Tech Legacy - The Phonograph (Part 4)

Have you ever heard the saying, it's music to my ears? Where would we be without the ability to record and distribute music?

Have you ever seen the tech artifact shown in the picture above, it is called a phonograph, ancient technology which set precedent for the digital devices we use to play music today.

The phonograph is a device for the mechanical recording and reproduction of sound. In its later forms, it is also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910), or, since the 1940s, a record player. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physical deviations of a spiral groove engraved, etched, incised, or impressed into the surface of a rotating cylinder or disc, called a "record" or "vinyl".

To recreate the sound, the surface is similarly rotated while a playback stylus traces the groove and is therefore vibrated by it, very faintly reproducing the recorded sound. In early acoustic phonographs, the stylus vibrated a diaphragm which produced sound waves which were coupled to the open air through a flaring horn, or directly to the listener's ears through stethoscope-type earphones.

This is Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed by Levin Corbin Handy in Washington, April 1878

Thankfully we have better options when it comes to recording and replaying music in the modern day! But just imagine where we would be if this technology had never been invented in the first place!

Thanks for reading and leave comments below with your thoughts!

Source:

Wikipedia