STME58
1181 posts
Feb 09, 2015
1:15 PM
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This was posted in "Product Design and Development" in the February 2015 online newsletter. I thought some folks here might find it interesting.
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Cotton
36 posts
Feb 09, 2015
5:47 PM
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I have a few machines that will play that record. Edison spent his whole live trying to protect his patents. Without much luck. He patented a device called a Phonograph. Only to have Columbia produce and sell a Graphaphone. Looked and worked just like a Phonograph. Pathe sold a machine that looked and worked just like the Edison Diamond Disc. Victor sold a "Talking Machine"
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Frank101
73 posts
Feb 09, 2015
7:00 PM
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If he'd been paid for the the value of the contributions he made, Edison would have been the richest man in world history.
But of course that would have interfered with everybody's right to enjoy other people's creations without paying ...
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Sherwin
197 posts
Feb 09, 2015
7:51 PM
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I heard that our beloved and celebrated Edison was a scoundrel who abused his position working at the patent office to do things like stall other people's patent applications affording himself time to submit an abstract of his own for the thingamajig in question whose design he studied and made some change to.........
dunno that's what I've heard, was surprised when I heard it, am going to look into it.......
Michael
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STME58
1182 posts
Feb 09, 2015
8:19 PM
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From what I have read, Edison was at least as good at showmanship, PT Barnum style, as he was at inventing. He had a lot of inventors working for him and he took the credit. To be fair, he did set up an environment where invention could happen, and he deserves credit for that. Perhaps not the title "Wizard of Menlo Park", but credit none the less. I wonder if L. Frank Baum had Edison in mind when he penned his wizard character.
My vote for the most audacious Edison stunt was creating fear of AC current by publicly executing large animals with it. The culmination of this was creating the electric chair using his competitor, Westinghouse's AC equipment and getting the state to use it for executions. He even got the term "Westinghoused" into the popular culture as a verb for executed!
I find it interesting that this old photo can stir up the same kind of conversations, with similar positions, as an article on modern digital piracy. There is nothing new under the sun!
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STME58
1183 posts
Feb 09, 2015
8:27 PM
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@Cotton, aren't those cylinders made of wax? Do you know how many times they could be played before they wore out? Have many cylinders survide to today in playable condition?
The oldest record player I have is an old wind up Baldwin. It still works but I don't use it for fear of wearing it and the recordings out.
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nacoran
8261 posts
Feb 10, 2015
12:09 PM
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Before I'd listen to a wax cylinder or any old recording I'd want to make sure it wasn't something rare and that a properly recorded copy was being made for posterity. So much old stuff is just lost.
http://radio-weblogs.com/0105910/2004/04/19.html
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Nate
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