Phonograph

Thomas Edison, USA, patent 200,521 of 1878. The machine that first captured and replayed sound.

Overview

Edison's tinfoil cylinder phonograph stunned 1878 audiences, singing and speaking back. He patented it, then shelved it for a decade while Bell's Volta group improved wax records and electric motors. Berliner's flat disc gramophone of 1887 won the format war and the market. Edison's later diamond discs chased quality. The patent made him the Wizard of Menlo Park in headlines. Recorded music, audiobooks, and voicemail all trace to this cylinder of foil.