The Sound of Disappointment : Jacob Rabinow

Even if an inventor successfully markets a patent, aggravation and disillusionment still can befall him or her. Around 1970, Rabinow formed a company called RABCO to produce his straight-line phonograph. After two years of operating at a loss, he sold RABCO to a high-fidelity equipment marker named Harman-Kardon Company. He had several meetings with Harman-Kardon engineers to brief them on the details of his system. But despite his expertise and his 18 patents on phonograph-related inventions, the Harman-Kardon engineers deviated from his design in ways that Rabinow considered critical. He was not surprised to see his royalties shrinking as the Harman-Kardon design failed in the marketplace. A Danish company, Bang & Olufsen, purchased Harman-Kardon’s paid-up license and began producing a turntable that met Rabinow’s standard. Rabinow could feel proud but not enriched. He received no money by this arrangement, and his patent expired two years later.

Objects :
Turntable, ca. 1970
First Model of Servo-Arm for Phonograph Pickups, ca. 1954