Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

and articulation were adequate, the volume was so low that listeners were required to use ear tubes. In appearance these early talking ma- chines closely resembled a dictating machine and despite their acousti- cal deficiencies, were used as such in business offices for a limited pe- riod during the nineties. Following close in Edison's foot- steps was Emile Berliner, who pat- ented the "gramaphone" in 1887. The Berliner machine used a cylin- der coated with lampblack. How- ever, the German-born inventor's greatest contribution to the ad- vancement of the phonograph came a short time later, while trying to solve the recording problem from a new approach. Berliner's system featured a flat disc record with a groove that not only vibrated the stylus of the pho- nograph to reproduce sound but also piloted the sound box and the horn across the record. Opposing the hill-and-dale method, his record vibrated the stylus laterally by means of modulations in the side walls of the groove. Although the reproduction quality of this record was inferior to that obtained by his rivals, the volume was loud enough to eliminate the need for ear tubes. A manufacturing tech- nique also was developed by Ber- liner for producing duplicate copies from a master record. Well aware that his phonograph needed the touch of a mechanical expert, Berliner in August 1896 took his instrument to the Camden, N. J., shop of Eldridge R. Johnson, a recognized genius of machines. As a result of Johnson's success in eliminating defects in this model. he was given a contract to produce instruments for the Berliner Gram- aphone Company. At the same time, Johnson continued with his own experiments and devised a spring motor with a governor which would insure a constant turntable speed. Johnson also developed a new disc type record, superior to any then on the market. For the next few years, the flat disc record competed with the wax cylinder. When Berliner was forced out of business by his competitors, Johnson bought up many of the company's patents to supplement his own and in 1901 formed the \'ictor Talking Machine Company. Critics Finally Convinced Prior to the establishment of the \'ictor Company, the phonograph had not yet emerged from the toy or novelty class. One of its most common uses was as a nickelodeon in hotel lobbies, barrooms and rail- road stations. But through John- son's persistent efforts, the talk- ing machine gradually won over its critics and gained recognition as an instrument for home entertain- ment. It was about the same time that Johnson made another of his master moves. He succeeded in signing Caruso to record for Victor in this country. The great tenor's action encouraged other artists who there- tofore had been reluctant to risk their reputations on the "new- fangled contraption." Victor's first catalog of Red Seal records, issued in 1904, created the impetus that aided the phonograph in becoming a dignified instrument for musical appreciation. In those years, talking machines were sold in bicycle shops, hardware stores and sewing machines shops. Johnson, familiar with the tricks of merchandising, convinced the Lyon & Healy Company of Chicago, then the largest musical house in the world, to handle his company's phonographs and records. Opening of such important sales outlets for Victor products doomed to obsoles- cence the old cylinder records still being produced by Johnson's com- petitors. To obtain better reproduction, larger horns came into use. How- ever, because they finally became too heavy to rest on the record without damaging the grooves, the horn was attached to the cabinet, an arrange- ment that continued for only a short time. With the introduction of the Victrola phonograph in 1906, the era of the phonograph with the external horn was brought to a close. To improve the acoustical (luality and appearance of the pho- nograph, the horn of this model was housed within the cabinet. All recording and reproducing during the early days of the talk- ing machine were accomplished by acoustical methods. Artists spoke or sang into a large recording horn which caused a vibrating dia- phragm to actuate the recording stylus. Disadvantages of this meth- od were numerous. For one thing, it was necessary to seat the mem- bers of a full-sized orchestra on tiered benches to bring all instru- ments within the limited range of the recording horn. Instruments themselves sometimes presented problems. Veterans recollect that (Continued on page 32) THE BERLINER GRAMAPHONE, PATENTED IN 1887, FEATURED A FI^T DISC AND A HOR.V, IN CONTRAST TO THE CYLINDRICAL RECORDS THEN IN COMMON USE. THOMAS ALVA EDISON, INVENTOR OF THE "TALKINf! MACHINE" IS SHOWN HERE EXAM- INING THE WAX CYLINDRICAL RECORD OF HIS 1!HI7 MnriF.I. riliiMiCRAPH.