Historical information
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. These have 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 under 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 home entertainment in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Physical description
Two phonograph cylinders in cardboard boxes.
The first cylinder is an earlier 2 minute Edison Gold Moulded Record with Issue Number 9184. It features a recording of "Paddle your own Canoe" by Arthur F. Collins and Byron G. Harlan and was released in January 1906.
The second cylinder is a 4 minute Edison Amberol Record (NO. 647) featuring the Levy-Athan Polka performed by Charles Daab on xylophone and accompanied by an orchestra. It was released in February 1911.
The case is cylindrical in shape and made of cardboard. It is coloured green, white, and black on the outside, while the base is not coloured. The tube is open at the top, and sealed at the base. Inside the tube is a white fabric lining. The top section of the outside of the tube is dark green. Below this is an outer sleeve. The outer sleeve has a half white, half green background with a black stripe, with gold outline, running horizontally around the top and bottom. The words "Thomas A. Edison" are printed in green cursive along the band. In the centre of the sleeve is the text " EDISON AMBEROL RECORD FOUR MINUTE" in green ink. To the left of that text is a green-toned image of Thomas Edison in an ornate, gold border. This is surrounded by the words “Copyright 1900 by the National Phonograph Co. Orange N.J. U.S.A". To the right of the text is a rectangular text box with a black border, which contains patent information in green text.
