After reading Craig Brougher's recollections and comments regarding
Dr. Hickman, I am in complete agreement with him as far as Dr. Hickman's
clear mind and his attitude towards design of things is concerned.
I also had the pleasure of listening to him when he was a speaker at an
IEEE meeting around 1970, in Baltimore I believe.

I don't personally know his attitude towards wire recorders as compared
to tape recorders.  What I do know is that Lear Inc. had designed and
marketed a wire recorder in the 40's.  I worked at that company as a
junior engineer in the 50's and was very impressed by it.

The wire recorder did not turn out to be a successful product, but
not for reason that the wire would not hold a recording for more than
three months.  The product was not what we now call "User Friendly".
The wire broke easily and "repair" could only be done by knotting the
ends together, that is, if you could find them.  I still have two of
these recording machines with several spools of wire.

Recordings that I made on these wires in the early 50's are still
brilliant and clear.  I recorded from the radio, from 78 rpm records
(played on the turntable which was part of the machine) and from a
dynamic mike.

In fact, I recently replayed the short speech made by Adlai Stevenson,
when he conceded the presidential election to Dwight Eisenhower
(anybody still remembers that?).  One of the things this last of the
real statesmen said, when asked how it felt to loose was, "I feel like
a little boy who stubbed his toes; it hurts too much to laugh but not
enough to cry".

And it's all still there, almost 50 years later.

Albert de Boer