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The
Birth...from page 6
sold. The company that was formed to exploit it
took on as president the former head of the Hamilton Watch Co.
who was later accused of industrial sabotage and even treason.
Poulsen continued to work on his device for years, but even with
the development of the vacuum tube, which made electrical amplification
possible, the invention never produced a profit during its seventeen
years of patent protection. He built machines using wire, cylinders,
discs, and even tape, but as we know the tape-recorder only became
successful as a consumer item after World War II. The history
of the Telegraphone is again a reminder that a patent is not a
guarantee that a wonderful idea will be quickly adopted. One idea
that did catch on fairly quickly was the attempt to attach a paper
label to a disc record. The thought was not entirely new, as disc
records of the early nineties were of such low clarity that labels
were used to type out the lyrics - even for a spoken recording
of The Lord's Prayer. But the shellac and celluloid used for early
discs did not stick well to paper glue. Eldridge Johnson then
patented a new method of applying a circular label in 1900 while
the record was still hot and this technique was used for many
years. As a matter of fact, the label soon became more important
than the record when a gramophone dealer in Russia in 1901 tried
to interest one of Berliner's European subsidiaries in paying
an exorbitant artist's fee to four of the Czar's favorite singers The dealer, who had
outfitted a fancy shop on Nevsky Prospect in St. |
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Petersburg, suggested
a sure-fire way to make the money back. Charge five times as much
for the record, but make the labels red - he claimed that the
aristocracy would gladly pay extra for this prestige series. The
idea was approved by the head of the Deutsche Gramophone Co. as
well as the head office in England, and the first Red-Seal operatic
records were born, and imported here in 1903. Trademark registration
was secured in France as well as the U.S., but England refused
to register a color. These 10" and 12" records became
a tremendous source of revenue for the Victor Talking Machine
Co. and introduced a young Enrico Caruso to the world; over 131,000,000
red-label records of all singers were sold up through 1942, at
retail prices from $1 to $7 each! The artists received correspondingly
higher payments than popular singers, and also instituted the
royalty system of payment which was not the initial pattern. As
late as 1910, Sophie Tucker received $100 a song, and no royalty
at all. All disc records were one-sided for many years before
a man named Ademor Petit saw the wisdom of placing selections
on both sides. The idea itself was not patent worthy, so in his
application he was careful to describe how molten shellac would
spread more evenly when encountering a double series of grooves.
He received his patent in 1904, and sold half his interest to
F. M. Prescott who introduced them first in Europe and then
in the U.S., with a picture of an Indian smoking a peace pipe.
War paint would have been
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more appropriate as Columbia tried
to follow suit, but was threatened with legal action. However,
the patent began to run into legal difficulties in Europe,
first in Austria, but Victor nonetheless bought the U.S. rights.
When Columbia tried once again to market two-sided discs in
1908, Victor sued them. However, the Columbia lawyer was not
to be trifled with - he stood up in the court room, raised
the disc in question, and dramatically asked: If we are to
be restricted to one side of the record, which shall it be?
The patent for the two-sided record was over-turned, and the
concept went into the public domain; by 1923, all companies
were using it. The history of the phonograph and the struggles
of its inventors make a marvelous record of inventive activity
which extends to this very day. One is constantly surprised
at how old many of our ideas about recording actually are.
A stereo record player was patented in 1898, a method of sputtering
metal on non-conductive surfaces was achieved in 1884 and
now enjoys success in the modern Compact Disc, the microgroove,
long-play record was already a reality by 1908, the first
picture record was sent through the mail in 1905, and edible
records made of chocolate were a culinary delight in 1903.
All the basic ideas are here, in the files of the U.S. Patent
Office, to study the history of recorded sound. The inventors
themselves were an optimistic breed who inspired Eldridge
Johnson to comment, after a Supreme Court victory in 1909:
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"The Victor Co.
is still selling goods in the land of the men who think they are
only waiting for our patents to be knocked out or to expire. The
question of profits does not seem to be of importance, but like
stock gamblers, they are happy to do business forever - or as
long as they can - at a loss. Some mysterious fascination seizes
those who are initiated into that fanatical circle of activity
called the talking machine business."
Allen Koenigsberg is a long time collector of
antique phonographs and the world's oldest sound recordings.
For 20 years, he edited and published The Antique Phonograph
Monthly (1973-1993), an informative guide to the first 50 years
of recorded music. He has also written two useful books:
Edison Cylinder Records, 1889-1912 which gives
titles, artists, and dates for over 10,000 songs of the period,
and The Patent History of the Phonograph, 1877-1912, covering
over 2000 phonograph and record patents. His day job involves
teaching Ancient History and Classics at Brooklyn College (CUNY)
in NYC. What an honor to print it Allen!
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Big Book...from
page 8
Swanson Portable Phonograph, Peter Pan, Claxtonola, the Lampograph
Company (machines made like lamps!), Magnola, Pathe, Bluebird
Talking Machine Company, National Talking Machine Company, Charmaphone,
Fulton Talking Machine Company (maker of the Maestrola), Aeolian-Vocalion,
Buehn Phonograph Company (this was mainly an Edison distributor),
Plaza Music Company (learn about the camera-size "Kompact"!),
Hiawatha Phonograph Company (Chicago firm), Player-Tone Talking
Machine Company, Modernola, Kodisk ("Snapshots of Your
Voice"--early home recordings, with Irving Kaufman featured
in advertisements!), Consolidated Talking Machine Company. Many
Victrola guides are duplicated, too--for example, manual for
the Victrola 50, "Instructions for Unpacking a Victrola
215," "Instructions How To Operate the Victor Fibre
Needle Cutter," "Instructions for the Operation of
the Victor Automatic Brake." Sonora literature, Cheney
literature, early Edison cylinder and disc machines, etc. This
is a book about MACHINES, not about records or artists.
This book and many others by:
Tim Gracyk can be found here on
the World of Gramophones at Tim's
Book page, take advantage of these
historical publications that reflect
some of the finest information in
print, get them before there gone!
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