JF Ptak Science Books  Post 2838

This device isn’t so much a six-person internet as it is…well, it isn’t that at all. It was however one of the first times where a group of people could share a recorded piece on their own earphones, though.  This was Thomas Edison’s new photograph of 1888:

Thomas Edison–who in a furious few years in the mid 1870’s–invented the light bulb and the phonograph  (the later coming as a direct byproduct on work done on the telephone and telegraph)..He celebrates his phonograph in the North American Review (May 1878)  and then lists what he saw as the readymade faits acomplis of the phonograph, the first of which was weirdly/spectacularly worded:   “1. The captivity of all manner of sound-waves heretofore designated as fugitive, and their permanent retention.”  Do you hear a soundtrack with that description?  I did.  He proceeded with less fanfare: “2. Their reproduction with all their original characteristics at will, without the presence or consent of the original source, and after the lapse of any period of time. 3. The transmission of such captive sounds through the ordinary channels of commercial intercourse and trade in material form, for purposes of communication or as merchantable goods. 4. Indefinite multiplication and preservation of such sounds, without regard to the existence or non-existence of the original source. 5. The captivation of sounds, with or without the knowledge or consent of the source of their origin.

Edison then goes on to list what he saw as distinct “possibilities” for the use of the phonograph in the not-too-distant future. There are ten major prospects, the “bookish” aspect and the first major assault on the way we read is listed fourth (though he wasn’t necessarily weighting his list in any way).  Some of the others in this list (all of which cam to fruition) include: 1.Dictation and letter writing—using the phonograph to record letters and correspondence, which was baldly aimed at the business and corporate trade as the machine was relatively difficult to operate and expensive. 2  Phonographic “books”. I noticed that that Edison did not change the word “book” in any way, even though the book is no longer there with the application of the phonograph, just the read and spoken words.  “Books may be read by the charitably-inclined professional reader, or by such readers especially employed for that purpose, and the record of such book used in the asylums of the blind, hospitals, the sick-chamber, or even with great profit and amusement by the lady or gentleman whose eyes and hands may be otherwise employed; or, again, because of the greater enjoyment to be had from a book when read by an elocutionist than when read by the average reader.” 3. Family records. “For the purpose of preserving the sayings, the voices, and the last words of the dying member of the family [emphasis mine] as of great men the phonograph will unquestionably outrank the photograph.”4. Toys:  “A doll which may speak, sing, cry, or laugh, may be safely promised our children for the Christmas holidays ensuing. Every species of animal or mechanical toy such as locomotives, etc. may be supplied with their natural and characteristic sounds.”

Edison continued, writing on the phonograph’s application for the study of elocution, speaking clocks, language preservation (as in documentation of the proper way of speaking a certain language, something that would’ve come in handy in the spike of disappearing languages at the end of the 19th century), telephone recorders and pedagogical lessons.

There was a lull in activity on the phonograph for Mr. Edison between the machine’s invention and 1888—this was the first major iteration/improvement the man made on his machine in nearly 10 years. The most significant reach was replacing the surface of the recording foil cylinder with wax, which was more reliable. In any event, in this picture (published in Scientific American Supplement in March 1888, we see the new instrument, equipped as it was for six private listeners.