Tinfoil phonograph

Manufacturer	Eugene Ducretet
Name	Phonographe Tinfoil
Place	France
Date	ca 1881
Register	00558

In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, the first machine that could record and reproduce sound. This device recorded the sound on sheets of tinfoil. The sound made a membrane vibrate, which moved a needle marking a helical groove over the tin sheet placed on a rotating cylinder moved by a handle. To play the sound, the movement of the needle, which passed along the grooves of tin foil, produced vibrations in the membrane that were amplified in the conical horn. It was only possible to make short recordings, lasting a few minutes, and making copies of them was a slow and expensive process. Urban Fondain was one of the pioneers in the production of tinfoil phonographs in France from 1879. Despite the high quality of his devices, he was unsuccessful and had to close the business in 1881. From then on, Eugene Ducretet's prestigious French company, specialising in scientific instruments, took over the production and marketing of tinfoil phonographs with a design similar to those of Fondain. Ducretet phonographs were made for almost twenty years, both for entertainment and scientific research.

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