HISTORY OF AUDIOBy: Laressa Harris

1885

The English patents Thomas Edison obtained for his phonograph had now expired, leaving the opportunity open for world inventors who thought they could make a better talking machine.

1886

Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, and Charles Tainter of the Volta laboratory obtained several patents for a commercial talking machine called a graphaphone. The graphaphone was based on Edison\'s phonograph. The stylus for the graphaphone was more of a cutting tool and the tinfoil was replaced with more durable wax cylinders. These changes made the machine easier to use and the play back much clearer. Edison was asked to join the three men in this new technology but Edison did not.

1889

Emile Berliner and Werner Suess introduced their much improved gramophone. A large horn was connected to the diaphragm. This was counterbalanced and had an arm that glided across the disc. In just a few years this disc model evolved to include a new hand crank that used two small wheels and a cross belt, the cranking produced a smooth and consistent action to the turntable.

Oberlin Smith described a technique for using electricity to magnetize strips of metal. He also described how recording could use the process used by the telephone, converting sound waves into electrical currents. This sound recording process would not need the direct contact of a stylus eliminating unwanted friction sounds. Smith did not patent his technique at that time and it was not until 10 years later that a patent was obtained for a magnetic recording system.

The first coin-operated phonograph was created. A nickel would allow the listener to hear the play of one cylinder. One was placed in the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco. In less then six months it earned over $1000.

1893

Emile Berliner realized the need and business potential of inventing a process that could inexpensively duplicate master recordings. Berliner recorded onto a zinc disc covered with a film of fat. Applying acid etched the grooves made in the fat onto the metal disc. The disc was then electroplated in copper to make a mold. Emile Berliner used this mold to stamp his sound duplicates into hard rubber discs. These 7 inch discs were marketed in a paper sleeve. The records included the lyrics of the song. This helped the listeners make out parts that may not have been recognizable. The duplicates were not as clear as the masters.

1896

Thomas Edison set up the National Phonograph Company.

Eldridge Johnson created a smooth running quiet spring motor for the Berliner Gramophone Company

1897

Many Americans now had enough money to purchase a home talking machine. The three largest manufactures were then Edison, Victor, and Columbia. These companies had exclusive dealers who had to follow the companies prices and repair standards. There were numerous other smaller companies making talking machines with names like Ediphone, Keenophone, Talkophone, and a Zonophone.

1898

Valdemar Poulsen obtained the first patent on a magnetic recording system. This new system was the first glimpse of a tape recorder. The Valdemar Pousen system used a telephone transmitter microphone to convert the sound waves into electrical currents producing local magnetization of a steel wire. The magnetic variations matched the variations of the electrical currents making playback possible. An old recording could be erased by recording over it with something new. The playback was listened to through telephone earphones.

1899

Edison introduced his smallest and lowest cost phonograph to compete with the falling prices, the Gem. This machine cost 10 dollars and could only play records, whereas his earlier models either came with a recording device or one could be purchased for them.

A very basic version of the Gramophone came out shortly after the Gem selling for 3 dollars. It was called the Toy.

1900

Thomas Lambert obtained a patent on the use of celluloid as a recording medium. Celluloid was one of the very first forms of plastic. It was rigid, but far from unbreakable as Columbia and the Indestructible Record Company claimed. This surface allowed for more frequencies to be recorded.

1901

The National Phonograph Company and the Victor Talking Machine Company both came to similar conclusions as to the best method for duplicating master recordings. This new method was much better then the method used before. Mass production of sound duplicates was now possible. Edison used wax cylinders, and Johnson used wax discs. Although Johnson had not worked for many years on sound recording like the Edison team had, he was able to improve sound recording. To come up with the perfect wax compound to record onto, Eldridge Johnson simply melted down some of Edison wax cylinders. Both inventors used an electroplating process to make a metal negative mold. This mold was used to stamp out duplicate recordings into wax discs and cylinders.

1904

Celluloid was being used in England to make the Neophone disc which came in sizes as large as 22 inches in diameter.

Discs pressed using shellac were created by Pathe in Europe. The Pathe disc had wide grooves and were played using a large blue sapphire stylus. The playing groove started at the center and spiraled outward. Both of these discs had problems because of warping.

1906

The Automatic Entertainer was the first Juke Box style machine. It was created by John Gabel and was produced by the Automatic Machine and Tool Company. The Automatic Entertainer had a magnetic coin detector and was run by a hand wound spring motor. Winding the motor changed the record and needle at the same time. It had twenty four ten inch records which could be chosen by turning a knob. It was encased on three sides with glass. The cabinet was over 5 feet tall with a large horn coming from the top. The Victrola was introduced by Victor. This new machine had an internal horn. Its diameter evenly decreased from the largest end to the smallest. The unit was completely concealed and looked like a fine cabinet. The Victrola became so popular that in conversations Victrola was often used to describe any brand of Talking Machine.

1907

The recording of ON WITH MOTLEY FROM I PAGLIACCI, by Enrico Caruso, was the first recording to sell a million copies. Enrico Caruso was an Italian opera singer. His full range of tenor was recordable. Caruso\'s music helped talking machines to be accepted into fine music stores.

1908

Thomas Edison developed a new longer playing wax cylinder that played double the length of time, up to 4 minutes. These new Amberol cylinders were still very fragile and people had to purchase adapter kits for their older phonographs to be able to use them.

1912

Thomas Edison introduced the Blue Amberol cylinder which had a plaster of Paris core wrapped in celluloid. The playback quality of this cylinder was very impressive. To play these new and wonderful cylinders Edison offered the latest Amberola phonograph. This phonograph resembled the Victrola in many ways.

1912

Thomas Edison introduced the Blue Amberol cylinder which had a plaster of Paris core wrapped in celluloid. The playback quality of this cylinder was very impressive. To play these new and wonderful cylinders Edison offered the latest Amberola phonograph. This phonograph resembled the Victoria in many ways.

1913

Thomas Edison introduced his model of a disc playing phonograph, the Edison Diamond Disc Player. This phonograph had several improvements: a much smaller stylus with a precision ground diamond styli, a larger diaphragm, a heavier floating weight, and a spring driven disc turntable. The Edison Diamond Disc Player played his new 10 inch diameter discs which had a core of a highly pressed mixture of wood flour, lampblack, phenol, and hexamthylene. The surface was coated with a varnish called condensite. Condensite was an easy to mold hard plastic. The very first condensite discs suffered from surface noise but were improved upon after World War I. For volume control some of the Diamond Disc players came with a ball of cloth which could be inserted into the horn to soften the sound.

Edison introduced the Kinetophone. It was the first talking picture machine. It played large cylinders up to 7 inches long. The Kinetophone would often get out of time with the movie, causing movie watchers to complain.

1914

The U.S. reported eighteen sound recording manufactures with a total value of more then $27,000,000.

1918

William Gaisber recorded the sounds of World War. From the front lines he captured the sounds of artillery and exploding gas bombs bringing to light a new way of preserving history.

There were now 166 recorded sound companies competing.

1923

Henry Stroller and Harry Pfannenstiehl worked on synchronizing recorded sound with movie playback. This system used two electric motors one for the record player and one for the film projector. The sound was recorded onto 16 inch discs called platers.

Lee De Frost introduced his sound-on-film process, The De Frost Phonofilm. His system took the sound waves and turned them into electrical impulses, then into light. The light was photographed onto the film. On playback, the photoelectric cell was able to turn the photographed light back into electrical impulses, then into sound waves.

The General Electric Company and The Western Electric Company was also working on a sound-on-film system.

1925

With many of the new inventions being used for the telephone such as microphones, amplifiers, and electrical filters, Joseph Maxfield and H. Harrison worked on developing a system of electrical recording for Western Electric. A condenser microphone was used to change the sound into electrical currents. A vacuum tube amplifier made the currents stronger. To playback the disc the needle followed the groove within the magnetic field. The currents were amplified using a loudspeaker. The Columbia and Victor companies installed the new electrical recording system.

Joseph Maxfield and H. Harrison introduced the Orthophonic, an acoustic machine designed to play the new electrical recorded records. The records could be played on the old acoustic machines but they played much too loud and did not play back the frequency range. The Orthophonic used a coiled folded horn that was up to 6 feet long. People were amazed at their first experience at listening to electronically recorded sound on this new acoustic machine. The Orthophonic sold very well. RCA radios were installed n some of Victors phonographs. Western Electric scientists C. W. Rice and E. W. Kellog designed the electric loudspeaker. It was now possible to turn the volume up.

In 1925 Brunswick introduced the first full electric player. The diaphragm, soundbox, and hollow tone arm were now replaced by a solid moving arm with a magnetic pick up. It contained an amplifying unit, vacuum tubes, an electric turntable, and a loudspeaker.

1926

DON JUAN was the first sound-on-disc movie released by the Vitaphone corporation. The Vitaphone corporation had been formed by the Warner Bros. and Western Electric companies. Synchronizing the sound and film still proved difficult.

1927

Edison made available to the public the 12 inch, forty minute, long playing record.

William Fox introduced his improved sound-on-film Movietone system. He recorded the sights and sounds of the historic flight of Charles Linbergh.