Phonograph Needle

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phonograph needle

[′fō·nə‚graf ‚nēd·əl]

(engineering acoustics)

Phonograph Needle

a component of the tone arm that picks up mechanical vibrations as it moves along the grooves of a record. Phonograph needles are usually cylindrical, narrowing into a cone. The cone ends in a hemisphere, which is the working part of the needle. A distinction is made between fixed needles, which cannot be removed from their holder, and replaceable needles, which are fastened by a screw to the diaphragm in old-style sound pickups. Fixed needles are made from corundum or diamond. Corundum needles last about 150 hours; diamond needles last ten times longer. Replaceable steel needles with a service life of about five minutes were used to reproduce recordings from 78-rpm phonograph records.

REFERENCE

Apollonova, L. P., and N. D. Shumova. Mekhanicheskaia zvuko-zapis’. Moscow-Leningrad, 1964.

IU. A. VOZNESENSKII

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