jan 1, 1877 - Sound storage

Description:

When Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, he created the first technology for recording and reproducing sounds as perceived by people. Edison used a vibrating stylus connected to a sound collecting horn to record sound vibrations as a vertical pattern of waves on the surface of a rotating tinfoil cylinder. The tinfoil was soon replaced by wax, and the cylinders, which were hard to produce economically, evolved into the familiar, and less expensive, phonograph disks (1877), much to Edison's discontent. Disk recordings use a horizontal stylus motion, rather than the vertical motion employed by Edison.
Early phonographs, such as the disk player on the right, were entirely mechanical, using spring driven motors (note winding crank on right side)to rotate the cylinder or disk and relying upon the acoustical energy of the recorded sound wave to drive the recording stylus. They were suprisingly loud, although of limited fidelity.