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The Daily Insight

Who invented the first working phonograph

Author

Lily Fisher

Published Apr 09, 2026

Edison Standard Phonograph. In 1885, Thomas Edison wrote, “I have not heard a bird sing since I was twelve.” No one is really sure just how Edison lost most of his hearing. Yet this man invented the first machine that could capture sound and play it back. In fact, the phonograph was his favorite invention.

When was sound first recorded and who was the person who invented the phonograph?

Thomas Edison was catapulted to international fame with his 1877 invention of the phonograph—a machine that recorded and played back anything that it “heard.” But Edison was not the first person to record sound.

Who invented the first music player?

Introduction: In 1878, when the Hayes family lived in the White House, the great inventor, Thomas Edison, came one evening to demonstrate his new invention, the phonograph, for Lucy and Rutherford and their guests.

What day was the phonograph invented?

August 12, 1877 is the date popularly given for Thomas Edison’s completion of the model for the first phonograph. Edison was trying to improve the telegraph transmitter when he noticed that the movement of the paper tape through the machine produced a noise resembling spoken words when played at a high speed.

Did Alexander Graham Bell invent the phonograph?

Alexander Graham Bell, (born March 3, 1847, Edinburgh, Scotland—died August 2, 1922, Beinn Bhreagh, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada), Scottish-born American inventor, scientist, and teacher of the deaf whose foremost accomplishments were the invention of the telephone (1876) and the refinement of the phonograph …

When was music first created?

Music first arose in the Paleolithic period, though it remains unclear as to whether this was the Middle (300,000 to 50,000 BP) or Upper Paleolithic (50,000 to 12,000 BP). The vast majority of Paleolithic instruments have been found in Europe and date to the Upper Paleolithic.

How did Edison invent the phonograph?

The phonograph was developed as a result of Thomas Edison’s work on two other inventions, the telegraph and the telephone. … Edison later changed the paper to a metal cylinder with tin foil wrapped around it. The machine had two diaphragm-and-needle units, one for recording, and one for playback.

How does Thomas Edison phonograph work?

How does a phonograph work? Sound is collected by a horn that is attached to a diaphragm. … The diaphragm is connected to a stylus and pressed into a cylinder covered in wax (or alternatively a thin layer of tin foil). When a handle is turned, the cylinder rotates and also moves very slowly along.

When was Thomas Edison born?

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio; the seventh and last child of Samuel and Nancy Edison.

What was invented in 1878?

This book, entitled All About the Telephone and Phonograph, was published in 1878, the same year Thomas Edison patented his great invention the phonograph.

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What came after phonograph?

Once Edison’s phonograph became widely known, music box popularity saw a decline — but only for a while. Although they have never quite reached the same level of popularity as they once had, music boxes are a sought-after item for many antique and music lovers’ collections.

Who invented records?

Yep, it was that famous fella you’ve never heard of, Peter Goldmark, who takes the prize as the inventor of the vinyl record you’re familiar with today. Born in 1906, Goldmark ended up working at Columbia Records as an engineer and was the key developer of the 33 1/3 rpm LP record.

How much is an old phonograph worth?

At auction, similar phonographs have sold in the $2,000-$3,000 price range. A dealer specializing in collectible phonographs might ask $5,000-$7,000 for this model, in excellent original condition.

What was Alexander Graham Bell first invention?

Alexander Graham Bell is often credited with being the inventor of the telephone since he was awarded the first successful patent. However, there were many other inventors such as Elisha Gray and Antonio Meucci who also developed a talking telegraph. First Bell Telephone, June 1875.

Who invented the phonograph in the Industrial Revolution?

Thomas Edison created many inventions, but his favorite was the phonograph. While working on improvements to the telegraph and the telephone, Edison figured out a way to record sound on tinfoil-coated cylinders. In 1877, he created a machine with two needles: one for recording and one for playback.

Where was the first telephone invented?

1889. In 1889 the first ever public telephone was installed by inventor William Gray at a bank in Hartford, Connecticut.

What inventions were inspired by the phonograph?

  • Thomas Edison’s phonograph, 1877.
  • Alexander Graham Bell’s graphophone, 1886.
  • Emile Berliner’s gramophone, 1887.
  • Ray Dolby’s noise reduction system, 1965.
  • Apple’s iPod, 2001.

When did Edison invent the lightbulb?

Long before Thomas Edison patented — first in 1879 and then a year later in 1880 — and began commercializing his incandescent light bulb, British inventors were demonstrating that electric light was possible with the arc lamp.

Who invented rap?

DJ Kool Herc is widely credited with kicking off the genre. His back-to-school parties in the 1970s were the incubator of his burgeoning idea, where he used his two record turntables to create loops, playing the same beat over again, and extending the instrumental portion of a song.

Who invented piano?

The first true piano was invented almost entirely by one man—Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731) of Padua, who had been appointed in 1688 to the Florentine court of Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici to care for its harpsichords and eventually for its entire collection of musical instruments.

Who invented music in India?

Miyan Tansen, who lived at the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar in the 16th century, is credited with codifying Hindustani (north Indian) vocal music, notably the dhrupad style that he learned from his teacher Swami Haridas.

Was Edison deaf?

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio (pronounced MY-lan). … That is how Edison described himself, but in fact he was not totally deaf. It is more accurate to say he was very hard of hearing. He once wrote, “I have not heard a bird sing since I was twelve years old.”

How many times Thomas Alva Edison failed?

Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.” As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb.

How did the first record player work?

The phonograph could record sound and play it back. The receiver consisted of a tin foil wrapped cylinder and a very thin membrane, called a diaphragm, attached to a needle. Sound waves were directed into the diaphragm, making it vibrate. … The amplified vibrations played back the recorded sounds.

Do we still use the phonograph?

The disc phonograph record was the dominant commercial audio recording format throughout most of the 20th century. … However, records are still a favorite format for some audiophiles, DJs, collectors, and turntablists (particularly in hip hop and electronic dance music), and have undergone a revival since the 2000s.

What is the first voice recorder?

Phonautograph is the earliest known device for recording sound. Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville made the first known recording of an audible human voice, on April 9, in the year 1860. It was a 20-second recording of a person singing ‘Au Clair de la Lune’, a classic French folk tune.

What was invented in 1825?

WhenInventionNotes1825Passenger Railwayby George Stephenson – steam powered1827Microphoneby Charles Wheatstone1830Lawn Mowerby Edwin Budding1830Sewing Machineby Barthelemy Thimonnier

What was invented in 1866?

Chemistry. Dynamite invented by Alfred Nobel.

Who invented dynamite?

Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer, entrepreneur and business man Alfred Nobel had acquired 355 patents worldwide when he died in 1896. He invented dynamite and experimented in making synthetic rubber, leather and artificial silk among many other things.

Which came first the phonograph or the gramophone?

The phonograph made recorded music possible. The device recorded sound, including human voices. Emile Berliner created the Gramophone, the first device to play a disk of recorded music, in 1887.

Which musical invention came first?

The technology that made the modern music business possible came into existence in the New Jersey laboratory where Thomas Edison created the first device to both record sound and play it back. He was awarded U.S. Patent No. 200,521 for his invention—the phonograph—on February 19, 1878.