Phonograph cylinder

The earliest method of recording and reproducing sound was on phonograph cylinders. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1888 - 1915), these cylinder shaped objects had an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was played on a mechanical phonograph. The competing disc-shaped gramophone record system triumphed in the market place to become the domininent commercial audio medium in the 1910s, and commercial mass production of phonograph cylinders ended in 1929.

Early development of the phonograph cylinder

The very first recordings in the 1870s by Thomas Edison were done on the outside surface of a strip of tinfoil wrapped around a rotating metal cylinder. By the 1880s wax cylinders were mass marketed. These had sound recordings in the grooves on the outside of hollow cylinders of slightly soft wax. These cylinders could easily be removed and replaced on the spindle of the machine which played them. Early cylinder records would commonly wear out after they were played a few dozen times; the buyer could then either bring the worn cylinders back to the dealer to be traded in as partial credit for purchase of new recordings, or have their surface shaved smooth so new recordings could be made on them.

Related Topics:
1870s - Thomas Edison - Tinfoil - 1880s

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Early cylinder machines of the late 1880s and the 1890s were often sold with recording attachments. The ability to record as well as play back sound was an advantage to cylinder phonographs over the competition from cheaper disc record phonographs which began to be mass marketed at the end of the 1890s, as the disc system machines could be used only to play back pre-recorded sound.

Related Topics:
1890s - Disc record

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In the earliest stages of phonograph manufacturing various competing incompatible types of cylinder recordings were made, but in the late 1880s a standard system was decided upon by Edison Records, Columbia Phonograph, and other companies; these were about 4 inches (10 cm) long, 2¼ inches in diameter, and played about two minutes of music or other sound.

Related Topics:
Edison Records - Columbia Phonograph

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