Biography of Fritz Pfleumer - Inventor of Voice Recorder Ribbons

Fritz Pfleumer was a German-Austrian engineer who invented magnetic tape for sound recording. He was born on March 20, 1881 in Salzburg and died on August 29, 1945 at

Fritz was born the son of Robert and Minna, née Hünich. His father Robert (1848-1934) was born in Greiz, and his mother Minna (1846-1932) was born in Freiberg. Fritz has five siblings namely Mimi, Hans, Hermann, Otto, and Mizi. one of them, Hans, emigrated to the United States.

Pfleumer has developed a process for placing metal stripes on r0k0k paper, and reasoned that he could be the same magnetic strip mantle, which would be used as an alternative to wire recording. In 1927, after experimenting with various materials, Pfleumer used a very thin paper that he coated with iron oxide powder and used lacquer as an adhesive.

Fritz Pfleumer's first tape recorder
 Fritz Pfleumer with audio tape recorder / tape recorderOn the invention he received a patent in 1928. On December 1, 1932 Pfleumer was awarded AEG the right to use his invention while constructing the first practical tape recorder in the world, called Magnetophon K1. The tool was first demonstrated at IFA in 1935.