Image from Berliner's first microphone patent
Image from Berliner's first loose carbon rod microphone patent.
Detail map of Brooklyn, New York, United States Overview map of Brooklyn, New York, United States

A: Brooklyn, New York, United States

Emile Berliner Invents the Microphone

3/4/1877

On March 4, 1877 German-American inventor Emile Berliner, working in New York City, invented the microphone. It was first used as a telephone speech transmitter. 

Berliner obtained two microphone patents:

  • U.S. Patent 224,573 Microphone (loose carbon rod), filed September 1879, issued February 1880
  • U.S. Patent 225,790 Microphone (spring carbon rod), filed Nov 1879, issued March 1880
  • UK Patent 15232 filed November 8, 1887

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