The Nostalgic Story Of The Phonograph - One Of America's Best Loved Appliances

Today we've got DVDs, CDs, MP3s, and of course the internet for all of our music needs. But none of those would be possible if it weren't for the invention of the record player, one of the more important pieces of entertainment technology of all time. It was so pioneering that after its creation in 1877, it took almost 100 years for it to be replaced by newer technology. And even now, record players offer a classic musical feel, which makes them very popular with fans of music all over the world. Nowadays, when one thinks of a record player, it's often the Technics or perhaps the Crosley record player . Yet over one hundred years ago, the name that mattered most was Thomas Edison.

Back in 1877, Edison developed what he called the phonograph. His initial records were produced of tinfoil. These records had a spiral groove which went up and down the surface area. A hand-cranked device with a needle, or stylus, was used to read the grooves of the disc, vibrating according to the texture. This became eventually called the hill-and-dale method. The vibrations would run up the needle, along a metallic tube, all the way to a large speaker. These early speakers would magnify the vibrations into much more audible sound.

When Thomas Edison finished his creation, he was more interested in its various scientific purposes rather than its musical potential. This left further progress to other scientists and inventors.

Ten years later, Emile Berliner made the first disk record, and patented it in 1896. Berliner's design and style was based on Edison's, but instead of using the hill-and-dale method, which had the grooves go up and down, his method, referred to as the varying lateral direction method, had textures on the sides of the grooves. The varying lateral direction (VLD) caught on immediately, and soon Edison's hill-and-dale method was a thing of the past.

Soon, mass production of disk records became possible when Berliner invented the matrix record. This master copy enabled duplicate records to be manufactured indefinitely. At this time, record players were still powered by the hand crank. But then came the late 19th century, and along with it, electricity. Then soon after the electronic record player was presented. Unlike the hand-cranked players that can fluctuate in speed according to the strength of the person, electronic players supplied consistent speed. This meant that there was absolutely no variation in the tempo of the music that was played.

Gradually, record players became so popular that entire families would hang out around them to enjoy high quality entertainment. Early methods of the prior-song and next-song functions of present day Mp3 players were introduced around this time. In order to select which song was to play, people would place the needle in one of the blank grooves in between the textured ones. For many years, the record player was the primary way to play music.

With the advent of the 70s came tape decks and 8-track players, and soon, records and their players had some competition. However, when DJ-ing became all the rage in night clubs and discos, the turntable remained strong.

You may wish to check out the Crosley portable record player.

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