Edisonhad previouslyexperimented with a variety of moving surfaces including tape, disc andcylinder. He chose to use a cylinder because of the technicalsuperiorityof its constant groove speed.
Between1877 and 1886Edison did little to improve the Phonograph, devoting much of thisperiodto the perfection of the electric light globe and a system for thedistributionof electricity.
ThomasEdison inventstin foil Phonograph.
Reproductiontin foilphonograph
In 1886Sumner Tainterapplied for patents on a new talking machine, called the Graphophone,whichused wax covered cardboard cylinders for records.
At thistime the talkingmachine was mainly considered as an office dictating machine. It was tobe many years before the first home entertainment talking machines weredesigned.
CharlesSumnerTainter uses wax recording surface.
By 1892musical cylinderswere being manufactured and sold. The coin-in-the-slot Phonograph,ratherthan the home entertainment machines were the biggest source of revenuefor the record makers.
TheGraphophone provedto be both a technical and financial failure and in 1894 the AmericanGraphophoneCompany was reorganised as the Columbia Graphophone Company, and a newGraphophone was placed on the market.
TheColumbia Graphophoneused many of the features of the improved Phonograph. It actually usedrecords of the same dimensions as the Edison records. However theGraphophonewas driven by a small spring motor. Also the Columbia Graphophone wasaimedat the home entertainment market. To counter this, in 1896 Edisonintroduceda new range of spring motor Phonographs for the home market. Sales ofboththe Graphophone and the Phonograph steadily increased.
EdisonperfectsPhonograph.
Thebiggest differencewas that whereas the cylinder records used hill and dale (up and down)vibration of the grooves, the Gramophone records used lateral (side toside) vibrations. Also the Phonograph could be used for makingoneâsown records; the gramophone had no such facility.
By 1897spring motordriven Gramophones were on the market and sales began to soar. Otherdisctalking machines, such as the Zonophone and the disc Graphophone, soonappeared.
When 10and 12 inchdisc records were placed on the market, the extra playing time gavethema distinct advantage over the cylinders which only played for about twominutes. Edison was to counter this by producing in 1908 a new cylinderrecord called the Amberol record which played for four minutes. This heachieved by using finer grooves rather than larger records.
The firstdecade ofthe twentieth century saw a number of other types of records andtalkingmachines being placed on the market. Many of these were withdrawn aftera short existence due to their infringement of basic patents. One thatsurvived for about twenty five years was the Pathéphone.Pathédiscs had hill and dale grooves and used a sapphire stylus. For a largepart of their existence Pathé produced disc records that startedin the centre and finished on the outer edge.
Berlinerinventsand markets the Gramophone.
The nextmajor improvementto the cylinder records came in 1912 with the introduction by Edison ofthe Blue Amberol record. These were made from celluloid, wereunbreakableand gave excellent reproduction.
Internalhorn machinesput on market.
EdisonintroducesDiamond Disc Records.
By themid twentiesthe introduction of radio broadcasting cause a drop in record sales. Inresponse the record companies introduced electrical recordings and anewrange of technically advanced machines (such as the HMV OrthophonicGramophone)to play them. The increased loudness and improved tonal qualitiesrevivedthe sales of both records and talking machines.
Recordsales declinedue to introduction of the wireless.
Wirelesswith hornspeaker
Apartfrom a steadyimprovement in fidelity, there was little development of the talkingmachineduring the 1930âs. Various electric gramophones with electricpick-upsthat could be connected to a wireless were manufactured, but the numberof gramophones and records sold was relatively low. Portable acousticgramophoneshowever sold well, even into the 1950âs.
LastPhonographsand cylinder records produced.
In the1950's in Germany,a rival for the LP record player was the Tefifon. This device usedcartridgesof endless plastic tape on which the microgrooves were recorded. Thesmallcartridges played for an hour, with larger cartridges playingsubstantiallylonger. Tefifons, including stereo versions, were marketed until themid1960's.
Microgrooverecords(LP) and the Tefifon introduced.
Tefifon withcartridgeloaded for playing
In themid-1960'sthe Compact Cassette, originally developed in 1962 by Philips as adictationmachine, became available as a domestic recorder, and along with itspre-recordedmusic tapes, it became the dominant form of magnetic recording for thenext twenty years.
The 8 Trackstereocartridge was introduced in 1966. It was originally designed for use inLear Jets and luxury cars. Its convenience and robustness made it asuccessfulaccessory for cars, but it was difficult for the user to access musicselectionson the tapes, and they soon disappeared.
Magnetic recording on tapes on reels,cartridges orcassettes was developed.
CompactDiscs introduced.
