#22: The First Gramophone

Vinyl record enthusiasts will get a kick out of this early invention. This photograph is of Emile Berliner and his invention, the first gramophone. The gramophone was based on Thomas Edison’s earlier invention, the phonograph. Berliner refined Edison’s discovery, and his 1887 invention revolutionized the way we experience music, voice, and sound.

This invention was cutting-edge technology at the end of the 19th century. Berliner’s invention meant that people could now record and playback sound from a different time and place. Music and sound recordings could now be mass-produced and distributed to people across the United States and the world. Without this early invention, music and most other media wouldn’t exist today.