The phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison in 1877. The device, which made it possible to record and reproduce the sound, greatly impressed the scientist’s contemporaries: it was perceived as a miracle. However, the phonograph was a by-product of his work. During the same period, Edison tried to improve the telegraph and telephone apparatus. According to one version, the inventor sang over the membrane to which the stylus tip was attached, and as a result, was able to record his voice. “I wondered”, Edison recalled, “If it were possible to record these vibrations of the stylus tip, and then run the stylus tip over such a recording again — why wouldn’t the record sound?”
The operating principle of the phonograph is quite simple. The sound got into the horn and caused the membrane and the stylus tip to oscillate. This way, the sound vibrations left a furrow on a special paper covered with paraffin (later for convenience, Edison replaced it with a metal cylinder wrapped in foil). The harder the stylus tip pushed through the paper, the more intense the sound was. The recording was played the same way: the cylinder was set in motion, and the stylus tip, getting into the previously laid furrows, caused the membrane to vibrate and make a sound.
The first phonograph was a heavy machine. It was built for Edison by the mechanic John Kreusi, who worked on the inventor”s charts for 30 days. Officially, the patent for the phonograph was issued on February 19, 1878. The quality of the first recordings made with it was quite low: the foil quickly wore out. It was sufficient for only a few replays. Nevertheless, it was the phonograph that changed people”s perception of the possibilities of working with sound. A gramophone was subsequently created based on Edison”s invention, and its operation principle was quite the same, only in this case flat discs — phonograph records — served as the sound carrier.
It is difficult to overestimate the historical value of the phonograph. The invention of such a device made it possible to record the voices of many outstanding figures of the era — the composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Anton Rubinstein, the writer Leo Tolstoy, the singer Fyodor Chaliapin, and many others. The museum”s collection contains a phonograph of the late 19th — early 20th century. It was released by the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company and is one of the earliest copies of the device. In the museum, it is displayed in the “Music Hall” together with a gramophone, an organette, and other machines and instruments that allow you to be carried away into the atmosphere of the last century and learn about the sound environment that has gone into the past.
The operating principle of the phonograph is quite simple. The sound got into the horn and caused the membrane and the stylus tip to oscillate. This way, the sound vibrations left a furrow on a special paper covered with paraffin (later for convenience, Edison replaced it with a metal cylinder wrapped in foil). The harder the stylus tip pushed through the paper, the more intense the sound was. The recording was played the same way: the cylinder was set in motion, and the stylus tip, getting into the previously laid furrows, caused the membrane to vibrate and make a sound.
The first phonograph was a heavy machine. It was built for Edison by the mechanic John Kreusi, who worked on the inventor”s charts for 30 days. Officially, the patent for the phonograph was issued on February 19, 1878. The quality of the first recordings made with it was quite low: the foil quickly wore out. It was sufficient for only a few replays. Nevertheless, it was the phonograph that changed people”s perception of the possibilities of working with sound. A gramophone was subsequently created based on Edison”s invention, and its operation principle was quite the same, only in this case flat discs — phonograph records — served as the sound carrier.
It is difficult to overestimate the historical value of the phonograph. The invention of such a device made it possible to record the voices of many outstanding figures of the era — the composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Anton Rubinstein, the writer Leo Tolstoy, the singer Fyodor Chaliapin, and many others. The museum”s collection contains a phonograph of the late 19th — early 20th century. It was released by the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company and is one of the earliest copies of the device. In the museum, it is displayed in the “Music Hall” together with a gramophone, an organette, and other machines and instruments that allow you to be carried away into the atmosphere of the last century and learn about the sound environment that has gone into the past.
