WIRE RECORDERS... Was that a thing? History and Repairing a 1940s Webster-Chicago Wire Recorder

Before tape recorders were practical, there was another star of the show... the wire recorder. These recorders used a thin wire to magnetically record sound. Let's take a look at a 1940's Webster Chicago wire recorder and learn a little about the history, as well as a little repair on this one. Maybe we can hear some voices from 80 years ago!

[jamesslick]

My grandfather was an amateur musician (jazz piano) going back to the 1920s. He had a home record cutter in the 30's and 40's! He was thrilled when wire and later tape recorders became a "thing" because he was tired of "eating" his mistakes! With magnetic recording he got a "free" do-over! He was always "hip" to new tech: He bought a TV in 1949 when our city only had ONE station. (He knew TV was going to get BIG). He also had the first VCR I saw in person in 1978. LOL.

[MadanamohananCheruparambil]

I don't know why much people are not responded to this gem....
I appreciate your interest on such antique beauty spot

[syed]

Nice video . Real antique eqpt. Great information. Thanks

[DennisMathias]

My gosh! Not exciting? You were listening to sounds recorded maybe 70 years ago! Wow!

[watcher]

Nice video. I have one if the same recorders. Many years ago in the mid 60s, I bought it for 25 cents at the Goodwill As-Is department, Most everything was 25 cents from the guy that priced things.
Worked fine for years. I need to recap it, and it uses the notorious 6X5 as a rectifier.

[ANIGHTWING]

Funny thing, first time I ever saw a wire recorder was on the old show Hogan's Heroes. Many, Many years ago says the feeling old man, lol. Cool vid, thanks. :)

[jamesslick]

Webster-Chicago/ Webcor (same company) sold a boatload of these. For a forgotten piece of tech, they are not SUPER rare, although I don't see them at garage sales like I did in the early 1970s. If my 10-year-old self in 1972 could have foreseen the future I'd have about 10 of this right now! (Don't even RIMIND me of the WORKING Philco Predicta TV I could have had for $10 in the mid '70s!) 🤦‍♂️It would be cool to digitize the recordings and put them on the Internet Archives (They will take almost ANYTHING!). I find "found footage" like that to be fascinating as all get-out.

[watcher]

By the way in the recording I can hear that the wire on the small spool may have jumped a wind. It's pulling through the wind causing that noise.
It's pulling through one revolution of wire where it should be pulling from the very outer layer, if that makes sense.
Another thing to watch for it make sure your felt brakes are working right! Nothing like a backlash of wire on these things when the take up reel keeps spinning when the small reel stops on rewind. The way to splice the wire if you get a break is a simple square knot.
If you get a kink in the wire it will easily break at that point, the wire is so brittle.

[Lucius]

Re: home recording. That goes back to the 1890s, when the wax cylinder was the dominant medium. Most Phonographs and Graphophones had a feed screw, which tracked the cylinder: with a recorder head, and a blank cylinder, people could easily record their own voices. When disc records supplanted the cylinder, there were a few attempts at home recorders; but it wasn't until the development of electronic recording that those became more popular.

[ronverreault]

My friend has an old wire recorder. They can't get it to work but are more interested in getting the recording off the wire. does anyone know a repair person that maybe can transfer the recording off the wire onto another media?

[johnstone]

The chassis on that unit is copper plated. Is that what you're commenting on regarding the color? I don't see any rust. For that set to work right, the 2 rubber idlers need to be resurfaced. 75 year old. rubber just won't cut it. Then it will need all new foil and electrolytic capacitors in the electronics.

[monaural.]

I’m still hoping that more music programs and airchecks from 1945 to 1955 turn up at some point with one of these things. They’re very rare, but do exist.