Thomas Alva Edison
1847-1931

Thomas Alva Edison was awarded 1,368 separate and distinct patents during his lifetime. He passed away at age 84 on October 18th, 1931 - on the anniversary date of his invention of the incandescent bulb.

1876-1877 Invented the cylinder phonograph.

1877-1914 Improved phonograph (by 1914 playing disks rather than cylinders), resulting in the creation of the recording industry.

1915-Introduced the diamond point reproducer (needle) and the "indestructible" record, thereby commencing a new era in phonographs.

This audio cut was recorded by Edison on March 27, 1906 shortly after signing a new phonograph distribution contract with Sears Robuck and Company in Chicago. Each store was to receive several "demo disks" to use in the sale of the magical new devices.

Edison was the futuristic visionary of the last two centuries but he could not have dreamed in a million years that his one simple invention would spawn countless industries, including recording, broadcasting and movie making. Nor could he imagine how the recording of sound would evolve between 1905 and 2005 and that now, sound is converted into bits of zeros and ones and manipulated by virtual equipment - equipment that doesn't really exist at all, except in a nether world we call cyber space.