[BC] RCA phono plugs - How far back?

[RichardBJohnson at comcast.net]

When I was a kid, the "phono plug" was called a phono plug
and they were made by Philmore. They had a phenolic
insulator and a nickel-plated center pin that was difficult to
solder.

Methinks that "RCA" is part of the rewrite of history. I remember
coming across an early 45-RPM record player, with a RCA
label at Goodwill Industries. It had a Philmore plug on it and
it wasn't stereo so there were no reasons to have two
audio connections. The first stereo records were LP
records. In fact, I'm not sure there was ever a stereo
45 RPM record although radio stations played them with
the same needles used for 78 and 33-1/3.

Wikipedia reports:
"In 1958 the first stereo two-channel records were issued—by
Audio Fidelity in the USA and Pye in Britain, using the Westrex
"45/45" single-groove system...."
 
Note that 45/45 deals with angles, not disc speed.

The TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve) phone-jack is as old as the telephone
switchboard and Western electric. There were two sizes, the
early ones that had a 1/4 in dia. maximum size and a late-model
one that had some "!^$_!@#%" metric size before their use was
superseded by electronic switching. I never saw them used
anywhere in radio except for earphone jacks, microphones,
and musical instruments, even the junky ones on consumer
equipment were used to plug in earphones or "crystal"
microphones.

--
Cheers,
Richard B. Johnson
Read about my book
http://www.LymanSchool.org


 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Vernon  Kuehn <vkuehn at bellsouth.net>
> Help me with history.  In an audio related discussion group someone 
> wrote history this way:
> 
> "The RCA Phono plug was invented because of Elvis Presly.  The demand 
> was so great for Elvis music that RCA invented the 45 rpm record 
> player, and to keep the cost down, invented the RCA phono plug as a 
> cheaper alternative to the previously used T-R-S phone plug used to 
> connect older record players to radios and the new hi-fi sets."
>