Thomas Alva Edison, the Wizard of Menlo Park whose genius ushered in a new era of light and sound for humankind, invented the phonograph at his New Jersey laboratory on this day in history, Aug. 12, ...
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - October 17, 1888. Thomas Edison files a patent for the optical phonograph, a device capable of recording and replaying sound for the first time, producing a moving picture.