A History of the Gramophone Record

Courtesy of www.45rpm.org.uk
The first records were on cylinders, the earliest of which were made by the inventor of the first 'Phonograph', Thomas Alva Edison in 1877. Attempts had been made of 'recording' sound much earlier than this, but none were capable of reproducing the human voice. By 1887, another American, Emile Berliner (a German immigrant to the U.S.) filed a patent for a recording system based on a flat disc instead of a cylinder. This was a very significant development because the new discs were much easier to mass produce than the cylinders that they replaced. This was important in making the technology available to a wide market. By the turn of the century the industry had begun to settle on a diameter of 10 inches for the new format. The rotational speed varied somewhat from one manufacturer to another, but most turned at between 75 and 80 revolutions per minute and most 'Gramophone' machines were capable of some adjustment. Eventually 78 rpm became the common standard. The name 'Gramophone' began as a Trademark for Berliner's new invention, but Europeans adopted it as generic while Americans continued to use the term 'Phonograph'. Various materials were used for manufacturing the earliest discs, but shellac (a resin made from the secretions of the lac insect) was found to be the best. Shellac is a natural thermoplastic, being soft and flowing when heated, but rigid and hard wearing at room temperature. Usually a fine clay or other filler was added to the 'mix'. However, by the 1930s the natural shellac began to be replaced by equivalent synthetic resins. All of the earliest 78 rpm recordings were single sided, but double sided recordings were introduced firstly in Europe by the Columbia company. By 1923, double sided recordings had become the norm on both sides of the Atlantic. The 78 rpm disc reigned supreme as the accepted recording medium for many years despite its tendency to break easily and the fact that longer works could not be listened to without breaks for disc changes (at 5 minute intervals for 12" discs). In 1948 the Columbia company had perfected the 12" Long Playing Vinyl disc. Spinning at 33 rpm the new format could play up to 25 minutes per side. This new record medium also had a

much lower level of surface noise than did its older shellac cousin. However, Columbia's big rival, RCA Victor then produced the seven inch 45 rpm vinyl disc. These could hold as much sound as the 12" 78 rpm discs they were to replace, but were much smaller and attractive. It took many years for the 78 to disappear because the new vinyl records needed new equipment on which to play them, but the two new vinyl formats then were to dominate the recorded music industry until the advent of the digital compact disc (CD). Even then, vinyl would take much longer to fall into oblivion than 78s did when vinyl recordings first appeared. The 45rpm record's years of greatest success began with the onset of rock and roll. The new 7 inch format was favoured by the young and in the UK sales of 45s overtook 78s early in 1958 as rock and roll established a boom in record sales.During the next few years the UK was to become a major source of popular recorded music with the advent of the British 'beat' groups which were exemplified in the 'Beatles'. This was the 'golden era' for the 45. Although sales of popular music were to grow dramatically during the following decades, buyers gradually transferred their purchases to the 12" 'LP' as their affluence grew. Indeed, by the end of the 1960s sales of the 45 had even begun to decline. During the early years of the Beatles, a record would need to sell in excess of 750,000 copies to reach the coveted number 1 chart position. Such was the decline in this part of the market that by a decade later only 150,000 copies could achieve the same result. (See 'EMI: The First 100 Years' by Peter Martland ISBN 0-7134-6207-8 Published by B.T.Batsford Ltd, London)

Courtesy of www.45rpm.org.uk
A History of the Record gramopon

Courtesy of www.45rpm.org.uk Yang pertama adalah catatan pada silinder, paling awal yang dilakukan oleh para penemu yang pertama 'gramopon', Thomas Alva Edison tahun 1877. Upaya telah dilakukan untuk 'merekam' suara jauh sebelum ini, tetapi tidak ada yang mampu menerima suara manusia. By 1887, lain Amerika, emile Berliner (Jerman imigran ke AS) filed paten untuk rekaman berdasarkan sistem flat disc bukan yang silinder. Hal ini sangat penting karena pembangunan yang baru discs yang lebih mudah untuk memproduksi massa daripada mereka yang silinder diganti. Ini adalah penting dalam membuat teknologi yang tersedia untuk pasar yang luas. Pada akhir abad industri telah mulai menetap di diameter 10 inci untuk format yang baru. Pemutaran kecepatan yang agak berbeda-beda dari satu ke produsen lain, namun sebagian besar berpaling di antara

75 dan 80 revolutions per menit dan paling 'gramopon' mesin yang mampu beberapa penyesuaian. 78 rpm akhirnya menjadi standar umum. Nama 'gramopon' mulai sebagai Trademark Berliner untuk penemuan baru, tetapi Eropa diadopsi sebagai generik sementara Amerika terus menggunakan istilah 'gramopon'. Berbagai bahan yang digunakan untuk barang-barang manufaktur dari awal disk, tapi lak (resin yang dibuat dari secretions dari lac serangga) telah ditemukan untuk menjadi yang terbaik. Lakeri adalah thermoplastic alam, yang lembut dan mengalir ketika air panas, keras dan kaku tetapi memakai pada suhu kamar. Biasanya denda filler clay atau lainnya telah ditambahkan ke 'campuran'. Namun, oleh alam 1930an lak mulai diganti oleh setara sintetis Resins. Semua dari awal rekaman 78 rpm adalah satu sisi, tetapi dua sisi rekaman yang pertama di Eropa diperkenalkan oleh Columbia perusahaan. By 1923, double sided rekaman telah menjadi norma di kedua sisi Atlantik. Pada 78 rpm disk reigned tertinggi sebagai media diterima rekaman selama bertahun-tahun walaupun dengan kecenderungan untuk istirahat dengan mudah dan fakta yang lagi bekerja tidak dapat mendengarkan tanpa istirahat untuk perubahan disk (dari 5 menit untuk 12 "discs). Dalam 1948 Columbia perusahaan yang telah disempurnakan yang 12 "Vinyl Long Bermain disk. Spinning di 33 rpm format yang baru bisa bermain hingga 25 menit per sisi. Merekam media baru ini juga memiliki tingkat lebih rendah dari permukaan kebisingan itu para tua lak sepupu . Namun, Columbia dari saingan besar, RCA Victor kemudian menghasilkan tujuh inci 45 rpm vinyl disk. Hal ini dapat terus sebanyak 12 suara sebagai "78 rpm disk untuk menggantikan mereka, namun jauh lebih kecil dan menarik. Butuh waktu bertahun-tahun ke 78 untuk hilang karena baru vinyl record baru peralatan yang dibutuhkan untuk bermain di mana mereka, tetapi baru dua vinyl format kemudian adalah untuk mendominasi industri rekaman musik sampai datangnya dari digital compact disc (CD). Bahkan kemudian, album akan berlangsung lebih lama untuk dilupakan daripada 78s itu ketika rekaman album pertama muncul. 45rpm yang merekam dari tahun paling sukses dimulai dengan mulai rock and roll. Baru 7 inch format adalah favorit kaum muda di Inggris dan penjualan 45s kerasyang 78s awal pada tahun 1958 sebagai rock and roll membentuk boom dalam catatan sales.During beberapa tahun berikutnya di Inggris telah menjadi sumber utama dari rekaman musik populer dengan kedatangan dari British 'mengalahkan kelompok yang exemplified di' Beatles'. Ini merupakan 'masa emas' untuk 45. Meskipun penjualan musik populer yang tumbuh secara dramatis selama dekade berikut, pembeli berangsur-angsur mereka dialihkan ke pembelian 12 " 'LP' sebagai kekayaan mereka berkembang. Memang, pada akhir tahun 1960-an penjualan dari 45 bahkan sudah mulai menurun. Selama awal tahun dari Beatles, catatan akan perlu menjual lebih dari 750.000 eksemplar untuk mencapai coveted grafik posisi nomor 1. Itulah

penurunan ini bagian dari pasar yang satu dekade kemudian oleh 150.000 copy hanya dapat mencapai hasil yang sama . (Lihat 'EMI: Pertama 100 Tahun' oleh Peter Martland ISBN 0-7134-6207-8 Published by BTBatsford Ltd, London) Courtesy of www.45rpm.org.uk

The Early Gramophone

1887 Nov. 8 from Emile Berliner

1887 Nov. 12 from Scrapbook

1888 May 16 from Emile Berliner

1888 May 16 from

Emile Berliner

1888 Aug. 18 from Scrapbook

1894 from Emile

Berliner

1895 Feb. 19 from Emile Berliner

1895 from

Treasures

1895 from Emile Berliner

1896 May 16 from

Scrapbook
Emile Berliner began working on a recording machine in Washington D.C. after seeing the graphophone unveiled by Tainter and Bell in 1886. He set up a laboratory in his home on Columbia Road, and showed an early device to the patent attorney Joseph Lyons by April 1887 that recorded a lateral pattern on lamp-blacked paper wrapped on a cylinder, similar to the phonautograph of Leon Scott, but with an oil applied to the surface mixed with lampblack to make a fatty ink better able to be engraved with a cutting stylus, then producing a stereotyped copy engraved into metal by a photoengraving process, and played back on another device with a stylus following the lateral grooves and making a diaphragm vibrate. For his patent application, Berliner created the name "gramophone" from the terms used by Leon Scott for his "phonautograms" and "phonautographic records." The gramophone U.S. patent 372,786 was filed by Emile Berliner May 4, 1887, and granted Nov. 8, 1887. During 1887 Berliner developed the idea of making a negative matrix directly from the glass lampblacked disc and produced zinc copies. The earliest known Berliner disc is one of these zinc copies dated Oct. 25, 1887. This new process was described in his British patent 15,232, applied for Nov. 7, 1887. The first news story of Berliner's invention was published by Electrical World in a two-page article Nov. 12, 1887. It described a device driven by a weight box and controlled by a paddle-wheeled governor that recorded four minutes of sound on an 11-inch glass disc at 30 rpm. After Thanksgiving 1887, Werner Suess joined Berliner in his lab as an assistant to perfect the device that was still only experimental. Suess helped make an improved device with the reproducer mounted on a pivot arm that Berliner used in a public lecture and demostration at the Franklin Institute May 16, 1888. The discs played at this lecture were copper duplicates electroplated from wax originals. Berliner in August 1888 began to use celluloid from J. W. Hyatt to make his duplicate copies rather than zinc, but the celluloid wore down too quickly. Some of these Hyatt discs have survived in the Smithsonian Museum. Berliner described his improvements in the article "The Improved Gramophone" in Electrical World Aug. 18, 1888. By July 1889, Berliner used hard vulcanized rubber rather than celluloid for his disc copies. By December 1888 he had improved his device to begin making plans for sale to the public. His first efforts would be in Europe and he departed on a trip in August 1889. He gave a demonstration of his device Nov. 26, 1889 at the Electro-Technical Society in Berlin. The first pressing of 25,000 single-sided 5-inch

Berliner discs was made in Europe in late 1889, but "the sound quality was so dubious that a small rectagular paper label imprinted with the actual words was glued to the back." (Koenigsberg 1990 p. lvi) Berliner arranged for the first gramophones to be made in Europe during the trip to Germany 1889-90. According to Raymond Wile, "It was in Germany that the first commercial beginnings of the gramophone occurred - presumably in July 1890. The toy makers Kammer and Reinhardt in Waltershausen (Thuringia) began to market small hand-propelled gramophones and a talking-doll. For the doll, a small 8 centimeter (just over 3") disc was prepared, and for the regular machine a 12.5 centimeter (just under 5-inch) disc. The records were available in three substances during the period they were marketed. Without adequate documentation it is impossible to determine if the copies made in hard rubber or celluloid were contemporaneous, or which substances had precedence. For an additional price, zinc discs also were available. The records were produced by two companies, one known solely by the initials GFKC, the other was the Rhenische Gummi und Celluloid Fabrik Werkes of Necharan, Mannheim. The machines and records also were imported into England, notably by J. Lewis Young, but were available for only a few years in both countries" (Wile 1990 p. 16). As a result, Berliner's efforts led to the establishment of Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft (DGG, later to become PolyGram). After returning to the U.S., Berliner in 1891 paid a New York clock maker to produce a spring mechanism to power his gramophone. Berliner created the American Gramophone Co. on Apr. 23, 1891, but it was a short-lived company. A new assistant Edward L. Wilson developed a coin-operated gramophone in 1891, filed for a patent Dec. 3, granted Apr. 5, 1892. But Wilson left by 1894. In April 1893 Berliner transferred all patents to a new company, the United States Gramophone Co., moved to a new lab at 1205 G Street NW in Washington D.C., hired Fred Gaisberg to record talented singers. According to Gaisberg, "Professional phonograph vocalists of established reputation like George J. Gaskin, the Irish tenor, Johnny Meyers, the baritone, and Dan Quinn, the comedian, were expensive, but they had loud clear voices and provided us with effective records of 'Down went McGinty to the Bottom of the Sea,' 'Anchored,' 'Sweet Marie,' 'Comrades' and so forth. We averaged up by employing lower-paid local talent secured from the beer-gardens and street corners of Washington. [These included such individuals as the monologist and former Indian Medicine Troupe member George Graham and his side kick John O'Terrell.]" (Wile 1993 p. 180) In 1894 Berliner opened a factory and showroom at 109 North Charles Street in Baltimore. The flat record size was standardized at 7 inches, and 2 gramophone models were produced with electric motors in addition to the hand-cranked model. By the fall of 1894, Berliner's company had sold 1000 machines and 25,000 records. Berliner published his first list of gramophone discs for sale, at 60 cents each, 6.875-inch diameter (after 1895 are 7-inch), 2 minutes in duration, made of celluloid (after 1895 in hard vulcanized rubber), one-sided, with name and date stamped in center (paper labels after 1900). In 1895 Berliner received patent 534,543, filed March 30, 1892, and granted Feb. 19, 1895. According to Allen Koenigsberg, the most important statement in this patent was Claim 5, the "reproducing stylus

shaped for engagement with [the grooves of] said record and free to be vibrated and propelled by the same, . . ." and this self-driven, zig-zag feature "later became Victor's most valuable patent, in glorious dominance the full 17 years (1895-1912)" (Koenigsberg 1990 p. xxxvii). This patent victory allowed Berliner to seek new investors to expand production. He signed an agreement with William C. Jones who organized the new Berliner Gramophone Co. chartered Oct. 8, and sold a territorial license to Frank Seaman who formed the New York Gramophone Co. to sell records and machines in New York and New Jersey. Other licenses were sold to the New England Gramophone Co. and to the Gramophone Co. Ltd. in Britain founded by William Barry Owen in 1897. The first London discs were made on August 8, 1898, including a piano record by a Mr. Castle, and a cornet record by C. Burgess, and four by the clarinetist A.A. Umbach. In 1896, Berliner contracted with Eldridge Johnson to develop an improved spring motor for an improved gramophone described in an article in Scientific American May 16, 1896. Johnson turned to machinist Levi Montross to help him manufacture a spring-motor gramophone for the Berliner company, and they filled the first order of 200 machines that Berliner requested Aug. 10 to be delivered in 60 days at $4 each wholesale. Montross received patent 598,529 for his design Feb. 8, 1898. By October 1896, Berliner changed from vulcanized rubber to shellac records, using material from the Duranoid Co. of Newark NJ. Frank Seaman organized the National Gramophone Co. Oct. 19 to expand the sales and production of gramophones and records. "Berliner's best year for record sales was 1898 when he sold, mainly through Frank Seaman's National Gramophone Co., 713,753 discs" (Koenigsberg 1990 p. xxxvii). In 1898, Eldridge Johnson received patent 601,198 on his gramophone March 22, 1898, filed Aug. 19, 1897. It was this patent that "effectively launched the disc talking machine in America" (Koenigsberg 1990 p. xli). Johnson was able to sell his own machines through his Consolidated Talking Machine Co., defeat Frank Seaman in a patent dispute, create the Victor Talking Machine Co. in 1901 and join with Columbia to create a disc monopoly for many years. The "Berliner" and "gramophone" names disappeared in the United States and were replaced by Victor and the victrola.

The Early Gramophone

887 Nov. 8 from Emile Berliner

887 Nov. 12 from Scrapbook

May 16 from Emile Berliner

May 16 from Emile Berliner

888 Aug. 18 from Scrapbook

894 from Emile Berliner

895 Feb. 19 from

Emile Berliner

895 from Treasures

from Emile Berliner

May 16 from Scrapbook

Emile Berliner began working on a recording machine in Washington D.C. after seeing the graphophone unveiled by Tainter and Bell in 1886. He set up a laboratory in his home on Columbia Road, and showed an early device to the patent attorney Joseph Lyons by April 1887 that recorded a lateral pattern on lamp-blacked paper wrapped on a cylinder, similar to the phonautograph of Leon Scott, but with an oil applied to the surface mixed with lampblack to make a fatty ink better able to be engraved with a cutting stylus, then producing a stereotyped copy engraved into metal by a photoengraving process, and played back on another device with a stylus following the lateral grooves and making a diaphragm vibrate. For his patent application, Berliner created the name "gramophone" from the terms used by Leon Scott for his "phonautograms" and "phonautographic records." The gramophone U.S. patent 372,786 was filed by Emile Berliner May 4, 1887, and granted Nov. 8, 1887. During 1887 Berliner developed the idea of making a negative matrix directly from the glass lampblacked disc and produced zinc copies. The earliest known Berliner disc is one of these zinc copies dated Oct. 25, 1887. This new process was described in his British patent 15,232, applied for Nov. 7, 1887. The first news story of Berliner's invention was published by Electrical World in a two-page article Nov. 12, 1887. It described a device driven by a weight box and controlled by a paddle-wheeled governor that recorded four minutes of sound on an 11-inch glass disc at 30 rpm. After Thanksgiving 1887, Werner Suess joined Berliner in his lab as an assistant to perfect the device that was still only experimental. Suess helped make an improved device with the reproducer mounted on a pivot arm that Berliner used in a public lecture and demostration at the Franklin Institute May 16, 1888. The discs played at this lecture were copper duplicates electroplated from wax originals. Berliner in August 1888 began to use celluloid from J. W. Hyatt to make his duplicate copies rather than

zinc, but the celluloid wore down too quickly. Some of these Hyatt discs have survived in the Smithsonian Museum. Berliner described his improvements in the article "The Improved Gramophone" in Electrical World Aug. 18, 1888. By July 1889, Berliner used hard vulcanized rubber rather than celluloid for his disc copies. By December 1888 he had improved his device to begin making plans for sale to the public. His first efforts would be in Europe and he departed on a trip in August 1889. He gave a demonstration of his device Nov. 26, 1889 at the Electro-Technical Society in Berlin. The first pressing of 25,000 single-sided 5-inch Berliner discs was made in Europe in late 1889, but "the sound quality was so dubious that a small rectagular paper label imprinted with the actual words was glued to the back." (Koenigsberg 1990 p. lvi) Berliner arranged for the first gramophones to be made in Europe during the trip to Germany 1889-90. According to Raymond Wile, "It was in Germany that the first commercial beginnings of the gramophone occurred - presumably in July 1890. The toy makers Kammer and Reinhardt in Waltershausen (Thuringia) began to market small hand-propelled gramophones and a talking-doll. For the doll, a small 8 centimeter (just over 3") disc was prepared, and for the regular machine a 12.5 centimeter (just under 5-inch) disc. The records were available in three substances during the period they were marketed. Without adequate documentation it is impossible to determine if the copies made in hard rubber or celluloid were contemporaneous, or which substances had precedence. For an additional price, zinc discs also were available. The records were produced by two companies, one known solely by the initials GFKC, the other was the Rhenische Gummi und Celluloid Fabrik Werkes of Necharan, Mannheim. The machines and records also were imported into England, notably by J. Lewis Young, but were available for only a few years in both countries" (Wile 1990 p. 16). As a result, Berliner's efforts led to the establishment of Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft (DGG, later to become PolyGram). After returning to the U.S., Berliner in 1891 paid a New York clock maker to produce a spring mechanism to power his gramophone. Berliner created the American Gramophone Co. on Apr. 23, 1891, but it was a short-lived company. A new assistant Edward L. Wilson developed a coin-operated gramophone in 1891, filed for a patent Dec. 3, granted Apr. 5, 1892. But Wilson left by 1894. In April 1893 Berliner transferred all patents to a new company, the United States Gramophone Co., moved to a new lab at 1205 G Street NW in Washington D.C., hired Fred Gaisberg to record talented singers. According to Gaisberg, "Professional phonograph vocalists of established reputation like George J. Gaskin, the Irish tenor, Johnny Meyers, the baritone, and Dan Quinn, the comedian, were expensive, but they had loud clear voices and provided us with effective records of 'Down went McGinty to the Bottom of the Sea,' 'Anchored,' 'Sweet Marie,' 'Comrades' and so forth. We averaged up by employing lower-paid local talent secured from the beer-gardens and street corners of Washington. [These included such individuals as the monologist and former Indian Medicine Troupe member George Graham and his side kick John O'Terrell.]" (Wile 1993 p. 180) In 1894 Berliner opened a factory and showroom at 109 North Charles Street in Baltimore. The flat

record size was standardized at 7 inches, and 2 gramophone models were produced with electric motors in addition to the hand-cranked model. By the fall of 1894, Berliner's company had sold 1000 machines and 25,000 records. Berliner published his first list of gramophone discs for sale, at 60 cents each, 6.875-inch diameter (after 1895 are 7-inch), 2 minutes in duration, made of celluloid (after 1895 in hard vulcanized rubber), one-sided, with name and date stamped in center (paper labels after 1900). In 1895 Berliner received patent 534,543, filed March 30, 1892, and granted Feb. 19, 1895. According to Allen Koenigsberg, the most important statement in this patent was Claim 5, the "reproducing stylus shaped for engagement with [the grooves of] said record and free to be vibrated and propelled by the same, . . ." and this self-driven, zig-zag feature "later became Victor's most valuable patent, in glorious dominance the full 17 years (1895-1912)" (Koenigsberg 1990 p. xxxvii). This patent victory allowed Berliner to seek new investors to expand production. He signed an agreement with William C. Jones who organized the new Berliner Gramophone Co. chartered Oct. 8, and sold a territorial license to Frank Seaman who formed the New York Gramophone Co. to sell records and machines in New York and New Jersey. Other licenses were sold to the New England Gramophone Co. and to the Gramophone Co. Ltd. in Britain founded by William Barry Owen in 1897. The first London discs were made on August 8, 1898, including a piano record by a Mr. Castle, and a cornet record by C. Burgess, and four by the clarinetist A.A. Umbach. In 1896, Berliner contracted with Eldridge Johnson to develop an improved spring motor for an improved gramophone described in an article in Scientific American May 16, 1896. Johnson turned to machinist Levi Montross to help him manufacture a spring-motor gramophone for the Berliner company, and they filled the first order of 200 machines that Berliner requested Aug. 10 to be delivered in 60 days at $4 each wholesale. Montross received patent 598,529 for his design Feb. 8, 1898. By October 1896, Berliner changed from vulcanized rubber to shellac records, using material from the Duranoid Co. of Newark NJ. Frank Seaman organized the National Gramophone Co. Oct. 19 to expand the sales and production of gramophones and records. "Berliner's best year for record sales was 1898 when he sold, mainly through Frank Seaman's National Gramophone Co., 713,753 discs" (Koenigsberg 1990 p. xxxvii). In 1898, Eldridge Johnson received patent 601,198 on his gramophone March 22, 1898, filed Aug. 19, 1897. It was this patent that "effectively launched the disc talking machine in America" (Koenigsberg 1990 p. xli). Johnson was able to sell his own machines through his Consolidated Talking Machine Co., defeat Frank Seaman in a patent dispute, create the Victor Talking Machine Co. in 1901 and join with Columbia to create a disc monopoly for many years. The "Berliner" and "gramophone" names disappeared in the United States and were replaced by Victor and the victrola.