HoffmanStellavoxStephensStuder ReVoxTandbergTape-AthonTapesonicTeac/TascamTechnicsTelefunken • ThorensTolnai ToshibaUher VikingVortexion Ltd UKWebster Chicago/WebcorWebster ElectricWestern Electric/AltecWilcox-GayWollensak

 

 

 

Tour our collection! 

We offer seven hours of 50 video segments via download about our reel to reel tape recorder and microphone collection and the history of magnetic recording available at this link.

ORDER THE VIDEO FILES ON LINE - was 14.95  NOW only $9.95

There are 50 QuickTime H264 854 X 480 files in this download.  Play on MAC OS or Windows Media Player

While most content deals with the history and manufacturers of the reel to reel tape recorder, or tape deck, we cover many aspects of magnetic recording.

We provide 48 hours during which to download the files. After that the file access will expire.  Once the files are downloaded they are yours to keep.

© 2018 Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording  •  Webmaster • All pictures and content on this web site are the property of the Theophilus family, the Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording and reel2reeltexas.com • Photos of items in our collection are available for sale. We do NOT provide copies of ads, nor photos from other sources! All photo work is billed at studio rates and a deposit is required.