The cylinder phonograph invented by Edison owed its eventual demise to a crude device patented by Emile Berliner in 1887. Berliner recorded sound on a wax disk rather than a cylinder. And instead of the stylus making a groove that varied in depth, the stylus moved laterally, zigzagging with changes in the sound wave. This was an important development because it allowed Berliner to make many cheap copies from a wax "master" by electrotyping a metal "stamper" and then imprinting the grooves in a softer material. Initially Berliner used rubber but eventually he settled on shellac, a natural plastic that could be softened by heating but would harden when cooled. The Museum's oldest Berliner machine is a German-made device from around 1890. Turned by hand and playing a tiny record, this was little more than a toy.

Fig. 6. Berliner's early gramophone (770123) was turned by hand, ca 1890.(CSTM)

It was only in 1897, after Berliner had switched to shellac records and had installed spring motors in his machines, that the "gramophone" began to compete with cylinder players. After the turn of the century, disk players gradually surpassed cylinder machines in popularity. This was partly due to the ease of record manufacture and storage, to the louder (though rougher) sound of disk records, and to the mass appeal of popular singers and opera stars that the disk record makers recruited. In 1906 in a further marketing coup, Victor Talking Machine, which had taken over Berliner's patents in the United States, introduced the Victrola. The Victrola's horn was hidden inside the cabinet, which had been redesigned to harmonize with the decor of genteel parlours. Edison responded to this competitive challenge by introducing the Diamond Disc phonograph in 1913. Edison's disks, however, were cut with the hill-and-dale method, so that the records and the players were incompatible with those of other companies.

Fig. 7. The popular Victrola IX (700192) was available from 1911 to 1926.(CSTM)

Fig. 8. Diamond Disk C-250 (690633), Edison's answer to the Victrola, 1915-1919.(Peter Lindell/CSTM)

The last of the large acoustical-mechanical disk players were introduced in the 1920s, and their design was influenced by developments in radio. The Museum's Orthophonic Victrola Credenza was designed to optimize the sound from new disks recorded using microphones and electronic amplification. The Victrola Radiola consisted of an acoustical record player and a radio housed in a single cabinet, though the units remained functionally separate.

Fig. 9. Victor Orthophonic Victrola Credenza (680294), 1925-1928.(CSTM)

Fig. 10. Victrola Radiola 7-11 (890143) record player and radio, 1928.(CSTM)