waxcylinder

Wax cylinders, or wax phonograph cylinders, are early audio storage media used for recording and playing back sound in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were central to the first commercial phonographs and radio experiments before flat disc records gained dominance. The format is named for its cylindrical shape and the wax surface on which a groove is cut by a recording stylus.

Cylinders are typically about 4 inches tall and 2.5 inches in diameter, made of paraffin wax or wax blends. The recording groove is a helical spiral cut into the wax as the cylinder rotates under a cutting stylus. Playback uses a needle that traces the groove and drives a diaphragm to reproduce sound. Each cylinder generally carried a single recording, though mass production and duplication varied by manufacturer.

The wax cylinder was developed in the 1870s and became the first widely sold medium for recorded sound, led by Thomas Edison and his Phonograph Company. In the 1890s and early 1900s, cylinders were sold in catalogs and showrooms and used for music, spoken word, and entertainment. Beginning in the 1910s, flat disc records offered higher fidelity and longer playing time, leading to the decline of cylinder production; Edison stopped making cylinders in 1929.

Many wax cylinders survive in private collections and archives, and several institutions maintain playback equipment. Digital preservation and careful restoration help secure access to early recorded sound for research and public interest.