GRAMOPHONE, or "DISC TALKING MACHINE," a mechanism for reproduc ing sound, differing in construction, but not in principle, from the phonograph. It was invented in 1888 by Emile Ber liner, a German-American inventor, who was chief instrument inspector of the Bell Telephone Co., and also inventor of the telephone transmitter.
The gramophone differs from the phonograph principally in that its rec ords are engraved on discs instead of on cylinders. On the cylinder of the phono graph the vibrations reproducing the sounds are caused by winding grooves of uneven depths, the variation of depth causing the needle to vibrate up and down. The records on the discs of the gramophone are spiral grooves radiating outward from the center, and zig-zag ging, so that the recording needle vi brates laterally, while the disc revolves in a horizontal position. In the gramo phone, also, the needle, or stylus, is not propelled by a feed screw, the disc itself causing the stylus, or needle, to move, at the same time that it causes it to vi brate. Gramophone records were first made by photo-engraving sound tracings, or by direct etchings in copper or zinc. Later wax surfaces were employed. From the original record a disc, or matrix, was made, by electrotyping. This, in turn, is used for making impressions in celluloid, rubber or composition. Cellu loid was first used, in a semi-heated state, but later it was found better to use hard rubber discs, on which the reversed rec ords of the electrotypes were reproduced, in reverse, by heavy pressure. It was
this improving process, perfected in 1895, which made the gramophone a commer cial possibility. A further improvement followed by substituting for the rubber discs a composition of shellac, in which the records could he more sharply repro duced, resulting in clearer and more distinct sounds. Another substitute still is a fibrous die, faced with a thin layer of shellac on both sides. This gives a disc much lighter in weight, less suscep tible to changes of climate or tempera ture and capable of harder usage. The motive power of the gramophone was at first applied by hand, but later a mechan ism on the principle of a clock, driven by a spring, was invented by Eldridge R. Johnson, which not only supplied motive power but acted as a speed regulator. In more recent years the etching process of producing the records has been aban doned, the expiration of the regular gramophone patents enabling the various gramophone manufacturers to utilize the wax cutting process, while still re taining the principle of horizontal mo tion. This latter change, besides various other qualities of the phonograph, which were also incorporated, brought the phonograph to its present high degree of perfection. For the reproduction of sing ing and music the gramophone is consid ered the better instrument, the disc lend ing itself to infinite repetition, without deterioration of the records.