List of phonograph manufacturers in the United States

The following list of phonograph manufacturers in the United States describes their work with regard to the speaking machines Phonograph and Graphophon . Furthermore, the interrelationships with regard to the market structure and the links between the companies are presented, and these continue to have an impact up to the present day.

Remarks:

With regard to the listed manufacturers, there may be overlaps with the manufacturers of gramophones , since in the transition period from drum to turntable many of these companies produced both versions of speaking machines in parallel and offered them for sale. See the list of gramophone manufacturers in the United States .
This list can only give a rough overview of what happened at that time and can only name the companies that were essential for the advancement of the speaking machine industry .

Phonograph manufacturer

Phonograph manufacturer	founding year	Brief description of the manufacturer
Alabama Phonograph Co.	1889	The Alabama Phonograph Co. (Alabama Phonograph Company) was a regional subsidiary of the North American Phonograph Co. headquartered in Anniston , Alabama . Charles A. Cheever was president of the society . The sales area was the US state Alabama . → See also: North American Phonograph Company .
American Graphophone Co.	1887	The American Graphophone Co. (American Graphophone Company) was founded on March 28, 1887 (officially recognized May 15, 1887) by James Clephane, Angrew Devine, and John H. White. The first general manager was Edward D. Easton . Thomas Hood Macdonald was responsible for managing the Bridgeport, Connecticut manufacturing facility. Business goal was the manufacture and sale of dictaphones under license under bundled in the Volta Graphophone Co. patents Chichester Alexander Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter . → See also: American Graphophone Company and Graphophon .
Central Nebraska Phonograph Co.	1889	The Central Nebraska Phonograph Co. (Central Nebraska Phonograph Company) was a regional company of the North American Phonograph Co. located in Kearney , Nebraska . The president of the company was EA Benson. The sales area was the central and western part of the US state Nebraska . → See also: North American Phonograph Company .
Chicago Central Phonograph Co.	1890	The Chicago Central Phonograph Co. (Chicago Central Phonograph Company) was a regional subsidiary of the North American Phonograph Co., founded in 1890. The company continued after the first bankruptcy of the North American Phonograph Co. in 1890. President of the company in 1892 was Charles L. Raymond, Vice President Ernest A. Hamill and General Manager George B. Hoit. In the same year the name was changed to Chicago Talking Machine Co. → See also: North American Phonograph Company .
Chicago Talking Machine Co.	1892	Chicago Talking Machine Co. (Chicago Talking Machine Company) was founded in Chicago , Illinois in 1892 by Charles Dickinson, HB Babson, and Leon Forrest Douglass . The company's predecessor was the Chicago Central Phonograph Co., a regional subsidiary of the North American Phonograph Company. The company also operated under the names Talking Machine Co. and Talking Machine Co. of Chicago. In 1897, Columbia Phonograph Company took control of the company. The Victor Talking Machine Company bought the company in 1905. In 1916 the Chicago Talking Machine Co. got its original company name back after it was changed several times. → See also: Victor Talking Machine Company , North American Phonograph Company and Columbia Phonograph Company .
Colorado and Utah Phonograph Co.	1889	The Colorado and Utah Phonograph Co. (Colorado and Utah Phonograph Company) was a regional subsidiary of the North American Phonograph Co., directed by SW Cantrill and John Barber. → See also: North American Phonograph Company .
Edison Phonograph Co.	1887	The Edison Phonograph Co. (Edison Phonograph Company) was founded in October 1887 with the aim of marketing the patents of Thomas Alva Edison for his improved phonographs (Improved Phonograph and Perfected Phonograph) , as well as promoting the further development of these. The company was based in West Orange , New Jersey . The general representative was Ezra T. Gilliland. The devices and their accessories were manufactured in the company Edison Phonograph Works, which was founded especially for this purpose. In June 1888, the Edison Phonograph Co. was sold to Jesse H. Lippincott for $ 500,000 . → See also: American Graphophone Company and North American Phonograph Company .
Edison Speaking Phonograph Co.	1878	The Edison Speaking Phonograph Co. (Edison Speaking Phonograph Company) was founded on January 24, 1878. The company's shareholders were Uriah H. Painter, Gardner Greene Hubbard , George L. Bradley, Charles A. Cheever, and Hilbourne L. Roosevelt. The objective was the production and sale of phonographs to government agencies and larger companies. Edison himself, who had lost his interest in the phonograph and turned to other projects, did not participate in the management of the company. He received a one-off payment of US $ 10,000 for the transfer of the patent rights and a 20 percent profit-sharing commitment. In the following years, the Speaking Phonograph Co. did not succeed in achieving its business goals and in realizing significant developments in relation to the phonograph. These were ultimately carried out by the members of the Volta Laboratory Association Alexander Graham Bell , Chichester Alexander Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter . → See also: Volta Graphophone Company and Edison Speaking Phonograph Company .
Nebraska Phonograph Co.	1890	The Nebraska Phonograph Co. (Nebraska Phonograph Company) was a regional company of the North American Phonograph Co. President of the Society in 1890 and in 1892 EA Benson, HE Cary was Vice President and General Manager from 1891 to 1892. It was in this company that the later founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company, Leon Forrest Douglass, took his first steps in the music industry. The company was based in Omaha , Nebraska . → See also: North American Phonograph Company .
North American Phonograph Co.	1888	North American Phonograph Co. ( North American Phonograph Company) was founded on July 14, 1888 by Jesse H. Lippincott . Founded. For the first time on an industrial level, it combined the patents of the phonograph and the graphophone . Bankruptcy in August 1894. Also referred to as American Phonograph Co. (American Phonograph Company) due to the original first company name, which was used from June 18 to July 14, 1888. → See also: North American Phonograph Company .
Volta Graphophone Co.	1886	The Volta Graphophone Co. (Volta Graphophone Company) was founded on January 6, 1886 (formally recognized February 3, 1886) by the members of the Volta Laboratory Association Alexander Graham Bell , Chichester Alexander Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter, and James H. Savelle and Charles J. Bell, brother of Chichester Bell, banker and lawyer, founded in Alexandria , Virginia . The aim of the company, which emerged from the Volta Laboratory Association, was to market the graphophone , basically a further development of the phonograph developed by Thomas Alva Edison . The headquarters and research facility of the Volta Graphophone Company were in Northwest, Washington, DC → See also: American Graphophone Company and Graphophon .

Remarks

↑ ^a ^b ^c No exact date of foundation is known for this regional company. In this regard, the date refers to the period between the founding of the parent company, the North American Phonograph Company , in 1888, to its bankruptcy in 1890, in which the individual regional companies, the majority by 1889, were established.

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 0-203-48427-4 .
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 .

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Raymond R. Wile: The Development of Sound Recording at the Volta Labroratory. (pdf) Association for Recorded Sound Collections. ARSC Journal, 1990, pp. 208-225 , accessed July 25, 2017 .
^ ^A ^b Steven E. Schoenherr: Charles Sumner Tainter and the Graphophone. Audio Engineering Society, February 10, 2000, accessed July 25, 2017 .
^ ^A ^b History of the Cylinder Phonograph. Library of Congress, accessed July 12, 2017 .

[Regionalgesellschaft-1] No exact date of foundation is known for this regional company. In this regard, the date refers to the period between the founding of the parent company, the North American Phonograph Company , in 1888, to its bankruptcy in 1890, in which the individual regional companies, the majority by 1889, were established.

[ARSC-1-2] A ^b Raymond R. Wile: The Development of Sound Recording at the Volta Labroratory. (pdf) Association for Recorded Sound Collections. ARSC Journal, 1990, pp. 208-225 , accessed July 25, 2017 .

[AES-1-3] A ^b Steven E. Schoenherr: Charles Sumner Tainter and the Graphophone. Audio Engineering Society, February 10, 2000, accessed July 25, 2017 .

[History_of_the_Cylinder_Phonograph-4] A ^b History of the Cylinder Phonograph. Library of Congress, accessed July 12, 2017 .