The Phonograph
Thomas Alva Edison’s Work of Wonder
Joseph P
US History Honors
Period 6
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Description of the Phonograph
• The Phonograph, more commonly known as the Record Player, is
an instrument for producing sound as a result of the vibration of a
stylus (colloquially known as a “needle”).
• A record is a disk in which sound patterns are stored, which are in
turn replayed by the stylus. These sounds are amplified through a
large horn or series of speakers atop the phonograph.
(Phonograph, Britannica).
• Though experiments dedicated to building a machine to record
sound had been conducted as early as 1857, the invention of the
phonograph is credited to inventor Thomas Alva Edison, in 1877.
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Early Attempts at Creating the
Phonograph
• As early as 1808, several attempts had been made to
create a device that could record sound.
• The earliest known device for recording “airborne”
speech, music, and natural sounds was the
phonautograph, created in 1857. In this device,
sound waves traveling through the air vibrated a
parchment diaphragm which was linked to a bristle.
The bristle then traced a line in a collection of
soot on a piece of paper placed on a rotating
cylinder (Britannica, “Phonautograph”).
• This device was incapable of playing back sound:
its only function was to serve as a visual
illustration of the vibrations of sound waves.
• Several other attempts at creating a soundrecording piece of machinery were made in between
1857 and 1877, the most notable being the
paleophone, invented by Frenchman Charles Cros on
30 April 1877, less than seven months before Thomas
Edison’s successful invention of the phonograph.
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• The original phonautograph used in French
scientist Scott de Martinville’s first experiment
in 1857.
• The original paleophone used in scientist
Charles Cros’s experiment on 30 April 1877.
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Original Edison Co. Phonograph Cylinder, 1891
This cylinder, constructed in 1891, was most likely used for
one of the first phonographs made commercially
available by the Edison Co.
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Thomas Alva Edison’s Original
Phonograph, circa 1877
The image above is of Thomas Alva Edison’s first phonograph
used in his first successful experiment with recorded sound on
November 21, 1877.
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About the Inventor
• Thomas Alva Edison was born in on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio.
• He caught scarlet fever as a boy, and was partially deafened as a result
of the disease.
• As a teenager, Edison moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he became
a telegrapher for Western Union. It was here where he got the idea to
build his first practical invention, the stock ticker.
• Edison moved to Newark, New Jersey after he was fired from his job in
Kentucky, where he began his full-time career as an inventor.
• At his laboratory in New Jersey in 1877, Edison perfected his invention
that perhaps gained him the most fame, the phonograph.
• Edison’s phonograph would go on to be improved by famous
inventors Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, and Charles
Tainter.
• Edison went on to perfect many inventions in use today, such as the
electric light, wireless radio transmission, and a power-distribution
system similar to those in use today.
• Edison died in 1931, mainly due to an unbalanced diet.
• Edison is valued today as a citizen who made valuable contributions to
American Society.
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Thomas Alva Edison, 1915
Above is a photograph on Thomas Edison in 1915. At this time, his
health was beginning to decline, and his death would come a short
while later.
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ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE EDISON’S
PHONOGRAPH
• Although Edison’s first successful phonograph model in 1877 had the
ability to play back recordings somewhat clearly and effectively, the
machine only had a shelf life of six-months before it had to be replaced.
• Additionally, records that could be played on Edison’s phonograph could
only be played back three to four times before they were rendered
unusable.
• In 1886, already well-known inventers Chichester Bell, C.S. Tainter, and
Alexander Graham Bell worked to create a new phonograph design that
played wax-cylinder recordings in lieu of tinfoil-cylinders. These
recordings could be played back as many as one hundred times before
they had to be replaced.
• This new concept of wax-coated records took off, and by the turn-of-thecentury, there were over one dozen companies in the United States
working to create record players and recording cylinders.
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An Edison tinfoil-aluminum recording cylinder (circa
1881), compared with a wax-coated recording cylinder
(circa 1890). The wax-coated cylinder had a longer
shelf life, and had the capacity to hold more sound
than the tinfoil-aluminum hybrid cylinder did.
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Alexander Graham Bell’s, Charles Tainter’s, and Chichester Bell’s first
Graphophone model, circa 1886. Notice the wax cylinder below the horn,
and the winding crank used to generate power on which the machine ran.
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What did the
phonograph inspire?
The idea of using machinery to record sound, music, and speech patterns gave
way to several popular inventions created from the early 1900s up until present
day.
Shortly after the turn-of-the-century, the jukebox was invented, introducing the
idea of paying money to listen to recorded music in a public venue. Jukeboxes
remain popular to this day.
The concept of recorded sound inspired the first talkies, a moving-pictures
breakthrough in the mid to late 1920s. These were movies that had the addition
of pre-recorded sound, much like the movies we view today.
From the 1880s all the way up to the 1950s, attempts to create home stereo
sets were made, basing their designs off of Edison’s phonograph.
Of course, the concept of recorded sound inspired the MP3 players, iPods,
iPads, and other personal music devices we use today.
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WORKS CITED
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/457279/phonograph.
TITLE: PHONOGRAPH. WEB. ACCESSED: 28 SEP 2012.
http://www.britannica.com/EBcheck/topic/457182/phonautograph.
TITLE: PHONOGRAPH. WEB. ACCESSED: 03 OCT 2012.
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