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http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675 ... phonograph

Here's the link to the video on CriticalPast.com (one of the biggest archive film footage services online) that shows Thomas Edison himself operating the first tin-foil machine of 1877. I don't know when this footage was filmed, but judging from my knowledge, this was possibly shot in 1927.

There are also lots of videos related to Edison on the website - you can get 149 results if you try to search "Edison" on it.

Thanks for posting TA, neat video and what a great site, I had never heard of it before. I am going to have to spend more time exploring.

I searched on "phonograph" and watched this one which combines a playing phonograph and plucking a chicken. Who knew

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675 ... orld-War-I

Brad wrote:Thanks for posting TA, neat video and what a great site, I had never heard of it before. I am going to have to spend more time exploring.

I agree!

Thanks for sharing.

Neat video, but do we know that was really the first machine? Or one of the ones from 1878 or something? As far as I know, the original machine isn't known to exist anymore.

The original machine indeed exists at the Edison National Historic Park in West Orange, New Jersey. It's on display, and has photos of it have appeared in many books on the subject.

George P.

The film appears to have been made on the occasion of Edison's receiving the Congressional Medal on October 20, 1928. It was for that occasion that the British Government gave back the original phonograph, which Edison had given to a representative of the English Patent Office who visited the Menlo Park lab in 1880. (Edison gave away several other of his early inventions at the same time.) The machine was exhibited in various locations in England until it was finally repatriated in 1928. It has been on display at the Edison National Historic Site ever since. A couple of years ago it underwent professional conservation for the newly opened phonograph exhibit at the site, which is now called the Thomas Edison National Historic Park.

Edit to add: it was one of the biggest thrills of my phonograph career to get right up close and personal with the original "Kruesi" prototype phonograph when I was doing research at the Edison Site back in 1999/2000 for my book on tinfoil phonographs. Thanks to curator Jerry Fabris, I was able to study and photograph all of their tinfoil holdings.

I can confirm that this is Edison's first tinfoil phonograph of December 1877. After long hesitation the South Kensington Museum in London, to which Edison had handed over the phonograph in 1880, consented to its restitution. During a short ceremony on October 20th 1928 the British diplomat Ronald Ian Campbell, who is partly visible to the left of Edison, returned the phonograph to the inventor. The movie was shot at the occasion.

Edison held a short acceptance speech, the manuscript of which (in fact a typescript with one handwritten correction) was afterwards signed by the inventor. I bought it several years ago, and as the first phonograph means a lot to me, this document is one of the cornerstones of my collection.

TinfoilPhono wrote: It was for that occasion that the British Government gave back the original phonograph, which Edison had given to a representative of the English Patent Office who visited the Menlo Park lab in 1880. (Edison gave away several other of his early inventions at the same time.) The machine was exhibited in various locations in England until it was finally repatriated in 1928. It has been on display at the Edison National Historic Site ever since.

Good to know.

I can't remember where I read that Edison's original, original machine was lost, but I guess it was waaay off!

Great video. Thanks for sharing the site. I hadn't heard of it either and need to spend some time watching more.

Here is a video of the reproduction of the Kruesi prototype I had for a short time. It worked surprisingly well.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LDQIJO_qc8[/youtube]

(sorry about my newest video on youtube. It's a brown wax cylinder with my brother's band's 1st single recorded on it. I promised him I would record it for him when it was released.)

Thanks for the information - I knew that the original Phonograph was stored in England for a while and Edison got it back sometime in the 1920s, but I was wrong for a year.

By the way, I have seen an old photo of this Original Tinfoil that shows the diaphragm was broken at some time - anybody knows about it?