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24-Nov-1978
Dear Cecil:
How did they mass-produce those old-fashioned cylinder records? A conventional molding
press, like they use for discs, would leave some sort of line where the two halves met,
which would show up as a click or thump when the cylinder was played. How did they make
3-D moldings of such accuracy in the 1890s? Or did the artistes just make the same
recording over and over again? --Winfield S., Chicago
Dear Winfield:
They sure did, at least at the beginning. This is why you didn't see a lot of albums
selling 18 million copies in 1887. The need for a cheap and easy method of reproduction
was one of the first problems the early recording industry faced, and the problem you
describe was one of the reasons why cylinders lost out to discs as the principal recording
medium.
In the very beginning, of course, a little thing like a seam on the recording surface
didn't matter too much. On Edison's original phonograph, the ends of the tinfoil sheet
that recorded the sound were just tucked into a slot that ran the length of the metal
cylinder that the foil was wrapped around. You did get a click this way, but since you
also got an indescribable barrage of burps, wheezes, and rasps, the first recording
devices being a little on the rustic side, it seems probable that you did not object to
the clicks so much. Later, the recording blanks were made of wax, which could be cast in
one piece, eliminating the click, if nothing else.
When records first began to be sold commercially, the only way to make additional copies
was to have the artistes make the same recording over and over. You would hire, say, a
brass band, which you would surround with a phalanx of recording machines loaded with
blank discs, and you'd get some guy with a suitably stentorian voice to go around to each
machine, flip it on for a second, and holler the title of the piece into the speaking
horn. Then you'd turn on all the machines at once, and the band would play as much of any
given tune as would conveniently fit onto the cylinders, which was generally about two
minutes' worth. Then you changed cylinders and started over. Apart from being stupefyingly
monotonous for the performers, this method was very slow.
Eventually somebody hit on the idea of recording additional cylinders off a master
cylinder by means of a pantograph, which was an arrangement of levers and wires that
transmitted the sound vibrations from the stylus on the master disc to that on the
receiving disc. This was faster and less boring, but the masters tended to wear out
quickly, and then the band had to go at it again.
Finally, around the turn of the century, Edison's phonograph company developed a reliable
method for mass production. They coated the wax master with a thin layer of gold by an
electrical process, coated the gold layer with a copper layer for strength, then melted
out the original wax. This left a negative metal mold. Then they put a wax blank inside
and applied heat and pressure. When the wax cooled, it shrank a little. In addition, the
master and blank were tapered slightly--one end was slightly wider than the other. The
combination of shrinkage and taper was enough to let them slip the master off the copy
without (a) damaging it or (b) leaving a seam.
Actually, this method had occurred to Edison and his buddies fairly early on, but the
first recording styli gouged out such deep grooves that the shrinkage wasn't enough to
enable them to clear. The development of the sapphire-tip stylus, which made shallower
indentations, cleared up this problem.
Unfortunately, by the time they got all this worked out, cylinders were beginning to
decline in favor of discs, which were longer playing, among other things. So it was all
for nothing, as is often the case in the record business.
--CECIL ADAMS
The Straight Dope / Questions or
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