Graphophone

Graphophone is an early recording and playback device and brand name for a family of phonographs produced from the late 19th into the early 20th century. It originated with the work of the Volta Laboratory, led by Chichester Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter, and was commercialized by the Volta Graphophone Company beginning around 1889. The Graphophone represented an evolution of Edison's phonograph, using wax cylinders with a more durable wax recording medium and refined mechanical design to improve fidelity and durability.

Technically, sound was recorded on a rotating wax cylinder by a stylus that cut a groove in the surface. During playback, the stylus followed the groove and drove a diaphragm to reproduce the sound. The Graphophone’s improvements aimed at producing higher fidelity, greater volume, and longer-lasting cylinders compared with earlier devices.

In the 1890s and early 1900s, the Graphophone line changed hands through corporate reorganizations and competition with Edison’s phonographs. The technology and catalog were later absorbed by the American Graphophone Company and, ultimately, by Columbia Phonograph Company, with Graphophone devices continuing under the Columbia Graphophone name into the 1920s. The Graphophone played a significant role in the transition from experimental sound recording to commercially viable mass production and helped shape the early consumer and professional audio market.

See also: Phonograph, Wax cylinder, Edison phonograph, Columbia Phonograph Company.