The Talking Machine Patent Archive

Patents you could hear

Graphophone

Patent drawing showing a rotating wax-coated disk mounted on a base with an upright frame, a crank-driven flywheel turning the disk through gears, a cutting-style recorder mechanism above the disk connected by tubing to a nose-fitting mouth-piece, and several detail insets of the stylus, reproducer, and friction-clamp components.RECORDING AND REPRODUCING SPEECH AND OTHER SOUNDS.Chichester A. Bell and Sumner Tainter · May 4, 1886A hand-drawn patent illustration of a treadle-powered graphophone: an angled wooden frame supports a wax-tablet cylinder and gearing, with curved flexible speaking tubes ending in mouthpieces and an ear-trumpet horn arcing overhead, and a large foot-treadle wheel with spokes at the base of the machine.APPARATUS FOR RECORDING AND REPRODUCING SPEECH AND OTHER SOUNDSCharles Sumner Tainter · December 27, 1887Patent drawing of a graphophone recording apparatus showing a frame with gears, a screw-threaded shaft, a record cylinder mounted between standards, a recorder with flexible speaking tube and diaphragm, and a separate bench-mounted machine with a rotating cylinder and adjustable weighted arm for smoothing the wax surface.METHOD OF REPREPARING GRAPHOPHONE-TABLETS.David Wolfe Brown · August 6, 1889Patent drawing of a graphophone showing a horizontal record cylinder beneath a hinged diaphragm-frame carrying a recording style, with a separate speaking-tube support and a swinging reproducer arm mounted on a sliding carriage along guide rods.GRAPHOPHONEJohn H. White · July 15, 1890Patent drawing of a graphophone erasing attachment showing a record cylinder, carriage with reproducer and recorder arms, and a hinged eraser roller mechanism with control rods and finger-piece, plus enlarged detail views of the eraser wheel and alternate blade forms.ERASING ATTACHMENT FOR PHONOGRAPHS.Philip T. Dodge · March 31, 1891Patent drawing of a graphophone mechanism showing a wax cylinder, a curved sound tube leading to a horn, a diaphragm-supporting frame with pivoted styles, and a threaded guide rod for traversing the cylinder, with hand-signed inventor and witness signatures below.PHONOGRAPH.John H. White · January 26, 1892Patent drawing showing three views of a graphophone reproducer-lifting mechanism, including the carriage, pivoted neck, reproducer-head with soundbox, and a cam-actuated stop-ring and plunger assembly labeled with reference letters A through K.LIFTING MECHANISM FOR GRAPHOPHONE-REPRODUCERS.Thomas H. Macdonald · November 14, 1899