Edison Phonograph

The phonograph was the first mechanical device that could record and play sounds. It was created by Thomas Edison, who began working on it in July 1877 in his Menlo Park lab in the United States. The patent for the phonograph was granted to Edison on 15 January 1888, after which he started commercialising his invention by establishing the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company. The first phonograph was made out of a metal membrane vibrating due to sound waves, to which a stylus was attached. Said stylus was used to cut grooves in a thin lead sleeve placed on the device’s cylinder. The cylinder rotated and moved along the horizontal axis, resulting in the stylus cutting a spiral groove of varying depth, depending on the amplitude of the vibrations. This enabled the device to play the recorded sound – the tip of the needle inserted into the groove caused the same vibrations of the membrane when the cylinder was rotated. However, the lead sleeve on the cylinder did not provide high-quality sound, so Edison quickly replaced it with wax. The Łańcut phonograph has a plaque with the text of the patent on the metal top of the box, and its cylinder is covered with grooves, which show that the device was used. Joanna Kluz