Before we start talking about creating the world's first sound recording and reproducing device, we should commend the author of this truly epoch-making invention with a kind word. They became the American Thomas Alva Edison. The phonograph is not his only brainchild. It is known that during his long life (1847 ─ 1931) he became the owner of 1093 patents in his homeland, about 3000 abroad.
Fantasy that knew no bounds
Edison owns the development of one of the first commercial variants of incandescent lamps. In addition, he made a significant contribution to the improvement of film equipment, telephone and telegraph. Few people know that even the word “hello!” so familiar to us! came into use with the light hand of this amazing person. In 1928, Edison was awarded the highest US award, the Congressional Gold Medal, and two years later received the title of an honorary foreign member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
There are quite detailed information about Edison's invention of the phonograph. So, according to his own recollections, this idea was prompted by experiments carried out by him in the course of work related to the improvement of the telephone and telegraph. In 1877year the inventor was busy creating a device capable of recording messages in the form of recesses applied to a paper tape. In the future, according to his plan, they were to be repeatedly sent by telegraph. In this case, it was not about recording sound, but only about converting it into characters available for transmission.
Developing his idea, Edison came to the conclusion that in a similar way it is possible to save a telephone conversation on tape. To this end, he tried to use a membrane, equipped with a small press with a needle and with the help of a simple device held above the surface of a continuously moving paper coated with a layer of paraffin. His expectations were confirmed: the sound vibrations created by the voice left clearly visible traces on the paper.
Further improvement of the invention
The next step in Thomas Edison's creation of the phonograph was the replacement of the paper tape with a metal cylinder wrapped in tin foil. This device was already much more complicated, since it had two membranes equipped with needles, one of which served to record sound vibrations, and the other to reproduce them. The principle of operation of the mechanism remained the same: voice vibrations from words spoken into the horn left traces of various depths on the surface of the roller, which the second membrane had to convert into sound vibrations.
This device, which was the world's first phonograph, was ordered by Edison to be made on the basis of the drawings he created to his permanent mechanic ─John Cruesi. The master worked on this task for almost a month, after which the experiments were continued. It is known that the first "hit" that became the property of the newly invented sound recording was a short nursery rhyme called "Mary had a lamb." Edison read it into the mouthpiece of the device he created, after which, to great joy and, as he himself admitted, considerable amazement, he heard his own voice reproduced by the second membrane.
The start of a new technical era
It was a truly great moment that ushered the world into the age of recording. Subsequently, she went through a long path of improvement, from which she does not leave to this day, but it began in 1877 with a rhyme about the girl Mary and her little lamb.
About the year in which Edison invented the phonograph, his biographers have no doubts, disagreements concern only a specific date. It is generally accepted that this event occurred on August 12, 1877, but since it is known that the patent application was filed only at the end of December, many researchers attribute it to a later period, naming September or October.
In addition, there are records of Edison's closest assistant and assistant ─ Charles Bachelor, in which he dates the work on the phonograph to December 1877 and reports that they took no more than two days. In any case, it is known for certain that Edison received a patent certificate for his phonograph on February 19, 1878.
It is curious to note that in parallel with him, research in the same area was carried out by the Frenchman Charles Cros. Principle workThe actions of the device he invented, which had a number of significant differences from the invention of Edison, he published in April of the same 1877. However, he never created a working model. As a result, all his calculations remained only at the level of theory, and the palm deservedly went to Edison.
Wonders of technology
"Talking device" made a real sensation among Americans. It started with a report that appeared in the December issue of the popular Scientific American magazine. This solid scientific publication shared with readers the impressions of how a certain mechanism, brought to the editorial office by Mr. Thomas Edison, suddenly spoke with a human voice and, to everyone's amazement, inquired about the he alth of those present, and then, without too much modesty, asked if they liked it.
To crown it all, the talking machine spoke about its benefits and, before falling silent, wished everyone a good night. Since the journalists had never seen or heard anything like this before, the incident caused a real sensation among them. The article, reprinted by other publishers, created a wide advertisement for the new invention, thanks to which its author, who, in addition, had remarkable commercial abilities, began to earn a lot of money by arranging public demonstrations of his offspring. To this end, he officially registered his own company, called Edison's Talking Phonograph.
Because there was no shortage of curious people and popularityphonograph grew day by day, the author of the invention very profitably sold the right to produce it. At the same time, he helped out $ 10,000, which at that time was a huge amount, in addition, he stipulated in the contract 20% in his favor from the cost of each copy sold.
Extraordinary possibilities of the miracle machine
It is characteristic that, inventing the phonograph, Thomas Edison already at that time foresaw in general terms how widely his discovery could be used. Giving an interview to North American magazine in June 1878, he outlined a dozen such areas at once:
- With its help, you can dictate letters and various business correspondence without resorting to the services of a stenographer.
- The possibility of using talking books opens up for blind people.
- The use of a phonogram is one of the ways to learn oratory.
- The Phonograph is a real way of replicating music recordings, allowing the general public to listen to the performances of the world's leading artists.
- Recorded voices of relatives can be used to create unique family archives.
- Based on the phonograph, the possibility of creating talking toys and music boxes opens up.
- Sound recording may eventually replace the traditional striking of the clock, announcing in a human voice the beginning and end of the working day, bedtime, etc.
- Sound media can provide an invaluable service in preserving endangered languages, and accurately reproducetheir characteristic way of speaking.
- In the field of public education, Edison suggested using the device he created to record and then listen to the material explained in the lesson by the teacher.
- And, finally, in connection with the telephone, the phonograph can perform the widest range of functions related to the recording and transmission of information.
Unexpected competitors
In 1878, when Edison's phonograph received general recognition, the author temporarily left work on its improvement and was fully engaged in the creation of a commercial version of the incandescent lamp. Other inventors did not fail to take advantage of this. So the creator of the first telephone, Alexander Bell, having received a significant monetary award from the French government for his work, used these funds to study acoustic and electrical phenomena and, in collaboration with engineer Charles Tainter, managed to significantly improve Thomas Edison's phonograph. In particular, he abandoned the foil that covered the roller, and replaced it with a layer of wax, on which the needle left a mark sufficient for subsequent reproduction.
In 1880, having completed work on the creation of an incandescent lamp, Edison returned to his phonograph. Not wanting to share the glory with anyone, he categorically refused the cooperation offered to him by Alexander Bell and Charles Tainter, nevertheless, in his further developments he used their idea of replacing the foil with a wax layer.
Start a business
One year afterThomas Edison invented the phonograph, he founded his own company for the production of commercial samples of his offspring and soon launched the production of the "Improved Phonograph" ─ as he called the improved model he developed. In May 1888, another modification of it was introduced to the market, which also had a wide demand among buyers.
Edison's invention of the phonograph gave impetus to a new direction in entrepreneurship. It was associated with the production of sound recording equipment. One of the first representatives of this commercial industry that emerged at the end of the 19th century was the American Jesse H. Lippincott. He bought Edison's business, as well as several small workshops specializing in this area that had appeared by that time, and became the sole owner of a license to manufacture phonographs.
It should be noted that at that time the quality of the reproduced sound was extremely low and did not allow full use of these devices for recording musical works. Edison's phonographs were mostly rented by various companies for dictation, but even here they could not compete with qualified stenographers. As a result, the demand for them fell, and Lippincott lost interest in his venture, and in 1890 he completely transferred the management of affairs to Edison, who, by the way, was his constant creditor.
Serving the entertainment industry
Using the production facilities under his control, the inventor launched the production of talking dolls, which immediately conquered the market and began to bringtangible income. Especially for them, Edison developed special tiny rollers coated with wax. Thanks to this innovation, the dolls did not just make sounds, but uttered individual words and even entire phrases.
In addition, Edison's phonograph, the photo of which is given in the article, was used in the manufacture of prototypes of modern jukeboxes that appeared across the ocean at the end of the 19th century. This clearly showed contemporaries that the future of recording technology is inextricably linked with the entertainment industry.
Riding the wave of commercial success
In 1894, the company, headed by Edison, but actually owned by Jesse H. Lippincott, declared bankruptcy, which gave the inventor the opportunity to regain the rights to his offspring. However, by law, he could not continue to produce phonographs for two years. Edison used this period to further improve them.
In 1886, he founded the National Phonographic Company, after which his business reached a new level. The quality of the manufactured goods was improved due to the introduction of new advanced technologies. He began to equip his products with spring, and after that with electric motors.
At the same time, trade turnover also grew. Enterprises owned by Edison, the inventor of the phonograph, appeared and earned a good reputation not only in America, but also in many European countries. The production and sale of this type of equipment was carried out until 1912, when in full voicenew sound carriers announced themselves ─ discs that quickly conquered the market.
A fly in the ointment that spoiled a barrel of honey
When Edison invented the phonograph, his offspring had two significant drawbacks. The first of them was that, due to the design features, the duration of the phonogram did not exceed two minutes. The second and main disadvantage was the inability to create a large number of copies of the sounding cylinder. As a result, for their commercial replication, artists had to repeat their numbers many times, which created a lot of inconvenience and increased the cost of the product.
Throughout the production of phonographs, Edison made numerous attempts to solve these problems by technical improvement of his invention. To be fair, he has made some progress. The last time he succeeded in this was in 1899, when a new modified model of a concert phonograph with an enlarged cylinder appeared on store shelves. However, over time, it also gave way to devices in which the sound track was applied to the disc, which made it possible even in the earliest samples to increase the duration of the recorded soundtrack to 4 minutes.
How to make a DIY Edison phonograph model?
Today, this invention, which once struck the imagination of people, has become a museum exhibit. However, interest in it is very great, as evidenced by the desire of many technology lovers to create Edison's phonograph with their own hands. To make it easier for them, at the end of the articleposted a photo of such a homemade device.
Let's just explain that as a cylinder ─ a sound carrier - you can use a plastic cup. A paper cup with a needle attached to it is quite suitable for the role of the membrane. The whole structure is driven by a conventional electric motor. On the basis of this simple scheme, each "master-do-it-yourselfer" can, with the help of imagination, create at home a unit that is not inferior to the one with which Edison immortalized his name.
