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August 1949 Popular Science
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early
electronics. See articles from
Popular
Science, published 1872-2021. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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When most people of my era
(born 1958) see or hear something about a
Cone of Silence,
they immediately think of the old
Get Smart sitcom that
ran in the middle through late 1960s (we have the
DVD set). Don Adams, aka Maxwell
Smart, aka Agent 86, and Barbara Feldon, aka Agent 99 (no name actually
used), were the top operatives within the good-guy international crime fighting
organizations known as CONTROL*. Their arch enemy was KAOS*. One of the gags used
in the show was the Cone of Silence, meant to ensure a conversation between two
CONTROL agents would not he heard by anyone else. The problem was that it never
worked properly and the people ended up yelling to each other and/or holding up
handwritten notes - both of which negated the need for a Cone of Silence. The users
were most often Max and The Chief. The Get Smart series was a spoof of James Bond
and The Pink Panther. Anyway, this 1949 Popular Science magazine infomercial
by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) touted their anechoic foam product for
use in test chambers where measurements in the audio frequency range were being
made.
* CONTROL and KAOS are not acronyms or abbreviations for anything, just a play
on U.N.C.L.E. (as in The Man from...)
Radio Corporation of America Ad - Cones of Silence
RCA scientists find way to combat noises in rooms where normal sound control
methods are impractical.
You think of RCA Laboratories - in part - as a place where scientists work with
sound, for radio, television, phonographs. This is true, but they are also concerned
with silence.
One example is a recent RCA development, a way of killing clatter in places where
conventional sound-conditioning - with walls or ceilings of absorbent materials
- would get in your way. Overhead pipes, ducts or other fixtures might prevent the
installation of a sound absorbent ceiling - and you wouldn't want to blanket a skylight.
RCA's invention solves the problem in this way: Cones of sound-absorbent substances
are clamped together base-to-base ... then hung in rows where not in the way. Light,
inexpensive, easy to install, these "Cones of Silence" convert sound waves into
heat energy, absorb from 60% to 75% of the clatter in a noisy room.
How you benefit:
The development of this new functional sound absorber indicates the type of progressive
research conducted at RCA Laboratories. Such leadership in science and engineering
adds value beyond price to any product or service of RCA and RCA Victor.
The newest developments in radio, television and electronics can be seen in action
at RCA Exhibition Hall, 36 West 49th St., N. Y. Admission is free. Radio Corporation
of America, Radio City, New York 20.
Radio Corporation of America
World Leader in Radio - First in Television
Posted April 24, 2024
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