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“On This Day in the History of Recorded Sound…”

December 6, 1877: John Kruesi completed the construction of the very first Phonograph. Thomas Edison adjusted a piece of tin foil to it, and spoke “Mary had a Little Lamb” into the recording phonet while turning the crank. To everyone’s amazement – including Edison’s (“I was never so taken aback in my life”), it spoke back the rhyme.

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Compared to the endless trial & error of the light bulb , the phonograph seemed to be a "no brainer", working on its very first try.

It was so simple that I've always marveled that ancient civilisations as the Egyptians or the Greeks didn't have invented it many centuries before Edison did. The technology and materials were there... Just think about their other inventions as the hydraulic machines, and their fine delicate works in jewelry or in writing techniques...

How true. And it's nearly impossible to believe that neither the Aegyptians nor the Greek or Roman philosophers ever noticed that speaking in front of - say - a drum, the leather would vibrate in resonance with the sound of the speech.

And here is the earliest news story about it from November 6, 1877

Although this was the first ‘tin foil phonograph’, it was certainly not the very first Edison phonograph, not even the first patented one. I would like to refer to three models for which Edison was granted a patent on 20 October 1877 in Canada, and on which I wrote an article, published in: The Antique Phonograph, Vol. 30, No. 4, December 2012. For my article I coined the designations ‘indented edge phonograph’, ‘dried ink phonograph’ and ‘bent wire phonograph’.

You can read a revised English-language version here: https://grammophon-platten.de/e107_plug ... .php?37054

Is it fair to say then, that the previous sound recording/playback devices were intended for use as part of a larger system, (i.e. telephone & telegraph systems), while the "tin foil phonograph" was a stand-alone, unique device, made strictly for sound reproduction?

AmberolaAndy wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2024 7:10 pm And here is the earliest news story about it from November 6, 1877

The prospect of some iteration of immortality never ceases to fascinate.

[quote=JerryVan post_id=353062 time=1734098532 user_id=782]
Is it fair to say then, that the previous sound recording/playback devices were intended for use as part of a larger system, (i.e. telephone & telegraph systems), while the "tin foil phonograph" was a stand-alone, unique device, made strictly for sound reproduction?
[/quote]

Correct. I quote myself from the article:

"Unlike the tinfoil model of December 1877, the phonograph of autumn 1877 cannot be imagined as a stand-alone device. It was rather conceptualized as an integral part of a telegraph circuit. Neither construction, mode of action, nor recording medium had been fixed, and many versions were tested and evaluated in the seven-weeks period between mid-July and early September 1877."

It is not known what the phonograph looked like in November 1877, but tin foil was not yet in use. Here is the, at the time already outdated, graphic accompanying the article in Scientific American, published on 17 November 1877.

Starkton wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2024 3:25 pm

JerryVan wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2024 9:02 am Is it fair to say then, that the previous sound recording/playback devices were intended for use as part of a larger system, (i.e. telephone & telegraph systems), while the "tin foil phonograph" was a stand-alone, unique device, made strictly for sound reproduction?

Correct. I quote myself from the article:

"Unlike the tinfoil model of December 1877, the phonograph of autumn 1877 cannot be imagined as a stand-alone device. It was rather conceptualized as an integral part of a telegraph circuit. Neither construction, mode of action, nor recording medium had been fixed, and many versions were tested and evaluated in the seven-weeks period between mid-July and early September 1877."

Apologies. I completely missed that passage. Thanks!