Phonograph: Edison's great achievements often involved perfecting other people's ideas, but his phonograph, a machine to record sounds, was completely new. His first phonograph used a tinfoil-covered ...

Thomas Edison was America's premier inventor of new technologies. He was a genius at the work. His nearly 1,100 U.S. patents include the electric light, motion picture camera, film projector, electric ...

Just the other day, I heard one of the earliest popular recorded sambas, Donga’s “Pelo Telefone,” from 1916 and released on an Edison talking record, probably a wax cylinder. A few years later the ...

This phonograph was in our basement when we bought the house 35 years ago. The arm could be copper or brass. An inscription reads: Edison Disc Phono, Thomas A. Edison Inc., Orange, NJ, USA 19 SM-9989.

Imagine if your couch or your coffee maker suddenly started talking to you — or perhaps launched into the chorus of “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain.” What would your reaction be? Consider that, ...