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.