The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I’ve been researching cylinder phonograph reproducers and I’m trying to answer a question I’ve had lurking in my mind. When they say that cylinder phonograph have a “sapphire stylus” do they actually have styluses made out of the gemstone sapphire? Or is that just a nickname?

Actual sapphire turned on a lathe.

Wow, that makes me appreciate them even more!

I have a book which I think is called: Charles Batchelor, Edison's Chief Assistant. He was an inventor in his own right. Matter of fact, it was his inventions that made Edison's and Bell's telephones practical for use on longer telephone lines, which he personally pursued after Edison had lost interest in telephones.

I think it was this book that talked about sapphire styli. They started out using real sapphire, which was expensive. Charles read (if I remember correctly), that two Frenchmen had invented an artificial version. He tried it, and it wasn't good enough. So Charles personally invented a new version of artificial sapphire that was perfect for styli.

Jim Nichol