THOMAS ALVA EDISON. Partially Printed Document Signed, five shares of Edison Phonograph Works stock. Issued to and signed twice by Thomas Edison: as Company President and shareholder-seller, November 25, 1903, certificate #110, framed with a photo of Edison, 31½ x 21½ in.
Inventory# 12003 $3,500
Thomas Edison developed the phonograph while working on a machine to transcribe telegraphic messages from the wire, onto paper tape, and back over the wires. He speculated that a voice message could be similarly recorded, and experimented with a stylus, which when held against rapidly-moving waxed paper, made indents in the wax. Edison’s next design changed the paper to a tin-foil covered cylinder and two needles, one for recording and one for playback. When someone spoke into the mouthpiece, the recording needle would indent the sound vibrations onto the cylinder in a groove pattern. His employee, John Kreusi, quickly built the machine, and Edison tested it using the nursery rhyme “Mary had a Little Lamb,” ushering in the age of audio recording. He demonstrated the device to the staff of Scientific American, which published a story about it on December 22, 1877. Edison applied for a patent two days later.
Edison put the machine aside, though, and others, including Alexander Graham Bell, tried to partner with Edison to improve the phonograph. He refused, determined to rework it himself. He formed the Edison Phonograph Company in 1887, released the Improved Phonograph in 1888, and the Perfected Phonograph soon after. The North American Phonograph Company purchased Edison’s company in July 1888, but he regained control in 1890, eventually buying back the rights to his invention when the company declared bankruptcy. Edison continued improving the recording time and quality of the wax cylinders, as well as offering entertainment programming on wax. By the time of this stock certificate’s issue, pre-recorded cylinders could be mass-produced from a master in a process called gold moulding.
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) was an American inventor and pioneer industrialist. His Menlo Park laboratory was called the Invention Factory because he and his employees invented or improved upon hundred of products. He held over one thousand U.S. patents. Edison improved the telegraph and telephone, invented the phonograph, motion picture camera, and stock ticker. His most famous innovation, electric lighting, demonstrated his skills at creative horizontal integration of American industry. He and his staff developed the entire system, from power generation to transmission lines to long-lasting bulbs.
Condition
Fine, framed with a plaque and picture of Edison.
Source
“History of the Edison Cylinder Phonograph.” http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edcyldr.html
