Lee De Forest and the Invention of Sound Movies, 1918-1926

Lee de Forest received his Ph D in physics and electricity from Yale in 1899 and entered the 20th Century into a world of silence - the silent film of Edison and the quiet key clicks of the dots and dashes of Marconi's wireless telegraph. By 1906 he had patented his signature invention, the three-element vacuum tube he called the “Audion.” Beginning in 1918 he developed and patented a system of writing sound on motion picture film for synchronized talking pictures. Between 1920 and 1926 he worked with fellow inventor Theodore Case to develop the Phonofilm system of variable density recording. De Forest and Case ended up in court, with neither the winner. But for all subsequent systems of sound for motion pictures, the de Forest tube was the key as it allowed amplification of audio using loudspeakers which made it possible for audiences to experience talking pictures. In 1960 de Forest received an Oscar for his sound-on-film contributions.

Published

2012-10

Content type

Original Research

Keywords

sound-on-film, variable density, Lee de Forest, vacuum tube, Audion, arc, selenium cell, Theodore Case, Lauste, Bell, Edison, Fleming, Ruhmer, Vitaphone, Phonofilm, Dickson, Fox, SMPE, Oscar

DOI

10.5594/M001485

ISBN

978-1-61482-952-2