PHONOGRAPHS


A Brief History of the Phonograph

The Phonograph was in invented in 1877 by the American inventer Thomas Alva Edison The Machine itself was a crude machine consisting of a tinfoil covered cylinder which was attached to a threaded axel which had a crank attached to it,there was a device attached the the frame of the machine which consisted of a stylus and diaphram which was also conected to a small mouthpiece for talking into,the user would place the stylus on the tin foil cylinder and then turn the crank and would also talk into the mouthpiece,and as he was doing this an impression of his speech would be etched on to the tin foil as a groove,as he turned the handel the threaded axel would move the cylinder over the stylus towards the other end of the cylinder.When he was finnished his recording he would detach the stylus from the cylinder and wind the crank in the other direction until the cylinder was back at the starting point,then you would replace the stylus back on to the cylinder and then start turning the crank and you would hear a sqwaky version of the recording that you just made.This type of phonograph is known as a Tinfoil Phonograph.The first words recorded are supposed to be the words "MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB" by Edison himself.Edison had seen the only use for the machine for dictating purposes.There were several improvements made to the machine and several other people involved,below is a very brief timetable of dated and improvments.

1878 "The Edison Speaking Phonograph Company" was Established in New York
1886 "The London Stereoscopic Company" sold machines with a flywheel added to axel and a machine with Weights used to drive a clockwork motor
1883 "A London Schoolmaster "J.E.Greenhill built a phonagraph with a spring motor made by W. fitch & son
1885 "Tainter and Bell" Tried several mediums for recording sound and eventualy came up with wax which resulted in the wax cylinder "Graphophone" and was patented the following year,but was not for sale until 1888
1887 "Emile Berliner" Came up with the flat disc record which on this side of the water is called the gramophone


The Cylinder phonograph existed in many shapes and sizes ,and also there were several types of cylinder available.Here is a list of some of them
White Wax (1888-1892)
Brown Wax (1892-1899)
Brown Wax (1899-1900) "New Process"
Edison Concert Cylenders(1898-1911)
Albany 2min and 4min indistructable
US Everlastings
Edison Gold Molded Cylinders
Edison Amberols 4min wax Cylinders
Edison Blue amberolas 4min Indistructable cylinders(1912-1928) These were the last of the cylinder records

Some pictures of my Phonographs

EDISON GEM
This is an Edison Gem C with a repro horn
Close up of gem mech

EDISON BELL
Edison Bell 2/4 minuit machine that can play all edisons cylinders
Close up of edison bell mech
Switch for 2/4 mins

PUCK
Puck
other side of puck
puck2

COLUMBIA BX
Columbia BX
Back of Columbia BX

PATHE
Pathe 2 min machine
Back of Pathe
Another picture of the Pathe

EXELSIOR
German made Exelsior
Side of Exelsior
Back of exelsior

EDISON AMBEROLA 30
Edison amberola 30 Machine for playing blue amberola`s
Close up of logo