Audio – Museum Of Communication
Source: https://museumofcommunication.org.uk/audio
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:11
Audio – Museum Of Communication
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Audio
Audio Timeline: the first 100 years
1850’s –
Leon de Martinville invents the
PHONAUTOGRAPH
, which reproduces sound waves as a line etched on a cylinder.
1855 –
Charles Sumner Tainter and Chichester Bell produce the
GRAPHOPONE
, which uses wax cylinders.
1870 –
Designed in 1870 by Polyphon Musikwerke,
Leipzig
, Germany, the
POLYPHON
was a sort of disc-playing
musical box
. It was manufactured until the early 1900s. During this period, these instruments were exported throughout the world and appropriate musical discs were available for European markets, as well as further afield. This was the equivalent to what juke boxes were in the 1950/60s.
1877 –
Thomas Alva Edison, whilst designing a telephone repeater, which transcribes Morse into marks on waxed paper, connects the stylus to a telephone handset and is rewarded by hearing his own voice saying “Hello”. On 7th December 1877, he demonstrates his
PHONOGRAPH
machine for the first time.
1887 –
Emile Berliner patents the
GRAMOPHONE
, which uses a flat disc (gramophone record). The disc is made from slate grindings held together by a lacquer. Within 20 years, this can be duplicated from a master disc by a press.
By 1912 –
machines are available that can play up to 12 records with only one winding
1920’s –
The increasing popularity of radio leads to improved designs of microphones and loudspeakers.
1927 –
Austrian engineer Fritz Pfleumer invents the first magnetic tape, patented in the following year.
1928 –
The first “all-electric”
RECORD PLAYER
is marketed and disc auto-changers for up to ten records follow shortly. Fitting an electric pickup and a radio into the same cabinet produces the
RADIOGRAM
.
1931-1935 –
Alan D Blumlein of EMI takes out patents on binaural or stereophonic recording.
1932 –
Pfleumer grants German electronics company AEG the right to use his magnetic tape in developing new sound recording machines.
1935 –
AEG demonstrate their pioneering Magnetophon K1 reel-to-reel tape recorder at the Berlin Radio Show.
1947 –
EMI release BTR1, the first tape recorder available commercially in the UK.
1948 –
Columbia introduces the 33 1/3 RPM long-playing record.
1949 –
RCA brings out the 45 RPM extended-play record.
Round Sykes Microphone, 1923
In 1877, Thomas Alva Edison demonstrated his phonograph, a machine capable of both recording and reproducing sound. His first demonstrations used tinfoil wrapped round a metal cylinder – but this was too crude to be practical and he soon replaced it with a far more versatile and durable hollow wax cylinder.
The phonograph dominated the market for the next 20 years but during this period the gramophone became established as a far superior and more sophisticated instrument, and the gramophone record – a flat, black disc composed of shellac and finely pulverised slate (a great improvement on its predecessor!), easily overtook the wax cylinder. The disc was rotated on the gramophone’s turntable at 78 rpm – until the clockwork ran down!
Portable models appeared on the scene in the ‘early days’. The Museum owns a Decca portable, marketed in 1915 as
“a veritable asset to the morale of the Troops”
.
By the late 1920s, horn gramophones had pride of place in many homes. The horn was not essential; in a lot of cases – particularly with portables like the 1932 Cliftophone – you simply opened a panel at the front to increase the volume!
Decades later, in the ‘swinging 60s’, radio and television programmes like
Top of the Pops
and
Juke Box Jury
influenced the market and heralded in the golden age of vinyl. Shellac had been replaced by vinyl, and small, inexpensive recordings of the latest pop artists swept the market, making it possible for young people to listen to their favourite groups and bands on the inexpensive record players available at the time.
In the 1920s, the development and popularity of domestic radio led to the need for high quality microphones and loudspeakers.
The Museum’s microphone collection includes models built into existing cases like mantle clocks, car sidelights and candlestick telephones – but is dominated by the massive 12kg Round-Sykes ‘Magnetophone’ – the first purpose-built microphone to be commissioned by the BBC and used from 1923 until 1927:- A coil of wire was attached to the magnet by cotton-wool smeared in Vaseline! This frequently fell off in the warm studio, thereby causing
“a technical hitch …”
The huge microphone was mounted on a wooden trolley and could be trundled around the studio.
Loudspeakers of the period took on a myriad of shapes and styles – from the conventional horn to fretwork designs of birds, tapestry and pleated paper – each one, an art form to be displayed and cherished with pride.
Half a century ago, reel-to-reel tape recorders were the latest “must haves” followed by CDs, DVDs and culminating in the ground-breaking technological developments of the 21st century.
The road from Edison’s tin-foil cylinder to today’s achievements is an astonishing path of inventions and innovations, signposting an exciting, unprecedented future.
Cliftophone portable 1932
HMV Radiogram c. 1946
Round-Sykes Microphone and stand
Microphone display
Magnavox model R2B Loudspeaker 1922 and Graham 'Standard Dragon' petal shaped oak loudspeaker 1923
Sterling 'Primax' pleated paper loudspeaker 1924
Gramaphone and cylinders c. 1862
Graphophone c. 1905
Klingsor Gramaphone 1911
Decca portable 1915
Our Latest Acquisition – A Polyphon (c.1900)
We have recently acquired a POLYPHON plus disc……
For those not familiar with mechanical music
(the majority of us!)
, a Polyphon was a sort of disc-playing
musical box
. It was designed in 1870 by Polyphon Musikwerke,
Leipzig
, Germany and was manufactured until the early 1900s. During this period, these instruments were exported throughout the world and appropriate musical discs wereavailable for European markets, as well as further afield.
Polyphons were the equivalent of 1950/60s Juke Boxes! They were usually installed in places of public entertainment, such as public houses or music halls, where visitors could select a tune, by the insertion of a coin into a slot – so they were also quite a useful source of a little extra revenue!
The Polyphon disc has plectra protruding from its underside. As the disc rotates, the plectra make contact with a ratchet mechanism, which plucks a tooth on an instrument comb, and so produces a sound that is then amplified by a sounding board.
Our example has been converted from the original hand-wound clockwork motor, to use a modern 240v mains motor.
Unfortunately, whoever carried out the conversion, had scant regard for modern Health and Safety standards, so that the inserted coins end up rolling into the same area as the mains terminals!
Not a good idea…… and we’ll have to carry out some work to make the system safe to use before it can be displayed!!!
At the same time, we intend to convert the coin slot mechanism to accept our largest circular coin (£2). This doesn’t mean you’ll have to pay £2 to hear it play! – simply that we will have the option of using all the circular (hopefully, British!) currency available to us. Most of our other coins (the new £1 and 50p and 20p coins) have too many sides to make rolling down the coin chute reliable.
We also hope to purchase some more discs, to give us a bit of variety in the tunes that can be played.
(This is more for the benefit of the long-suffering exhibition guides rather than the visiting public!)
***As a side note:- A 1931 agreement with Polyphon gave
Decca
exclusive British license to record on this label, which later became ‘Polydor’.
Skip to content
Audio
Audio Timeline: the first 100 years
1850’s –
Leon de Martinville invents the
PHONAUTOGRAPH
, which reproduces sound waves as a line etched on a cylinder.
1855 –
Charles Sumner Tainter and Chichester Bell produce the
GRAPHOPONE
, which uses wax cylinders.
1870 –
Designed in 1870 by Polyphon Musikwerke,
Leipzig
, Germany, the
POLYPHON
was a sort of disc-playing
musical box
. It was manufactured until the early 1900s. During this period, these instruments were exported throughout the world and appropriate musical discs were available for European markets, as well as further afield. This was the equivalent to what juke boxes were in the 1950/60s.
1877 –
Thomas Alva Edison, whilst designing a telephone repeater, which transcribes Morse into marks on waxed paper, connects the stylus to a telephone handset and is rewarded by hearing his own voice saying “Hello”. On 7th December 1877, he demonstrates his
PHONOGRAPH
machine for the first time.
1887 –
Emile Berliner patents the
GRAMOPHONE
, which uses a flat disc (gramophone record). The disc is made from slate grindings held together by a lacquer. Within 20 years, this can be duplicated from a master disc by a press.
By 1912 –
machines are available that can play up to 12 records with only one winding
1920’s –
The increasing popularity of radio leads to improved designs of microphones and loudspeakers.
1927 –
Austrian engineer Fritz Pfleumer invents the first magnetic tape, patented in the following year.
1928 –
The first “all-electric”
RECORD PLAYER
is marketed and disc auto-changers for up to ten records follow shortly. Fitting an electric pickup and a radio into the same cabinet produces the
RADIOGRAM
.
1931-1935 –
Alan D Blumlein of EMI takes out patents on binaural or stereophonic recording.
1932 –
Pfleumer grants German electronics company AEG the right to use his magnetic tape in developing new sound recording machines.
1935 –
AEG demonstrate their pioneering Magnetophon K1 reel-to-reel tape recorder at the Berlin Radio Show.
1947 –
EMI release BTR1, the first tape recorder available commercially in the UK.
1948 –
Columbia introduces the 33 1/3 RPM long-playing record.
1949 –
RCA brings out the 45 RPM extended-play record.
Round Sykes Microphone, 1923
In 1877, Thomas Alva Edison demonstrated his phonograph, a machine capable of both recording and reproducing sound. His first demonstrations used tinfoil wrapped round a metal cylinder – but this was too crude to be practical and he soon replaced it with a far more versatile and durable hollow wax cylinder.
The phonograph dominated the market for the next 20 years but during this period the gramophone became established as a far superior and more sophisticated instrument, and the gramophone record – a flat, black disc composed of shellac and finely pulverised slate (a great improvement on its predecessor!), easily overtook the wax cylinder. The disc was rotated on the gramophone’s turntable at 78 rpm – until the clockwork ran down!
Portable models appeared on the scene in the ‘early days’. The Museum owns a Decca portable, marketed in 1915 as
“a veritable asset to the morale of the Troops”
.
By the late 1920s, horn gramophones had pride of place in many homes. The horn was not essential; in a lot of cases – particularly with portables like the 1932 Cliftophone – you simply opened a panel at the front to increase the volume!
Decades later, in the ‘swinging 60s’, radio and television programmes like
Top of the Pops
and
Juke Box Jury
influenced the market and heralded in the golden age of vinyl. Shellac had been replaced by vinyl, and small, inexpensive recordings of the latest pop artists swept the market, making it possible for young people to listen to their favourite groups and bands on the inexpensive record players available at the time.
In the 1920s, the development and popularity of domestic radio led to the need for high quality microphones and loudspeakers.
The Museum’s microphone collection includes models built into existing cases like mantle clocks, car sidelights and candlestick telephones – but is dominated by the massive 12kg Round-Sykes ‘Magnetophone’ – the first purpose-built microphone to be commissioned by the BBC and used from 1923 until 1927:- A coil of wire was attached to the magnet by cotton-wool smeared in Vaseline! This frequently fell off in the warm studio, thereby causing
“a technical hitch …”
The huge microphone was mounted on a wooden trolley and could be trundled around the studio.
Loudspeakers of the period took on a myriad of shapes and styles – from the conventional horn to fretwork designs of birds, tapestry and pleated paper – each one, an art form to be displayed and cherished with pride.
Half a century ago, reel-to-reel tape recorders were the latest “must haves” followed by CDs, DVDs and culminating in the ground-breaking technological developments of the 21st century.
The road from Edison’s tin-foil cylinder to today’s achievements is an astonishing path of inventions and innovations, signposting an exciting, unprecedented future.
Cliftophone portable 1932
HMV Radiogram c. 1946
Round-Sykes Microphone and stand
Microphone display
Magnavox model R2B Loudspeaker 1922 and Graham 'Standard Dragon' petal shaped oak loudspeaker 1923
Sterling 'Primax' pleated paper loudspeaker 1924
Gramaphone and cylinders c. 1862
Graphophone c. 1905
Klingsor Gramaphone 1911
Decca portable 1915
Our Latest Acquisition – A Polyphon (c.1900)
We have recently acquired a POLYPHON plus disc……
For those not familiar with mechanical music
(the majority of us!)
, a Polyphon was a sort of disc-playing
musical box
. It was designed in 1870 by Polyphon Musikwerke,
Leipzig
, Germany and was manufactured until the early 1900s. During this period, these instruments were exported throughout the world and appropriate musical discs wereavailable for European markets, as well as further afield.
Polyphons were the equivalent of 1950/60s Juke Boxes! They were usually installed in places of public entertainment, such as public houses or music halls, where visitors could select a tune, by the insertion of a coin into a slot – so they were also quite a useful source of a little extra revenue!
The Polyphon disc has plectra protruding from its underside. As the disc rotates, the plectra make contact with a ratchet mechanism, which plucks a tooth on an instrument comb, and so produces a sound that is then amplified by a sounding board.
Our example has been converted from the original hand-wound clockwork motor, to use a modern 240v mains motor.
Unfortunately, whoever carried out the conversion, had scant regard for modern Health and Safety standards, so that the inserted coins end up rolling into the same area as the mains terminals!
Not a good idea…… and we’ll have to carry out some work to make the system safe to use before it can be displayed!!!
At the same time, we intend to convert the coin slot mechanism to accept our largest circular coin (£2). This doesn’t mean you’ll have to pay £2 to hear it play! – simply that we will have the option of using all the circular (hopefully, British!) currency available to us. Most of our other coins (the new £1 and 50p and 20p coins) have too many sides to make rolling down the coin chute reliable.
We also hope to purchase some more discs, to give us a bit of variety in the tunes that can be played.
(This is more for the benefit of the long-suffering exhibition guides rather than the visiting public!)
***As a side note:- A 1931 agreement with Polyphon gave
Decca
exclusive British license to record on this label, which later became ‘Polydor’.