Графонофон — название и торговая марка улучшенной версии фонографа . Он был изобретен в лаборатории Вольта , основанной Александром Грэмом Беллом в Вашингтоне, округ Колумбия , США.
Использование его товарного знака последовательно приобреталось компаниями Volta Graphophone Company, American Graphophone Company, North American Phonograph Company и, наконец, Columbia Phonograph Company (известной сегодня как Columbia Records ), каждая из которых либо производила, либо продавала графофоны.
Потребовалось пять лет исследований под руководством Бенджамина Халма, Харви Кристмаса, Чарльза Самнера Тейнтера и Чичестера Белла в лаборатории Вольта, чтобы разработать и отличить их машину от фонографа Томаса Эдисона .
Среди своих инноваций исследователи экспериментировали с методами боковой записи еще в 1881 году. В отличие от вертикально вырезанных канавок фонографов Эдисона , [1] [2] в методе боковой записи использовалась режущая игла, которая перемещалась из стороны в сторону в « зигзагообразный узор по всей пластинке. Хотя в цилиндрических фонографах никогда коммерчески не использовался процесс боковой резки, позже он стал основным методом записи фонографических дисков .
Белл и Тейнтер также разработали картонные цилиндры с вощеным покрытием для своего цилиндра для пластинок. Рифленая оправка Эдисона, покрытая съемным листом фольги (фактический носитель записи), была склонна к повреждению во время установки или удаления. [3] Тейнтер получил отдельный патент на машину для сборки трубок, которая автоматически производит сердечники из спиральных картонных трубок для пластинок в восковых цилиндрах. Переход от фольги к воску привел к повышению качества звука и рекордному сроку службы.
Помимо того, что восковой носитель записи намного проще в обращении, он также позволяет выполнять более длительные записи и обеспечивает превосходное качество воспроизведения. [3] Кроме того, в графофонах сначала использовались ножные педали для вращения записей, затем заводились часовые механизмы и, наконец, перешли на электродвигатели вместо ручного запуска на фонографе Эдисона. [3]
In 1885, when the Volta Laboratory Associates were sure that they had a number of practical inventions, they filed patent applications and began to seek out investors. The Volta Graphophone Company of Alexandria, Virginia, was created on January 6, 1886, and incorporated on February 3, 1886. It formed to control the patents and to handle the commercial development of their sound recording and reproduction inventions, one of which became the first Dictaphone.[4]
After the Volta Associates gave several demonstrations in Washington, D.C., businessmen from Philadelphia created the American Graphophone Company on March 28, 1887, to produce and sell the machines for the budding phonograph marketplace.[5] The Volta Graphophone Company then merged with American Graphophone,[5] which itself later evolved into Columbia Records.[6][7] The Howe Machine Factory (for sewing machines) in Bridgeport, Connecticut, became American Graphophone manufacturing plant. Tainter resided there for several months to supervise manufacturing before becoming ill, but later went on to continue his inventive work for many years. The small Bridgeport plant, which initially produced three or four machines a day, later became the Dictaphone Corporation.[4]
Shortly after American Graphophone creation, Jesse H. Lippincott used nearly $1 million of an inheritance to gain control of it, as well as the rights to the Graphophone and the Bell and Tainter patents. He directly invested $200,000 into American Graphophone, and agreed to purchase 5,000 machines yearly, in return for sales rights to the Graphophone (except in Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia).[3]
Soon after, Lippincott purchased the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company and its patents for US$500,000, and exclusive sales rights of the Phonograph in the United States from Ezrah T. Gilliand (who had previously been granted the contract by Edison) for $250,000, leaving Edison with the manufacturing rights. .[3] He then created the North American Phonograph Company in 1888 to consolidate the national sales rights of both the Graphophone and the Edison Speaking Phonograph.[3]
Jesse Lippincott set up a sales network of local companies to lease Phonographs and Graphophones as dictation machines. In the early 1890s Lippincott fell victim to the unit's mechanical problems and also to resistance from stenographers, resulting in the company's bankruptcy.[3]
A coin-operated version of the Graphophone, U.S. patent 506,348, was developed by Tainter in 1893 to compete with nickel-in-the-slot entertainment phonograph U.S. patent 428,750 demonstrated in 1889 by Louis T. Glass, manager of the Pacific Phonograph Company.[8]
In 1889, the trade name Graphophone began to be utilized by Columbia Phonograph Company as the name for their version of the Phonograph. Columbia Phonograph Company, originally established by a group of entrepreneurs licensed by the American Graphophone Company to retail graphophones in Washington DC, ultimately acquired American Graphophone Company in 1893. In 1904, Columbia Phonograph Company established itself in Toronto, Canada. Two years later, in 1906, the American Graphophone company reorganized and changed its name to Columbia Graphophone Company to reflect its association with Columbia. In 1918, Columbia Graphophone Company reorganized to form a retailer, Columbia Graphophone Company—and a manufacturer, Columbia Graphophone Manufacturing Company. In 1923, Louis Sterling bought Columbia Phonograph Co. and reorganized it yet again, giving birth to the future record giant Columbia Records.[3][9][10]
Early machines compatible with Edison cylinders were modified treadle machines. The upper-works connected to a spring or electric motor (called Type K electric) in a boxy case, which could record and play back the old Bell and Tainter cylinders. Some models, like the Type G, had new upper-works that were not designed to play Bell and Tainter cylinders. The name Graphophone was used by Columbia (for disc machines) into the 1920s or 1930s, and the similar name Grafonola was used to denote internal horn machines.