American Graphophone Company

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The American Graphophone Company , also American Graphophone Co., was the first industrial manufacturer of graphophones , in particular of the dictation devices for business use derived from them , in the United States . The company was founded by James O. Clephane, Andrew Devine and John H. White on March 28, 1887.

history

Company formation

With the granting of several patents in connection with the development of the graphophone, which was basically an improved version of the phonograph invented by Thomas Alva Edison , the three members of the Volta Laboratory, founded in 1881, decided Association , Alexander Graham Bell , his cousin Chichester Alexander Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter , with the participation of James H. Saville and Charles J. Bell, to transfer them to the newly founded Volta Graphophone Comany (Volta Graphophone Co.) .

Graphophone Type B "Eagle", from American Graphophone Company, ca.1897-1900

When the company was founded, the employees began to market the improved speaking machine during various nationally organized presentations in order to convince potential investors of the quality of the Graphophone. As a result, it turned out that a group of financiers, consisting of James O. Clephane, Andrew Devine and John H. White, decided to use what they saw as a possible application of the graphophone as a dictation device, but not as an entertainment device Advance the establishment of the American Graphophone Company. Ultimately, it was launched on March 28, 1887, with the signing of the marketing agreement between the investors and the Volta Graphophone Company, and officially recognized on May 15, 1887 as a legal company. Edward D. Easton became the first general manager . Thomas Hood Macdonald took over management of the Bridgeport , Connecticut manufacturing facility . A merger of the patent law and financial interests regarding the graphophone and the phonograph between the investors of the American Graphophone Company on the one hand and the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company on the other, which would have led to a monopoly in the just establishing speaking machine industry, which was planned in the founding phase between 1885 and 1887 , failed despite personal talks between the parties involved and the resulting lively correspondence.

As a counterpart to the American Graphophone Company, Edison, who feared his invention might be stolen from him, founded the Edison Phonograph Company in October of the same year . The resulting and steadily increasing hostility of both companies and their executives ultimately resulted in legal disputes, even if a brief pacification occurred by founding the North American Phonograph Company by the investor Jesse H. Lippincott .

Jesse H. Lippincott

Jesse H. Lippincott, a millionaire who had made his fortune in the glass industry and was looking for new investment opportunities, recognized the commercial potential of the novel speaking machines after he, through his friend and personal financial advisor Thomas R. Lombard, attention had been drawn to this. He decided to develop this for himself and therefore got in touch on the one hand with the investors of the American Graphophone Company and on the other hand with the Edison Phonograph Company in order to bundle the different interests regarding the phonograph of the Graphophone. After conclusion of the negotiations and with the signing of the corresponding contract on February 25, 1888, Lippincott obtained the right to use the Graphophone of the American Graphophone Company as dictation machines and to make its franchisee available for leasing , imposing various restrictions .

Viewed contractually, Lippincott undertook to provide Graphophone for the purpose of leasing and sales for a period of fifteen years throughout the United States, with the exception of the states of Maryland , Delaware and the District of Columbia , which had already been promised to other contractual partners . On the other hand, to obtain all devices from the American Graphophone Company, which would manufacture them alone. With regard to the purchase quantities, it was agreed to immediately provide three hundred dictation machines in a first step, which should be intended for preferential delivery to the Western Electric Company . According to this, the American Graphophone Co. would produce at least 5,000 Graphophone annually and would have Lippincott available, who in turn would have been entitled to sell speaking machines of their own manufacture if the supply agreement had not been complied with, with the obligation then a license fee of 25 US dollars per unit to be paid to American Graphophone Company. Furthermore, the American Graphophone Company agreed to support Lippincott in all legal disputes directed against him and his companies and to bear the court costs including any fines incurred, along with asserting any claims on his part against third parties on his behalf . In return, Lippincott agreed to contribute $ 200,000 to the American Graphophone Company's equity fund.

With the conclusion of negotiations and the signing of the agreement, Lippincott founded the North American Phonograph Company on July 14, 1888, of which he became the first director. Two years later Lippincott left the company, which went bankrupt in 1890, due to a serious illness. After the reorganization of the company and the takeover of business activities by Edison and his confidants, the withdrawal of Columbia Phonograph from the network of regional companies in 1893 and the final bankruptcy of the North American Phonograph Company a year later in 1884, the American Graphophone Company initiated various lawsuits to maintain their position in the talking machine market.

Litigation

Legal disputes brought by the American Phonograph Company as patent infringement proceedings regarding Edison and its ventures, such as Edison Phonograph Company, United States Phonograph Company, and other distributors that sell phonographs and accessories, have been fought in various federal courts. Edison in turn initiated lawsuits against the American Phonograph Company and its affiliated sales agencies, also based on the infringement of his existing patents granted to him. Due to the large number of cases heard by a wide variety of courts across the United States, the decision was made to conduct a pending legal dispute in New Jersey as a test case and to regard the judgment as generally binding.

With the death of the presiding judge in September 1896, before he had heard the pleadings of those involved in the proceedings, there was a risk of a considerable delay in the delivery of the verdict, as another judge first had to familiarize himself with the matter. Neither the American Phonograph Company nor the Edison Phonograph Company were willing to accept such a delay. As a consequence, they agreed to a settlement that included an acknowledgment of the patent infringements, the payment of small damages and the mutual licensing of the speaking machines. The documents were signed in October 1896.

Remarks

  1. ↑ James Ogilvie Clephante (born February 21 in Washington, DC , † November 30, 1910 in Englewood , New Jersey ), Secretary of the United States Secretary of State William H. Seward , involved in the invention of the Linotype typesetting machine by Ottmar Mergenthaler and in served in a leading position in the Eastern Pennsylvania Phonograph Co. from 1890 to 1893.
  2. ↑ Andrew Devine, court stenographer (* 1832; † May 4, 1909 in Brooklyn , New York City ), corrospondent during the Civil War , court reporter, involved in the establishment of the Mergenthaler Linotype Company, one of the directors of the company, also in an executive position at the Columbia Phonograph Company .
  3. ↑ These states had previously been given to a group of investors consisting of shareholders and employees of the American Graphophone Company under the leadership of Edward D. Easton . This resulted in the Columbia Phonograph Company , founded in 1888 and officially recognized in 1889 , which was initially one of the regional companies of the North American Phonograph Co.

swell

literature

  • Herbert Jüttemann : Phonographen und Grammophone , 4th edition, Funk-Verlag Hein, Dessau 2007, ISBN 978-3-939197-17-1 .
  • Hoffmann, Frank W. & Ferstler, Howard: Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Routledge, London 2005, ISBN 978-0-415-93835-8 .
  • Peter Tschmuck: Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry , 2nd edition, Springer, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London 2012, ISBN 978-3-642-28429-8 .
  • Walter L. Welch, Leah Brodbeck Stenzel Burt:  From Tinfoil to Stereo - The Acoustic Years of the Recording Industry 1877-1929 , University Press of Florida Florida 1994,  ISBN 0-8130-1317-8

Web links

Commons : American Graphophone Company  - collection of images, videos, and audio files