Phonographs
The Phonograph On December 4, 1877 Thomas Edison became the first person to ever record and play back the human voice. The technology that led to the phonograph came from developments that Edison made in the telegraph and telephone. Edison at the time was experimenting with how a moving diaphragm linked to a coil, could produce a voice modulated signal. Meanwhile, he was also experimenting with a telegraph repeater which was simply a device that used a needle to indent paper with the dots and dashes of the Morse code. Out of these two ideas, came the concept of attaching the stylus from a telegraph repeater to the diaphragm in the mouthpiece of a telephone. The first test in July of 1877, involved a sheet of paper pulled under the needle mechanically coupled to a diaphragm, as he shouted into the mouthpiece..... Sadly, It didn't work..... though it did produce an unrecognizable sound which was luckily, just enough to prove the concept and spark intense interest in developing ...