Berliner Gramophone formulations remained the standard disc record material until the first vinyl records – initially made only for radio use and other special applications – were introduced in the 1930s. Beginning in 1896, Berliner's gramophones were made by Philadelphia-based machinist Eldridge Johnson, who added a spring motor to drive the previously hand-rotated turntable. Berliner also opened an office in New York City, staffed by Frank Seaman and O. D. LaDow and organized as the National Gramophone Company. Master recordings were made onto zinc plates, which were then electroplated and a negative-image "mother" made from them to stamp discs. A major reversal
Spelling of disc in British English. The earlier word is "disk", which came into the English language in the middle of the 17th century. In the 19th century, "disk" became the conventional spelling for audio recordings made on a flat plate, such as the gramophone record. Early BBC technicians differentiated between "disks" (in-house transcription records) and "discs" (the colloquial term for commercial gramophone records, or what the BBC dubbed CGRs). By the 20th century, the "k" spelling was more popular in the United States, while the "c" variant was preferred in the UK. In the 1950s, when the American company IBM pioneered the