Savoy Hill 'Meat Safe' Microphone Stand
- Made:
- 1923 in Chelmsford







Savoy Hill "Meat Safe" microphone stand for the Marconi-Sykes Magnetophone type microphone, made by Marconi's Wireless Telegraphy Company Limited, probably Chelmsford, Essex, England, 1923
Savoy Hill 'Meat Safe' microphone stand for the Marconi-Sykes Magnetophone type microphone, made by Marconi's Wireless Telegraphy Company Limited, probably Chelmsford, Essex, England, 1923.
This microphone stand earned the nicknamed the ‘meat safe’ because of its resemblance to meat storage cupboards in use at the time. A Marconi-Sykes Magnetophone microphone, rubber cradle, and cage sat on top of this sturdy wooden splayed stand which occupied the BBC studio at Savoy Hill from 1923. The microphone was supported in a sling of rubber to help isolate it from vibrations – anything more than a slight movement could be enough to dislodge the voice-sensitive coil within the microphone completely. The copper mesh box it sat within formed a Faraday cage which blocks out electromagnetic interference, which the exceptionally sensitive microphone was susceptible to. The knife switch on one leg of the stand was used to turn the microphone on or off.
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Science Museum: Information Age Gallery: Broadcast
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Details
- Category:
- Television
- Object Number:
- 2012-5118/298
- Materials:
- canvas, metal (unknown), textile and wood (unidentified)
- type:
- microphone stand
- taxonomy:
-
- furnishing and equipment
- tools & equipment
- audio equipment
- credit:
- The BBC Collection
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