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A Matter of Record (part 1) “A ‘Phonographic’ Mind”
Al, as he was called as a boy, burned down the family barn at six, and attended three different schools between the ages of seven and nine.
His mother eventually pulled him out of school and home-taught him after the principal deemed him incorrigible, confused and just plain stupid.
His own father also thought he was both stupid and annoying.
But Life Magazine went on to name him the most important person who shaped the last millennium, ahead of such notables as Christopher Columbus, Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo, Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare, Karl Marx, Mohandas Gandhi, Walt Disney, Henry Ford , Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
Today he has a major city in New Jersey named after him, as well as a New York utility company. He held 1,093 patents but is best remembered for inventing what you are most likely using to be able to read this essay.
He was Thomas Alva Edison, the poster child for "ADHD" (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and best remembered for inventing the light bulb. Lesser known, but almost as important to us music lovers, is his invention of the phonograph.
In 1877 as a byproduct of Edison's experimentation with the telephone and telegraph, he spoke the nursery rhyme, ”Mary had a little lamb" into the mouthpiece of his little machine, played back his words, and the age of recording was born.
The Edison Speaking Phonograph Company was founded and thus created the impetus for the growth of the recording industry, and to an extent, the foundation of the music business as we know it today.
The original Edison cylinder phonograph was a machine that contained, on the surface, a strip of tinfoil wrapped around a rotating metal drum (cylinder). The machine had two distinct needle units, one for recording, and one for playback. The needle drew grooves; the depth of the grooves corresponded to the changes in air pressure created by the original sound.
The machine was an instant success but was difficult to operate except by experts, and the tin foil would last for only a few plays.
Perhaps distracted by his ADHD or because Edison had more important things to work on (like the light bulb), he abandoned the phonograph for about ten years.
In the void left by Edison, others moved forward to improve the phonograph, notably Alexander Graham Bell. Yes, the same Bell, "Father of Ma Bell," inventor of the telephone and # 31 on Life Magazine's list, thirty notches below Edison. (click here for the complete list)
Bell made some improvements on Edison's invention, chiefly by using wax in the place of tin foil and a floating stylus instead of rigid needles. Calling his invention the graphophone, Bell approached Edison to discuss a possible collaboration on the machine, but Edison refused, determined to improve the phonograph himself.
Having succeeded in making the incandescent lamp, in 1887 Edison could now “clearly focus” (get it, ha ha) on his cylinder phonograph. His initial work, though, closely followed the improvements made by Bell, especially in its use of wax cylinders instead of the tin foil he had used a decade earlier.
A new company, the Edison Phonograph Company, was formed on October 8, 1887, to market Edison's machine. He introduced what he awkwardly termed “The Improved Phonograph,” shortly followed by “The Perfected Phonograph.”
A great inventor, Edison would never have made it in the marketing or advertising departments!
“The Perfected Phonograph,” which Edison created, featured wax cylinders, four inches long and two inches in diameter. They cost about fifty cents each, typically played at 120 r.p.m., and delivered about two minutes of recorded music.
But the music cylinders could only be produced in small quantities, so the commercial viability of Edison's phonograph seemed uncertain. Suppliers of the phonograph were only capable of producing a few dozen recorded cylinders at a time by mechanical duplication
In 1890, however, the Edison Laboratories devised a method to mass-produce pre-recorded phonograph cylinders in molds, using very slightly tapered cylinders and molding in a material that contracted as it hardened.
Molded cylinders containing pre-recorded music were now produced in quantity and created the foundation for the mass production of records and the commercial record (music) industry that exists to this very day.
So, you see, folks, not only can people afflicted with ADHD change a light bulb....they can invent one as well.
And the microphone, movie projector and phonograph too!
His mother eventually pulled him out of school and home-taught him after the principal deemed him incorrigible, confused and just plain stupid.
His own father also thought he was both stupid and annoying.
But Life Magazine went on to name him the most important person who shaped the last millennium, ahead of such notables as Christopher Columbus, Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo, Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare, Karl Marx, Mohandas Gandhi, Walt Disney, Henry Ford , Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
Today he has a major city in New Jersey named after him, as well as a New York utility company. He held 1,093 patents but is best remembered for inventing what you are most likely using to be able to read this essay.
He was Thomas Alva Edison, the poster child for "ADHD" (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and best remembered for inventing the light bulb. Lesser known, but almost as important to us music lovers, is his invention of the phonograph.
In 1877 as a byproduct of Edison's experimentation with the telephone and telegraph, he spoke the nursery rhyme, ”Mary had a little lamb" into the mouthpiece of his little machine, played back his words, and the age of recording was born.
The Edison Speaking Phonograph Company was founded and thus created the impetus for the growth of the recording industry, and to an extent, the foundation of the music business as we know it today.
The original Edison cylinder phonograph was a machine that contained, on the surface, a strip of tinfoil wrapped around a rotating metal drum (cylinder). The machine had two distinct needle units, one for recording, and one for playback. The needle drew grooves; the depth of the grooves corresponded to the changes in air pressure created by the original sound.
The machine was an instant success but was difficult to operate except by experts, and the tin foil would last for only a few plays.
Perhaps distracted by his ADHD or because Edison had more important things to work on (like the light bulb), he abandoned the phonograph for about ten years.
In the void left by Edison, others moved forward to improve the phonograph, notably Alexander Graham Bell. Yes, the same Bell, "Father of Ma Bell," inventor of the telephone and # 31 on Life Magazine's list, thirty notches below Edison. (click here for the complete list)
Bell made some improvements on Edison's invention, chiefly by using wax in the place of tin foil and a floating stylus instead of rigid needles. Calling his invention the graphophone, Bell approached Edison to discuss a possible collaboration on the machine, but Edison refused, determined to improve the phonograph himself.
Having succeeded in making the incandescent lamp, in 1887 Edison could now “clearly focus” (get it, ha ha) on his cylinder phonograph. His initial work, though, closely followed the improvements made by Bell, especially in its use of wax cylinders instead of the tin foil he had used a decade earlier.
A new company, the Edison Phonograph Company, was formed on October 8, 1887, to market Edison's machine. He introduced what he awkwardly termed “The Improved Phonograph,” shortly followed by “The Perfected Phonograph.”
A great inventor, Edison would never have made it in the marketing or advertising departments!
“The Perfected Phonograph,” which Edison created, featured wax cylinders, four inches long and two inches in diameter. They cost about fifty cents each, typically played at 120 r.p.m., and delivered about two minutes of recorded music.
But the music cylinders could only be produced in small quantities, so the commercial viability of Edison's phonograph seemed uncertain. Suppliers of the phonograph were only capable of producing a few dozen recorded cylinders at a time by mechanical duplication
In 1890, however, the Edison Laboratories devised a method to mass-produce pre-recorded phonograph cylinders in molds, using very slightly tapered cylinders and molding in a material that contracted as it hardened.
Molded cylinders containing pre-recorded music were now produced in quantity and created the foundation for the mass production of records and the commercial record (music) industry that exists to this very day.
So, you see, folks, not only can people afflicted with ADHD change a light bulb....they can invent one as well.
And the microphone, movie projector and phonograph too!
