jfs@petrus.UUCP (Jack Stanley) (05/08/86)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** It is interesting to note that although Thomas Edison was very involved in electrical matters, he was very negitive on electrical recording. Edison entered the record business(for home entertainment) in the late 1880s, and of course all of his recording was done accousticly. The accoustic method of recording was fine in 1890 or even in 1920, but, when electrical recording was developed by western electric in 1924, it was quite easy to see that the accoustic method was doomed. The Victor Talking Machine Co. and The Columbia Graphophone Co. both went to the electric method the next year, but Edison refused to change. The best way to explain his reasoning is perhaps shown by his only surviving son, Theodore Edison, who said, "My father was quite deaf you know, and to him electric reproduct- ion was always compaired to his hearing aid. He was always turning it up and causing it to distort. He would have it so loud that the magnets would bang against the poles. He thought that electrical recording would be distorted as well. So Edison remained accoustic on the recordings that had to compete with the new electrically recorded Victors and Columbias. The research on electrical recording was done pretty much in secret by Walter Miller and his gang. A funny incident that occured around this time was a fellow came up to me and said that Mr. Edison kept telling him to make his hearing aid louder, and the fellow said I just couldn't do it. I was getting sparks around his ears and I was afraid I'd electrocute him!!!" I tried to remember to write this the way Theodore Edison told the story to me last year. Anyway I thought it would make interesting reading. If anyone has some good Edison stories I for one would love to hear about them. Thanks, Jack Stanley