vahasylintereitä

Vahasylintereitä, known in English as wax cylinders, were an early sound recording and playback medium. Developed by Thomas Edison in the late 1870s, they were a significant advancement in capturing and reproducing audio. The cylinders were made of a hollow cardboard or paper tube coated with a layer of wax. Sound was recorded by a stylus attached to a diaphragm, which vibrated in response to sound waves. These vibrations caused the stylus to etch a groove into the wax surface, with the depth and pattern of the groove varying according to the sound's amplitude and frequency.

To play back the recorded sound, a stylus was placed in the groove and followed its path as the cylinder rotated. The stylus's movement caused the diaphragm to vibrate, recreating the original sound waves which were then amplified. Early playback devices often used a large horn to direct the sound. The limitations of wax cylinders included their fragility and limited recording time, typically only a few minutes. Reproducing recordings also required specialized equipment. Despite these drawbacks, wax cylinders were the dominant format for audio recording for over two decades, paving the way for future sound recording technologies like shellac discs and vinyl records. They are now primarily of historical interest and found in museum collections.