Arthur C Keller

Biography

Keller joined the Western Electric Engineering Department in 1917 and became an employee of Bell Laboratories in 1925 when AT&T set up a research and development unit.

He graduated from Cooper Union in 1923 during his early career and studied at Yale University and Columbia University, earning a master's degree in electrical engineering.

Early career

As a young engineer at the old Bell Laboratories in Greenwich Village in 1925, he began to explore the relationship of sound, hearing, and the electrical devices of telephony. One practical application of this endeavor was adding sound to silent pictures, which was accomplished by playing synchronized records along with the film. As a result, motion pictures had speaking on-screen by 1927.

In the early part of his career he specialized in the development of "systems and apparatus for recording and reproducing sound, including electrical transcriptions for broadcasting, amplification, and in the development, design and testing of telephone instruments."

Stereophonic and high-fidelity recordings

A new stylus invented by Keller made possible the first high-fidelity musical recordings after he worked with sound engineer, Irad S. Rafuse. Their ideas led the way for single-groove stereo records when they proposed recording two sound channels on a master disk. On April 19, 1938, Keller was issued US patent number 2,114,471 for his idea of recording the two channels of a stereo recording in one record groove, each at 45 degrees from vertical.

Keller's invention of a "moving-coil" playback stylus made possible the first hi-fi records. In 1931-32 Keller made the first known stereophonic and high-fidelity recordings of orchestral music.

The recording industry initially resisted the new method of recording sound but the improved fidelity received a favorable response from Leopold Stokowski, maestro of the Philadelphia Orchestra, who welcomed the opportunity for his work to reach a wider audience. Stokowski's interest in broadcasting technology began in 1929 when the Philadelphia Orchestra began live broadcasts of their concerts from the Academy of Music in Philadelphia via the NBC radio network. Arthur Judson, orchestra manager, had been urging Stokowski to broadcast live for some time, but Stokowski was not satisfied with the sound of the early broadcasts. He approached Dr. Harvey Fletcher who was Director of Research at Bell Laboratories and known as the "father of stereophonic sound" seeking ways to improve this transmission.

Bell Labs convinced Columbia Records to try Zeller's new sound system and sent their electric recording equipment to Philadelphia along with Keller to work with Stokowski. They moved their equipment into the basement of the Academy of Music and hung their microphones throughout the auditorium both at rehearsals and regular performances thereby recording most of the concert season during the winter of 1931-32. In the process, they recorded over 600 disks.

The recordings were part of a project headed by Henry Harrison, who Keller worked for, aimed at improving the quality of recorded and amplified sound transmitted over the telephone network. They worked initially on long line transmission with improved sound fidelity and later changed their focus to high fidelity and binaural or stereophonic recording.

Sonar, electromechanical instruments and switching apparatus

Later in his career, Keller did extensive work in sonar, electromechanical instruments and telephone switching apparatus and during World War II he received two U.S. Navy citations for his work in sonar systems and other devices.

Awards and honors

Keller was awarded the Gold Medal from the Audio Engineering Society (AES) in 1981 for outstanding developments in stereophonic disk recording. He was a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and a member of the American Physical Society and the Yale Engineering Association.

He received the Emile Berliner Award from AES in 1962 for outstanding developments in stereophonic disk recording.

He held 40 American patents and 150 international patents in the fields of electromechanics, sound recording and reproduction, sonar, switching apparatus, electronic heating, magnetic tape, and telephone systems.

Personal life

Keller was married to Margaret D. McHale (1901-) on August 15, 1928. She was born on November 25, 1901, in Scranton, Luzerne, Pennsylvania, and was the daughter of John Clair McHale (1852-1925) and Bridget Ann Devers (1866-1908) who were from Crossmolina South, County Mayo, Ireland.

Keller retired from Bell Laboratories as director of switching apparatus in 1966. He remained active as a research and development consultant and as director on the boards of several corporations.

He died at age 82 on August 25, 1983, in Bronxville, New York.