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.

Later application of phonograph cylinder technology

Cylinder phonograph technology continued to be used for dictaphone recordings for office use into the early 1950s when the cylinder dictaphone was supplanted by magnetic tape.

Related Topics:
Dictaphone - 1950s - Magnetic tape

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