Improvements in Phonographs or Apparatus for Recording and Reproducing Sound and in Phonograms or Surfaces for Receiving Sound Records, and in Envelopes for such Phonograms.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, Sth Nov., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 8th Aug., 1889-Accepted, 14th Sept., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Phonographs or Apparatus for Recording and
Reproducing Sound and in Phonograms or Surfaces for Receiving
Sound Records, and in Envelopes for such Phonograms.
1, GEORGE EDWARD GOURAUD, of Little Menlo, Beulah Hill, in the County of
Surrey, late Colonel in the United States Ariny, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention (a communication to me from abroad by Thomas Alva Edison, of Llewellyn
Park, in the County of Essex and State of New Jersey, one of the United States of
America) to be as follows:-
This invention relates, first, to a phonogram or phonograph record which can be
conveniently transmitted by mail. Such a phonogram consists of a cylinder of paper
or other flexible material provided with a covering of material adapted to be indented
by the phonograph recording point, and capable of being collapsed into flat form so
as to be readily enclosed in an envelope for mailing. Such a cylinder is made by
first wrapping a sheet of paper or other flexible material around a cylindrical tapering
core provided with a handle and then (the core being held by the handle) dipping the
paper into melted wax or a mixture of salts of fatty acids, such as oleate of lead and
palmitate of magnesium. The wax or other material adheres to the surface of the
paper and forms a coating, which can be indented by the recording point of the
phonograph. The surface of the coating is then turned in a lathe so as to leave it
truly cylindrical. A cylinder of this description can be used without further pre-
paration on a phonograph. For making the cylinder collapsible, the indenting
material is scraped off the surface of the paper by means of a suitable tool or machine
along two narrow lines directly opposite each other and extending the whole length
of the cylinder.
By this means are formed lines on which the cylinder can be collapsed or folded
into a flat form, the paper forming a hinge for folding. When the sheet of paper is
folded on the core the edges may overlap and be gummed or pasted together but in
order that thero should be no irregularity on the inner surface, it is preferred to make
the edges meet, and to secure them by a thin strip of tissue paper pasted on the outside
along the edges so as to hold them together. As this strip becomes covered with the
wax or other sound-recording material, the external surface of the phonogram is
not affected. The collapsible cylinders when made, may be folded together and packed
in boxes like envelopes for the market. When they are to be used, they are opened
out into cylindrical form and placed on the phonograph; and the record having
been produced upon them they are again collapsed and can be mailed in envelopes.
The narrow breaks in the recording material do not appreciably affect the sound
record.
Thèse phonograms being thin, have only a very slightly tapering bore and are there-
fore not completely adapted to be placed on the tapering phonogram cylinder, which
forms part of the phonograph and which is intended for use with the thick tapering
phonogram blanks made of wax and similar material. It will be obvious that phono-
graphs may be made with cylinders adapted to receive these slightly tapering blanks;
but in order that the same phonograph may be used with all kinds of blanks, it is
preferred to provide a false shell substantially cylindrical in shape, but having a
tapering bore adapted to fit upon the tapering cylinder of the phonograph, and
usually slightly tapered as to its external surface to enable it to receive a slightly
tapering phonogram blank. This shell is merely a cylinder of metal of the shape
bove described, which is slipped like a bush upon the permanent cylinder of the
phonograph, and has the slightly tapering phonogram blank slipped upon it for
ecording or reproducing.
When the collapsed or any other flat sound records or phonograms are to he

page_text: transmitted by mail there may be danger, if they be placed in ordinary envelopes, of
the record being injured by the application of dating stamps or cancelling stamps in
the post office or by the pressure; used in affixing the postage stamp. To avoid this
risk an envelope is employed having a pocket or compartment for the reception of
the phonogram, and an extension or flap to which the postage stamp is affixed and
to which the dating or cancelling stamp may be applied. This extension or flap is
formed by gumming or otherwise fastening together the two sides of the envelope for
a short distance at one end, leaving the rest of the envelope for the reception of the
phonogram; the usual gummed flap extending along the whole length.
Sometimes in the manufacture of phonograin cylinders as above described, or of
phonogram cylinders of other kinds, such as those made entirely of wax or similar
material, irregularities or eccentricities occur in the formation of the surface, and
sometimes cylinders become warped after manufacture, and if provision be not made
to prevent it, such irregularities will occasion oscillations of the recording point or of
the reproducing point and diaphragm which will interfere with the proper recording
or the reproduction of the sound. One of the features of this invention is designed
to obviate this disadvantage and consists principally in so supporting the recording
or the reproducing point that it is capable of movement independently of the diaphragm,
such independent movement, being nevertheless retarded so that it does not occur with
the rapid and minute vibrations of the sound record, but only with the slower and
more extensive vibrations which are caused by irregularities in the shape of the
phonogram. The sound vibrations having to and fro movements of great rapidity;
do not affect the retarding device, so that the latter acts as though it were fixed, and
all the energy due to the sound waves or to the sound record is transmitted directly
from the diaphragm to the recording point or from the reproducing point to the
diaphragm. On the other hand, the movements given to such points by eccentricities
in the phonogram cylinders, being long and slow, overcome the inertia or tendency
to inaction of the retarding device and thus permit movement independently of the
diaphragm. By these means, it is rendered possible to record upon or to reproduce
from a very irregularly revolving phonogram, even one which has been oval in cross
section. In carrying this portion of the invention into effect, the recording or repro-
ducing point is supported on a pivot and there is attached to such point a retarding
device which may be a weight, but which by preference is a fan or piston, the inertia
and retardation of the device being such that it will only be affected by the slow
movements referred to, these not being communicated to the diaphragm. Under the
influence of the quick sound vibrations, however, the connection of the point to the
diaphragm is practically a rigid one. The recording or reproducing point is carried
at the end of a lever pivoted at the centre of the diaphragm and having the retarding
device at its other end, a very light spring secured to the diaphragm bearing upon
the point so as to overbalance the weight of the retarding device and thus keep the
point continually against the surface.
Dated this Sth day of November 1888.
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,
191, Fleet Street, London, E.C., Agent. for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Phonographs or Apparatus for Recording and
Reproducing Sound and in Phonograms or Surfaces for Receiving
Sound Records, and in Envelopes for such Phonograms.
I, GEORGE EDWARD GOURAUD, of Little Meulo, Beulah Hill, in the County of
Surrey, late Colonel in the United States Army, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention (a communication to me from abroad by Thomas Alva Edison, of Llewellyn
Park, in the County of Essex and State of New Jersey, one of the United States of
America,) and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The apparatus commonly called the phonograph by means of which it is possible

page_text: to record waves produced in the air by the utterances of the human voice or by any
other source of sound, and to reproduce those sounds, is now so very generally known,
that it is probably unnecessary to give any description of it in this specification, but
to render untenable any complaint that this specification is insufficient, it is deemed
well to say that such an apparatus is, so far as regards its leading features, commonly
constructed and that it operates substantially as follows:-
The waves produced in the air by a speaker's voice, or other source of sound, are
caused to impinge upon a diaphragm, called the recording diaphragm, which diaphragm
is supported by the frame surrounding one of two apertures or eyes of a part called
the spectacle-frame. The recording diaphragm is so connected to a part called the
recording style that when the diaphragm is thrown into vibration by the sound waves,
the recording style is correspondingly moved by the diaphragm. This style operates
upon a suitable surface, kept in continued motion, in such manner as to form in that
surface a record of the waves that operate on the diaphragm. The surface is commonly
carried on a cylinder, which is kept during the working of the phonograph in con-
tinuous uniform rotation, while at the same time a continuous uniform endway
movement, between the recording style and the cylinder, is kept up either by the
endway movement being imparted to the cylinder, or by its being imparted to a
carriage which supports the spectacle-frame, which frame as already stated carries the
recording diaphragm, and the recording style.
By the combined action of the movement of rotation, and of the endway movement,
the record is made upon the surface in a regular helical form. The spectacle-frame
is provided with a bored socket, which surrounds a turned pin on the carriago before
mentioned; it is also, as its name would imply, provided with a second frame
surrounding a second aperture or eye, in which is placed a diaphragm called the
reproducing diaphragm. This diaphragm is so connected to an implement (herein-
after called the reproducing implement) that on that implement being moved, corre-
sponding motions are imparted to the reproducing diaphragm, and by it waves are
generated in the air.
When it is desired to take a record of sound, the spectacle-frame is so turned upon
its supporting pin, that the eye containing the recording diaphragm, is brought into
the proper position for the recording style to operate upon the surface receiving the
record, (the other or reproducing eye being at that time removed from the neighbour-
hood of that surface) and then the motion of revolution, and the endway motion
being set up, and continued by appropriate means, and on speech being uttered to the
recording diaphragm, the recording styl makes the record in the surface provided to
receive it, and continues to do so until the speech or other sources of sound cease, or
until the surface receiving the record is filled therewith.
When it is desired to
reproduce from this record the sounds that had produced it, the spectacle-frame is
swung partially around the pin which carries it, so as to throw the recording eye with
its diaphragm away from the neighbourhood of the surface which had received the
record, and so as to bring the reproducing eye with its diaphragm into the position
which had been occupied by the recording eye and diaphragm.
The reproducing implement being placed in the line of the helical record which
had been made by the recording style and the two motions being again given the
reproducing implement is caused by the record. to make vibrations similar to those
which produced the record, and this implement, as has already been said, gives corre-
sponding movements to the reproducing diaphragın, and thus sets up waves in the
air similar to those which had been generated by the voice or other sound in the first
instance, and these similar waves become audible in the reproduction of the original
sound.
The surface to receive the record is of a suitable character to be properly operated
upon by the recording style, and is made separate from the revolving cylinder, on to
which it is temporarily fixed, so as to admit of that cylinder being clothed with fresh
surfaces.
This invention relates, first, to a phonogram or phonograph record adapted for
being readily and conveniently transmitted by mail (post), and consisting of a

page_text: cylinder (so called) of paper or other flexible material provided with a covering of
material suitable for being operated upon by the phonograph recording style;
such covered cylinder being capable of being collapsed or flattened out so as to
assume a form adapted for ready enclosure in an envelope for transmission through
the post. In making such a so-called cylinder, a sheet of the paper or other
flexible material is folded around a taper core of metal, and is then dipped into
the material suitable to be operated upon by the phonograph recording style point,
which material may be wax or a mixture of salts of fatty acids, such as oleate of
lead and palmitate of magnesium, the same being in a melted or softened condition
so that it adheres to the surface of the paper and coats it evenly and completely.
The surface of the coated cylinder is then turned in a lathe so as to leave it truly
cylindrical, it having been originally of taper form owing to having been rolled
on a taper core. A cylinder of this description can be used as a phonogram
blank on the phonograph without further preparation, but to make the cylinder
collapsible, the coating material is scraped or removed from the surface of the
paper along two narrow lines directly opposite each other and extending the whole
length of the cylinder. By this means are formed lines on which the cylinder can
be folded, the paper forming a hinge for folding; and such folded cylinders can
be packed in suitable boxes for the market in the same way that envelopes are
packed. When these phonogram cylinders are to be recorded upon, they are
opened out into cylindrical form and are placed on the cylinder (so called) of the
phonograph. The paper being flexible, the cylinder of the phonograph forms it
to a cylindrical shape and the message or letter is then recorded on the suitable
material by the recording style point of the phonograph. The cylinder is then
removed from the instrument, and having been refolded in the same creases may
be mailed (posted) in an envelope. To reproduce the message, the collapsible
cylinder is placed on a phonograph cylinder and the record upon it in the suitable
material will produce vibrations of the reproducing point and of its diaphragm as
usual. In folding the paper upon the dipping core, the edges may be made to
overlap and may be gummed or pasted together; but in order to avoid the pro-
duction of an eccentric shape or other irregularity in the interior of the cylinder
it is preferred to cut the paper so as to make its edges meet and not overlap and
then to secure the edges together by means of a narrow strip of tissue paper
covered with a cementing material, such as hot dextrine applied very thinly and
pasted over the joint along the whole length of the paper shell.
Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 illustrate this portion of the invention. Fig. 1 is a
side elevation of the completed collapsible phonogram blank. Fig. 2 is an end view,
Fig. 3 a longitudinal section, and Fig. 4 an end view of the same in a collapsed
condition. Fig. 5 illustrates the paper on the dipping core; Fig. 6 shews the same
in section with suitable indentable material upon it and Fig. 7 is a cross section of
the same taken on the line 3, 3, Fig. 6.
The sheet of paper a is folded around the dipping core (Figs. 5, 6 and 7) and
has its edges united by the strip of tissue paper (a part of which is broken away in
Fig. 5) and the whole is then dipped into the indentable material, which covers its
surfaco as shewn by d. This material is then turned in a lathe to the proper form
and the phonogram blank thus formed may, as stated, be used with the phonograph
without any further preparation. To produce the collapsible cylinder, however, the
indentable material is scraped off or reinoved on the lines d', and the cylinder may
then be folded as illustrated in Fig. 4, and may be drawn out again into cylindrical
shape when it is to be placed in the phonograph.
A phonogram blank thus made of paper covered with the indentable material, being
thin, has only a very slightly tapering bore and is therefore not readily adapted for
being placed on the taper phonogram cylinder which forms part of the phonograph
and which is intended for use with a thick phonogram blank made of wax and
similar material. While it is evident that phonographs may be made with cylinders
adapted to receive these slightly tapering blanks, it is desirable that the same phono-
graph should be capable of use with all kinds of blanks. To attain this object there

page_text: is provided a false shell having a substantially cylindrical shape, but with a taper bore
adapted to fit upon the taper cylinder of the phonograph and usually formed with a
slight taper upon its external surface to enable it to receive a slightly tapering phono-
grain blank.
This portion of the invention is illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9 of the accompanying
drawings Fig. 8 being a front elevation of a phonogram cylinder with a false shell
and phonogram blank placed thereon, and Fig. 9 an elevation of the phonogram
cylinder and longitudinal section of the false shell and phonogram blank.
e is the ordinary taper revolving phonogram cylinder of the phonograph, and
e indicates a portion of the shaft which carries it. is the false shell which it is
preferred to make of metal; this false shell has a taper bore as shewn, so that it can
fit upon the taper cylinder e. The outer surface of the shell f may also be taper ;
but, if so, to a less degree than its inner surface. is the phonogram blank having a
slightly taper bore and being usually such a covered paper cylinder as is hereinbefore
described.
It will be seen that the phonogram blank may be readily placed and held upon the
false shell and that the false shell may then be slipped upon the phonogram cylinder ;
the phonogram blank being then used for recording or for reproducing sound.
It will also be seen that the use of the false shell makes possible to employ with
the same phonograph, either the considerably-tapered wax or other cylinders, which
have heretofore been commonly used, or the slightly-tapered paper cylinders herein-
before described, or any other slightly-tapered cylinders.
When the collapsed or other flat sound records are to be sent by mail (post) there may
be danger, if they be placed in ordinary envelopes, of the record being injured in the
Post Office by the application of dating stamps or cancelling stamps or by the pressure
used in affixing the postage stamp. To avoid this, there is employed an envelope
having a pocket or compartment for receiving the phonogram, and an extension or
flap whereon the postage stamp may be placed, and where the dating or cancelling
stamps may be applied. Such an envelope is illustrated in Figs. 10 and 11 of the
accompanying drawings; Fig. 10 being a front elevation and Fig. 11 a top view of
the envelope.
The envelope consists of two side sheets hh, and a covering flap ², the edge of
which is gummed as usual for sealing the envelope. At the right-hand end, the two
sideshare secured together by the application of gum between them, whereby an
extension or flap is formed which cannot be entered by the phonogram when the
same is inserted in the pocket at the other end; this flap furnishes a convenient place
for affixing the postage stamp, as indicated in Fig. 10, and for applying the dating or
other stamps used in the Post Office. As shewn in the drawings, instructions may
be printed on the envelope to apply the stamps only on the right-hand end of the
envelope where there is no danger of such application injuring the phonogram or the
record upon it.
Sometimes in the manufacture of phonogram blanks as hereinbefore described or
of phonogram blanks of other kinds, such as those made entirely of wax or similar
material, irregularities or eccentricities occur in the formation of the surface and
sometimes the cylinders become warped or otherwise distorted after manufacture; and
if provision be not made to provent it, such irregularities will occasion oscillations of
the recording style point, or the reproducing point, and the diaphragm which will
interfere with the recording or reproducing of the sound. This is obviated by the
use of another, feature of this invention, which consists principally in so supporting
the recording style point or the reproducing point that it is capable of movement
independently of its diaphragm, such independent movement being retarded so that it
does not occur with the rapid and minute vibrations of the sound record, but only
with the slower and more extensive movements which are produced by irregularities
in the shape of the phonogram. The sound vibrations have to-and-fro movements of
great rapidity and occur in large numbers per second, and these cannot move the
retarding device. The retarding device consequently behaves under the influence of

page_text: the sound vibrations as though it were fixed and all the energy due to the sound
waves or the sound record is thus communicated directly from the diaphragm to the
recording style point or from the reproducing point to the diaphragm; while the
movements due to irregularities in the shape of the phonogram, which would affect
such points being long and slow, overcome the tendency to inaction of the retarding
device, and so permit movement independently of the diaphragm. This renders it
possible to record upon or to reproduce from a very irregular revolving phonogram-
even one which is oval in shape.
In carrying this portion of the invention into effect, the recording style point or
the reproducing point is supported on a pivot and there is attached to such point a
retarding device, which is preferably a fan or piston, the inertia and retardation of
which retarding device is such that it will not be moved by the sound vibrations, but
will be moved by the slower movements referred to; so that the latter are not com-
municated to the diaphragm. On the other hand, under the quick sound vibrations,
the connection of the reproducing point to the diaphragm is practically a rigid one.
Instead of a fan a weight may be employed, but the fan or piston is found to be
preferable.
This portion of the invention is illustrated in Figs. 12 to 19 of the accompanying
drawings Figs. 12 to 17 illustrating reproducers.
Fig. 12 shows a cross section of the ear-piece, and a side view of the reproducing
point and the devices connected therewith; Fig. 13 is an under view of the repro-
ducing point and the retarding device, and Fig. 14 is a perspective view of the same;
Fig. 15 shews a modified arrangement of the retarding device, Fig. 16 shows a modi-
fication in the mode of pivotting the reproducing point, and Fig. 17 illustrates the
use of a weight as a retarding device.
Figs. 18 and 19 show recorders. Fig. 18 shows a cross section of the mouth-
piece and a side view of the recording style point and of the retarding device; and
Fig. 19 shews in section another form of retarding device.
Referring first to Figs. 12 to 17, i represents the diaphragm and ja portion of the
surface of the cylinder bearing the sound record. A small piece of suitable material,
such as cork, is attached to the diaphragm, and from the cork project small lugs
whereon the reproducing point is pivotted. The lugs are shown as formed from
a plate which may be secured to the end of the cork by suitable cement, such as
melted shellac, and the cork itself may be similarly cemented to the diaphragm. A
fine spring is cemented in a slit in the cork and bears upon the reproducing point
so as to hold the same against the phonogram. The arm which terminates in the
reproducing point extends back past the pivot and terminates at the other end in a
prong to which is attached a piece of thin mica or other suitable material o,
which preferably has side ribs, so as to form a trough. This constitutes a fan or vane,
and it has been found that such a retarding device is practically rigid under the
minute vibrations due to the sound record, such vibrations being communicated
directly through the cork to the diaphragm. When, however, the reproducing
point passes over any serious irregularity in the surface, such as would interfere with
the proper reproduction of sound, the slow movement thus produced overcomes the
inertia of the fan and the reproducing lever rocks on its pivot, being kept pressed
against the surface by the spring, so that such an irregularity is compensated for
by the reproducing arm itself and does not communicate motion to the diaphragm.
The pressure of the spring is very light; serving to counterbalance the weight of
the fan, and, by ensuring a quick return movement of the reproducing point, to
avoid any tendency for the point to leave the surface. It will be seen that the
spring is connected directly with the cork of the diaphragm. This is done to
prevent any loss of motion through the spring. Were it connected to the rim,
any movement or energy which might be communicated to it would pass to the
rim and be lost; but where the spring is joined directly through the cork to the
diaphragm, any motion communicated to it is given to the diaphragm and aids
the amplitude of vibration.

page_text: In the form illustrated in Fig. 15, the fan is enclosed in a chamber p secured
to the rim of the diaphragm, so as to increase the resistance to the motion of
the fan.
In Fig. 16, the reproducing lever is pivotted at its outer end to the cork on the
diaphragm, and the spring projects from the cork and lies upon the lever.
In the form shewn in Fig. 17, a small wheel r is supported in bearings below the
rim of the diaphragm, and a link connection is made at between the reproducing
lever and the shaft of the wheel. In this instance, the inertia of the wheel retards
the movement of the lever on its pivot under the sound vibrations in the same way
that the fan acts in the construction previously referred to; but, under the slow
motions of the irregularities in the cylinder, the inertia of the wheel is overcome 50
that it turns and allows the lever to rock on its pivot. Any of these forms may be
readily applied to recorders.
Fig. 18 shews an arrangement precisely like that of Fig. 15, t being the recording
style point.
Fig. 19 shews a different arrangement, which is also applicable to reproducers. A
small hollow cylinder or dash-pot u is attached to the centre of the diaphragm, and
in this works a plunger or piston attached to a lever to which carries the recording
style point t. The lever is pivotted below the rim of the mouth-piece, and the fine
spring attached at the centre of the diaphragm bears upon the free end of the said
lever; thus ensuring a quick return of the point in following the indentations on the
cylinder. The rapid and minute sound vibrations do not move the dash-pot upon
the piston (or vice versa in a reproducer), but slow movements due to irregularities
move the piston and so cause the dosired movement of the point independently of the
diaphragm.
It will be seen that in all these instances a retarding device is used, whereof the
inertia will not be overcome by the normal quick motion of the recording style point
or reproducing point but which will respond to the slower motions due to defects in
the cylinder surface.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim :-
1stly. The manufacture of collapsible phonogram blanks substantially as herein
described.
2ndly. The herein before described method of making phonogram blanks consisting
in wrapping a sheet of flexible material on a core, securing the edges together, coating
it with the sound-recording material, turning the surface, and removing the coating
material along two opposite lines for facilitating folding.
3rdly. The employment in a phonograph of a false shell having a taper bore,
substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
4thly. The manufacture of envelopes for mailing flat phonograins, substantially as
herein described, the same being formed with a compartment for the reception of the
phonogram and a flap or extension to which the postage stamp is affixed and the
dating or cancelling stamp is applied.
5thly. The manufacture of phonograph recorders or reproducers wherein the
recording or reproducing point is connected with its diaphragm in such a manner as
to be capable of movement independently thereof, and wherein the said point has
attached to it a fan or other retarding device which prevents such independent move-
ment under sound vibrations but which yields to movements of the point duo to
irregularities in the record surface, substantiully as herein described.
Dated this 8th day of August 1889.
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,
191, Fleet Street, London, E.C., Agent for the Applicant.