Edison
Click here to listen to Edison discussing the future of electricity.
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The concept of recording was to imprint the surface of some malleable material with a pattern that approximated the vibration of the air as it transmitted sound. The picture at the left used tinfoil wrapped around a cylinder. Sound was input and output via a large megaphone containing a diaphragm that was attached to a stylus. |
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Early recording on brown and black wax cylinders were produced first by the Edison Company and Edison Bell Company. Edison's National Phonograph Company, Cylinder Number 41 Liberty Bell March written by John Phillip Sousa and played by the Edison Concert Band at the end of the 19th century. Edison's National Phonograph Company Cylinder number 7192 -Violin Solo, Schubert's Serenade played by Charles D'Almaine |
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The gramophone which used discs of rubber instead of cylinders was invented by Emile Berliner and introduced in 1893. The rubber discs were much cheaper to produce than cylinders and copies could be pressed from a zinc master. Here's Berliner's explanation of his invention:
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Gramophone: a talking machine wherein a sound is first traced into a fatty film covering a metal surface and which is then subjected to the action of an acid or etching fluid which eats the record into the metal. This record being a continuous wavy line of even depth is then rotated and not only vibrates the reproducing sound chamber but also propels the same by the hold its stylus retains in record groove. The original record can be duplicated ad infinitum by first making an electrotyped reverse or matrix and then pressing the latter into hard rubber, celluloid or similar material which is soft when warm and quite hard when cold. |
Although the medium had changed the concept of a sound wave pattern being printed and the played back had not changed nor did it until the advent of magnetic tape.
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Copyright 1995-2008 J. Hepple, Inc. DBA Fx, Sound & Magic |
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