Greetings Collectors, In honor of Edison's birthday we are opening an exhibit at Hearthstone House Museum, Appleton, WI. It features Edison's favorite invention, the phonograph. Below is a news release telling of the exhibit.
EDISON'S FAVORITE INVENTION - THE PHONOGRAPH The sites and sounds of early Edison phonographs will be exhibited at Hearthstone Historical House museum at 625 W. Prospect, Appleton Wisconsin from February 11th to June 29th. Of all Edison 1,093 patents, the phonograph was his favorite invention. Edison's phonograph did not only produce the songs of the day, they could also be acquired with beautiful flowered horns. This springtime exhibit will display Edison phonographs with beautiful flowered horns throughout the Victorian rooms of the world's first home lighted by a central Edison hydroelectric station on September 30th 1882. The great American inventor, Thomas Alva Edison began working on the concept of a talking machine on July 18, 1877. By December 6, 1877 he had a working model which recorded and played back sound on a rotating cylinder that was covered with a strip of soft tinfoil. Mr. Edison was amazed that the machine worked the first time he tried it. "I was always afraid of things that worked the first time." he later commented. With the invention of a device capable of recording and reproducing sound in Edison's laboratory that winter, a new industry was born. The Edison Tinfoil Phonograph as it was called was a wonderful scientific curiosity and drew large crowds when demonstrated by exhibitors before the public. However, as such it was not very practical as a consumer product since the tinfoil recording could only be played back once or twice before wearing out. At this time, Mr. Edison's next concern was the development of an incandescent lamp and the generating and distribution equipment needed to operate it. For the next ten years he let his invention languish. Other scientists made significant improvements on Edison's phonograph. Other companies succeeded in producing a recording process that circumvented Edison's patents. Realizing that others were about to takeover his invention, Edison embarked on a crash program to improve his invention and overtake the competition. By the early 1890s, Edison and his engineers had standardized the wax recording cylinder size and developed a series of spring-driven phonographs that would be directed at everyday Americans. For the next 40 years, Edison was a dominant force in the phonograph and music industry. The exhibit is brought to Hearthstone by authors and collectors Robin and Joan Rolfs. They give lectures on Edison phonographs throughout the United States and felt that Hearthstone is a perfect setting for an array of Edison's talking machines with floral horns. Hearthstone is open for tours Thursday & Friday 10:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Sunday from1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Visit our website at: www.hearthstonemuseum.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.org
