wax cylinder represent the 'archetype' of an Edison wax cylinder and
were first made in 1888. However, the first wax cylinders are not to be
credited to Edison but are based on the development by Chichester Bell
wax cylinder represent the 'archetype' of an Edison wax cylinder and
were first made in 1888. However, the first wax cylinders are not to be
credited to Edison but are based on the development by Chichester Bell
and Charles Sumner Tainter, financed by Alexander Graham Bell. 1884 was
the fateful year where both developers came to the idea of using a wax
composition instead of the common tinfoil as introduced by Edison.
Their phonograph was called Graphophone, a simple wordplay. 1886, Bell
and Tainter were able to present a working dictation phonograph that
was recording its contents on a cardboard cylinder covered with thin
layer of wax. Like Edison, their major intention was also for the use
of taking dictation, not music. Bell and Tainter's efforts to start
cooperation with Edison were doomed from the first day when he
vigorously refused to do any business "with Alexander Graham Bell and
his pirates." After 10 years of negligence, Edison finally realized
that in case of further inactivity he was going to loose "his baby".
was his major reason for starting his own researches. In 1888, after an
assumed shift of 72 hours, Edison finished the first working prototype
of his so called "Perfect Phonograph" which - in no way accidentally -
also used a wax cylinder. Unlike the cylinders by Bell and Tainter,
Edison's cylinders consisted completely of wax and were quite thicker.
This ingenious design allowed shaving off a thin layer and reusing the
wax cylinder for multiple times. Because of mutual patent claims
between Bell and Edison, it mostly remained as a cold economic war,
which was mainly carried out by competitive phonographs and records.
Edison's format finally achieved broadly acceptance of the vast
majority and the Graphophones, then also using Edison format cylinders,
gained an important percentage in home and parlor entertainment.
predominant amount of the commercial recordings made up the mid-1890's
was recorded directly, i.e. the customer normally received an original
recording. During the early years, technicians already searched for
practical ways of duplication to gain profits as performers were paid
for each session - regardless of the amount of recordings they made. A
hugely organized industry of a cost-intensive collecting society did
not exist yet. The first duplicates were made by connecting a playing
phonograph with a recording one by the use of a rubber tube. The result
was anything but satisfying; however still good enough to be sold.
more practical solution was found in pantographic duplication machines,
which recorded a blank more directly from the original cylinder. This
method improved the sound quality significantly. With some further
adjustment it was now even possible have some little amplification, of
course, only done mechanically. Using a pantograph, about 100 copies of
merchantable quality could be made from a single master cylinder. The
invention of electric sound amplifiers was still decades away.
Brown wax cylinder made by the
Columbia Phonograph Company, 1899
wax cylinders were commercially discontinued by Edison in 1902 with the
introduction of the new Gold Moulded Record (also just called Moulded
Record or later Standard Record). The last commercially recorded brown
wax cylinders were likely made in Europe by small labels until about
1906. An exact dating of such cylinders is therefore only possible with
the availability of discographies or other references. Furthermore it
is known that some companies sold their pantographic duplicates as
originals too, a true misleading advertising. Columbia was one of the
fewer companies that also sold brown wax cylinders made by the moulding
process (1902-1904), but soon they changed to a harder black wax
Edison Studio Pantograph, ca. 1899 Here shown for testing purposes
only with a 1907 gold moulded cylinder
that is transferred to a new blank brown wax cylinder.
Listen here to an example in stereo, left channel copy, right channel original:
1898, Columbia introduced a new luxury format of cylinders with a
diameter of 5". These so called Grand Graphophone cylinders required a
compatible phonograph with a larger mandrel and did only provide the
same playing time of 2-3 minutes - just like a standard cylinder,
related to the recording speed. Because of the higher surface speed,
the volume and clarity was i