Lou Ottens

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Lou Ottens
Ottens in 2007
Born(1926-06-21)21 June 1926
Bellingwolde, Netherlands
Died6 March 2021(2021-03-06) (aged 94)
Duizel, Netherlands
NationalityDutch
Occupationengineer

Lou Ottens (21 June 1926 – 6 March 2021) was a Dutch engineer and inventor, best known for inventing the cassette tape.[1] Ottens was employed by Philips for the entirety of his career.[2][3]

Early life

Ottens was born in Bellingwolde on 21 June 1926. Ottens showed an interest in technology and tinkering from an early age. While in his teens, during World War II, he constructed a radio that he would use to secretly listen to Radio Oranje broadcasts. In order to avoid Nazi jammers, Ottens constructed the radio with a primitive directional antenna. After the war, Ottens began attending the Delft University of Technology, where he studied mechanical engineering. While attending university, Ottens worked part time as a drafting technician for an X-ray technology factory. He graduated in 1952. [4]

Career

In 1952, Ottens was hired by Philips. He started in the mechanization department of the Main Industry Group in Eindhoven. In 1957, he transferred to a factory in Hasselt, Belgium. At the time, this factory mainly produced audio equipment, including turntables, tape recorders, and loudspeakers.

1960-1969 - Head of Product Development at Philips Hasselt

In 1960, Ottens became the head of the new product development department in Hasselt. While in this position, he led the development of Philips' first portable tape recorder, the EL 3585. This project proved to be quite successful, with over 1 million units being sold.[5]

Compact Cassette

Building on the success of the EL 3585, Philips Hasselt started working on plans to develop a portable cassette recorder. The goal for this "pocket recorder," as it was nicknamed, was to be inexpensive and small, with low battery consumption but reasonable sound quality. Originally, Philips planned on working with RCA and using their cassette system, but Ottens found that the dimensions and tape speed of the set made it not suitable for their desired product. [6]

Philips eventually decided to develop their own cassette, with RCA's cassette as a starting point. Ottens started the design of the cassette by cutting a block of wood to fit into his jacket pocket.This wood block would become the model for what became the first portable cassette recorder, the EL 3300.

Ottens managed a team of ten or twelve workers who had experience in designing gramophones and tape recorders to develop the cassette and its equipment. While developing the cassette, the group often utilized resources and knowledge from the nearby Eindhoven location.[7]

In 1961, Philips decided to publicly introduce the cassette system at IFA Berlin. This introduction was not immediately very widely received and did not spark much interest among those in the audio world. However, some photos were taken of the system, which would later be used in the production of Japanese copies of Ottens' system, which were notably larger in size than the original.[4]

1969-1972 - Director of Philips Hasselt

In 1969, Ottens became Director of Philips Hasselt. Under his directions, the Hasselt factory would focus primarily on producing Philips cassette systems, with the popularity of general compact cassettes growing. With a growing demand for compact cassettes, Philips Hasselts grew larger, reaching an employee count of over 5000.[5][8]

Later years

After retiring, Ottens remained active in the field of technology for many years. He became chairman of the Dutch Association for Logistics Management in 1988. Ottens died in Duizel on 6 March 2021, aged 94.[3][9][10][11]

References

  1. ^ Dormon, Bob. "Compact Cassette supremo Lou Ottens talks to El Reg". www.theregister.com.
  2. ^ "Dutch inventor of the audio cassette tape dies aged 94". 10 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Lou Ottens, Philips-uitvinder cassettebandje, overleden: 'We waren als kleine jongens die leuk aan het spelen waren'". Eindhovens Dagblad (in Dutch).
  4. ^ a b Duk, Wierd, "Hoe Lou Ottens de wereld veranderde" (PDF), The Twentsche Courant Tubantia (in Dutch), retrieved 10 March 2021
  5. ^ a b Voogd, Fanta, "We hadden geen andere keus dan digitaal gaan" (PDF), De Ingenieur (in Dutch), retrieved 10 March 2021
  6. ^ "Het cassettebandje is terug en de uitvinder snapt niet waarom", NRC (in Dutch), retrieved 10 March 2021
  7. ^ Dormon, Bob, "Compact Cassette supremo Lou Ottens talks to El Reg", The Register, retrieved 10 March 2021
  8. ^ "HISTORY OF COMPACT CASSETTE", Vintage Cassettes, retrieved 10 March 2021
  9. ^ "Uitvinder cassettebandje Lou Ottens overleden". Telegraaf. 9 March 2021.
  10. ^ "De man van Philips-vindingen als cassettebandje en cd had geen 'trotsmetertje'". NRC.
  11. ^ Misérus, Mark (9 March 2021). "Lou Ottens (1926-2021) was de uitvinder van het cassettebandje, maar vond de cd beter". de Volkskrant.
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