Marie Killick

Marie Louise Killick (in some sources Maria, 1914–1964) was an English audio engineer who patented the truncated-tip sapphire stylus in 1945 for playing gramophone records.[1] The tradename of her invention was Sapphox.[2]

In 1949 Marie received a letter from Circuits Management Association Ltd praising the outstanding sound quality of Sapphox. The management placed Sapphox in their Odeon cinema in Leicester Square in London and, during the six month run of the film Hamlet, they used Sapphox on the two sets of records played during the interval of the film. The quality of the sound was such they were going to use Sapphox in all their cinemas as new installations were made[3].

Following the re-instatement of her patent, she was involved from 1953 in a lawsuit against Pye Ltd. (Killick v Pye Ltd) for their infringement of her patent. Killick won the suit in the High Court of Justice 1957. Pye Radio appealed but the judgement of the lower court, that they had infringed, was upheld in 1958.[4] However, her bankruptcy in the following year prevented her from profiting from the outcome.[5] She died in Guildford, Surrey, England.

References

  1. ↑ Meridian Focus Documentary (1996). "A Gem of an Idea". British Film Institute.
  2. ↑ "Key documents - Marie Louise Killick". Marie Louise Killick. Retrieved 2018-08-25.
  3. ↑ "Key documents - Marie Louise Killick". Marie Louise Killick. Retrieved 2018-08-25.
  4. ↑ "WOMAN INVENTOR WINS; Briton May Get 14 Million for Her Phonograph Stylus". New York Times. 1958-07-23. p. 3.
  5. ↑
    • "Golden Dream Comes To End In Bankruptcy". Chicago Daily Tribune. 1959-09-26. pp. W_A15.
    • Barrie Blake-Coleman (Winter 1995). "A Gem of an Idea: Mrs Killick and the Sapphire Stylus". Inventors World Quarterly #4.
    • Barrie Blake-Coleman and Cynthia Killick (1996). "A Gem of an Idea: Mrs. Killick and the Sapphire - Postscript". Inventors World Quarterly.



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