Thomas Edison’s first phonograph recorded sound onto tinfoil cylinders; often, the date for his invention is claimed to be August 12, 1877, although one of Edison’s aides, Charles Batchelor, stated in his diary that the machine was not constructed until December 4. Additionally, Edison did not file for the patent until December 24 of that year; the patent was issued on February 19, 1878. One other person, a French scientist named Charles Cros had also developed a theory similar to Edison’s ideas for the phonograph, but never actually produced a working model.
Edison with an Edison Standard Phonograph with its sound horn supported on a tripod in 1906. Source: (Getty/Colorized)
Edison created the phonograph while he was working on another project, trying to improve the efficiency of a telegraph transmitter. As he studied the machine, he noticed a noise resembling spoken words coming out of the tape of the machine if it was played at a high speed. This observation led him to wonder whether he could record a telephone message that could be sent repeatedly over the telegraph. He started to experiment by attaching a needle to the diaphragm of a telephone receiver, thinking that it could prick rapidly moving paraffin paper to record sound. The machine he created had two units, one to record the sound and the other to play it back. His next step was to use a stylus on a metal cylinder wrapped in tinfoil. He sketched his ideas for the machine and gave the sketch to his mechanic, John Kruesi to build. Using this machine, he managed to record “Mary had a little lamb.” After this invention, people started calling him “The Wizard of Menlo Park.”
The Tinfoil Recordings Didn't Last
Edison with his second phonograph in 1878. Photo by Levin Corbin Handy. Source: (Wikipedia/colorized).
Before he applied for the patent, he took his machine to the offices of Scientific American. The December 22 issue of the magazine reported on the invention, and with the interest in it, stories were published in New York newspapers and later, other American newspapers and magazines.
On January 24, 1878, the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company was established, and the machine became an instant success, but only experts could operate it and since the recordings were on tinfoil, they didn’t last for long. Since the recordings did not last, the machines were just a novelty at this point, and Edison abandoned work on the phonograph for a time, focusing instead on the incandescent light bulb.
Alexander Graham Bell Started To Work On The Phonograph
Edison with his second phonograph in 1878. Photo by Levin Corbin Handy. Source: (Wikipedia).
Alexander Graham Bell then started working on the phonograph with his cousin Chichester A. Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter. They used wax rather than tinfoil and a floating stylus rather than a rigid needle and were awarded a patent on May 4, 1886. They called the machine the graphophone. Representatives of Bell and Tainter approached Edison to suggest they collaborate on the machine, but Edison declined. By that point, he had finished his work on the incandescent bulb and had the time to work on the phonograph.
As he began working on the phonograph once again, he followed the work of Bell and Tainter, specifically using the wax cylinders, and his first cylinders were made of ceresin, beeswax, and stearic wax. He called his work using these white cylinders the New Phonograph; the Edison Phonograph Company was formed on October 8, 1887, and the Improved Phonograph was introduced in May 1888. This was followed by the Perfected Phonograph.
Continued Improvements
Edison in 1906. Source: (Library of Congress/colorized).
Jesse Lippincott formed the North American Phonograph Company on July 14, 1888, after becoming the sole licensee of the American Graphophone Company and purchasing the Edison Phonograph Company, as well as most of the other phonograph makers. Lippincott only saw the use of the phonograph as an office dictating machine, which didn’t prove to be profitable.
After working on dolls that contained wax cylinders for the Edison Phonograph Toy Manufacturing Co., Edison regained control of the North American Phonograph Co. when Lippincott fell ill in the fall of 1890. Edison changed the company’s policy from renting the machine to outright sales and increased the entertainment offerings on his “brown wax” cylinders.
To buy back the rights to his invention, he declared bankruptcy for the North American Phonograph Company in 1894, and in January 1896, he started the National Phonograph Company to manufacture phonographs for home use, announcing the Spring Motor Phonograph followed by the Edison Standard Phonograph. He kept improving the cylinders and the phonographs over time, creating cylinders with longer playing times and coming up with ways to mass produce them.
