Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

noise to enter the microphone on both sides of the diaphragm. The sound
striking the back of the diaphragm is 180 degrees out of phase with the sound
at the front. This causes a very impressive cancellation of the unwanted noise
whilst the speaker’s voice, which is less than a 1/4 of an inch from the front
opening, dominates the transmission.
In terms of manufacturing costs it would be hard to produce a cheaper
microphone. A carbon button is a very small tin of glorified coal dust
(carbon granules) with a simple diaphragm attached. A bit of wire and
some lightweight plastic fittings and that is it! Pure genius!
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After some initial military skepticism the product was thoroughly tested
and a first order came through to Khan and Burrows for 100,000 units!
The T45 was soon taken up by all branches of America’s armed forces
and the success rate of combat communications rose to 90%.
Rags to RICHES
Prior to World War 2 Electro-Voice was a small struggling company,
with 20 employees, manufacturing a handful of dynamic and velocity
microphones per week. By the latter part of the war Electro-Voice had
500 employees working in 3 shifts producing more than 2,000 T45
microphones a day! After WW2 it was also adopted by commercial
aviation and remained in service for several decades. The T45 was also
used on the Mercury, Gemini and Skylab space missions.
Over the entire production run more than a million were produced placing
the T45 among the highest selling microphones ever made.
During the war many small firms went out of business due to a shortage
of manpower and materials, but for those involved in the war effort
fortunes were to be made. In 1946 Electro-Voice moved into an
impressive new factory at Buchanan Michigan where they continued to
manufacture innovative and exciting audio products for the next 60 years.
SHEEP IN THE ROAD : NUMBER ELEVEN