This Day in History: 21 November 2020
21 November 1877
143 years ago, today, Thomas Edison announced his invention of the phonograph, which was a way to record and play back sound. Edison stumbled on this great invention while working on a way to record telephone communication at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. His work led him to experiment with a stylus on a tinfoil cylinder. This surprised him, as it played back the short song he had recorded, 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'. Public demonstrations of the phonograph made the inventor famous, and he was called the 'Wizard of Menlo Park'.
Edison set aside this invention in 1878 to work on the incandescent light bulb, and other inventors began to improve the phonograph. Edison resumed work on the device by using the wax-cylinder technique developed by Charles Tainter. Although initially used as a dictating machine, the phonograph proved to be a popular tool for entertainment. In 1906, Edison unveiled a series of musical and theatrical selections to the public through his National Phonograph Company. During the 1920s, the early record business suffered with the growth of radio, and in 1929, Edison's recording production ceased forever. Edison died in 1931, after acquiring 1,093 patents.
Want to find out more about the history of the phonograph? Click here for more information, or here for more about his other inventions.
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