File:Phonograph (12471914974).jpg

On this day in 1878, Thomas Edison patented his 1877 invention for reproducing recorded sound - the phonograph. While others had invented machines to record sounds earlier than the American, Edison's phonograph was the first to be able to reproduce the sounds for listeners, leading to the birth of the modern day record player or turntable.

Generally the early phonographs reproduced sounds from a cylinder, as opposed to the flat discs associated with later gramophones. "I didn't have much faith that it would work" recalled Edison, "expecting that I might possibly hear a word or so that would give hope of a future for the idea." One of Edison's workers, John Kruesi, "asked what it was for. I told him I was going to record talking, and then have the machine talk back. He thought it absurd. However, it was finished, the foil was put on; I then shouted 'Mary had a little lamb', etc. I adjusted the reproducer, and the machine reproduced it perfectly. I was never so taken aback in my life. Everybody was astonished."

The original drawing above was submitted to the Patents Office in 1902 by Walter Runge. It shows a 'sound trumpet' designed to improve the sound made by phonographs, gramophones and other 'talking devices'. It is one of many patent drawings held by Archives New Zealand.

Archives Reference: ABPJ 7746 W5650 Box 1018 www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=19807342

For updates on our On This Day series and news from Archives New Zealand, follow us on Twitter twitter.com/ArchivesNZ