Historical information

Thomas Edison was one of the world’s most prolific inventors, holding over 2,000 different patents. One of his earliest inventions was the phonograph. The Edison Phonograph Company was formed on October 8, 1887, to market Edison's machine. The original machine went through many modifications. The Patent information on this machine indicates that it was manufactured after May 1906.

Sound was recorded on wax cylinders. Edison cylinders were the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. These hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which can be reproduced when they are played on a mechanical cylinder phonograph
Beginning in 1889, pre-recorded wax cylinders were marketed. They featured professionally made recordings of songs, instrumental music or humorous monologues in their grooves.
The earliest cylinders were made from soft wax and later hard wax was utilised. Further developments by several companies, led to the introduction of celluloid cylinders.
In late 1908, Thomas Edison had introduced wax cylinders that played for about four minutes (instead of the usual two) under the Amberol brand. The Amberols were manufactured with flat rim-ends, to prevent confusion with the earlier bevel-edged two-minute version.

In 1912, the Edison company eventually acquired patents to the celluloid technology, and almost immediately started production of the new brand as Edison Blue Amberol Records.
Cylinder records continued to compete with the growing disc record market into the 1910s. In 1912, Columbia Records, which had been selling both discs and cylinders, dropped the cylinder format, while Edison introduced his Diamond Disc format, played with a diamond stylus.

From 1915, new Edison cylinders were re-recordings from Edison discs. Although his cylinders continued to be sold in steadily dwindling quantities, Edison continued to support the owners of cylinder phonographs by making new titles available in that format until the company ceased manufacturing all records and phonographs in November 1929.

Significance

This item is significant because it is representative of early home entertainment in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Physical description

An Edison Home Phonograph in a wooden case. No trumpet included.

Inscriptions & markings

On outer case' Edison
On metal plate: Thomas A Edison TRADE MARK
On large metal plate: Detailed inscription of Patent information