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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
888 May 16 from Emile Berliner
888 May 16 from Emile Berliner
888 Aug. 18 from Scrapbook
894 from Emile Berliner
895 Feb. 19 from Emile Berliner
895 from Treasures
895 from Emile Berliner
896 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.