Early Phonographs Before Commercial Mass Produced Records
Thomas A. Edison invented the phonograph, the first device for recording and playing back sound, in 1877. After inventing and patenting the invention, Edison and his laboratory turned their attention to the commercial development of electric lighting, playing no further role in the development of the phonograph for a decade. The earliest phonograph was something of a crude curiosity, although it was one that fascinated much of the public. Early machines were sold to entrepreneurs who made a living out of traveling around the country giving "phonograph concerts" and demonstrating the device for a fee at fairs. "Talking dolls" and "Talking clocks" were manufactured as expensive novelties using the early phonograph.
Read more about this topic: Edison Records
Famous quotes containing the words early, phonographs, commercial, mass, produced and/or records:
“O troubled forms, O early love unfortunate and hard,
Time has estranged you into a jewel cold and pure;”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)
“The phonographs of hades in the brain
Are tunnels that re-wind themselves, and love
A burnt match skating in a urinal—”
—Hart Crane (1899–1932)
“It is only by not paying one’s bills that one can hope to live in the memory of the commercial classes.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“The mass are animal, in pupilage, and near chimpanzee.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The human tendency to regard little things as important has produced very many great things.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“In America, the photographer is not simply the person who records the past, but the one who invents it.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)