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{{short description|Medium for recording and reproducing sound}}
{{Infobox storage medium
| name = Phonograph cylinder
| logo = 
| image = Cilindrodefonografo.jpg
| caption = An Edison Gold Mould cylinder record, taken out of its storage tube (left), from c. 1900s
| type = 
| encoding = 
| capacity = 2 (and later 4) minutes
| blocksize = 
| read = 
| write = 
| standard = 
| owner = 
| use = 
| dimensions = 
| weight = 
| extended from = 
| extended to = 
| released = {{circa|1888}}
| discontinued = 1929
}}
'''Phonograph cylinders''' (also referred to as '''Edison cylinders''' after their creator [[Thomas Edison]]) are the earliest commercial medium for [[Sound recording and reproduction|recording and reproducing sound]]. Known simply as "records" in their heyday (c. 1896–1916), a name since passed to [[Phonograph record|their disc-shaped successors]], these hollow [[cylinder|cylindrical]] objects have an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which can be reproduced when they are played on a mechanical cylinder [[phonograph]].<ref name="prezi">{{Cite web
| url = https://prezi.com/6vthtpprlye5/history-of-recorded-music/
| title = History of Recorded Music
| access-date = 2018-01-12
| first = Aodhan
| last = Phipps
| date = November 8, 2013
| work = Transcript of History of Recorded Music
| publisher = Prezi
}}</ref> The first cylinders were wrapped with [[tin foil]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=University of California |first=Santa Barbara Library Department of Special Collections |date=2005-11-16 |title=Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project |url=https://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/history-tinfoil.php |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=cylinders.library.ucsb.edu |language=en}}</ref> but the improved version made of [[wax]] was created a decade later,<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of the Cylinder Phonograph {{!}} History of Edison Sound Recordings {{!}} Articles and Essays {{!}} Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies {{!}} Digital Collections {{!}} Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-sound-recordings/history-of-the-cylinder-phonograph/ |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. }}</ref> after which they were commercialized. In the 1910s, the competing disc record<!-- BE usage resulting from corporate history and legal proceedings notwithstanding, "phonograph" is the Edison-created overarching generic term for ALL systems in which sound is physically recorded as modulations of a groove – e.g., Edison's own naming of his "Diamond Disc Phonograph", inclusion of disc format options in early Edison patents, etc. --> system [[Format war|triumphed]] in the marketplace to become the dominant commercial audio medium.<ref name="PBS">
{{Cite web
| url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/music/inside/cron.html
| title = Chronology: Technology and the Music Industry
| access-date = 2018-01-12
| first = Callie
| last = Taintor
| date = May 27, 2004
| work = [[Frontline (American TV program)|Frontline]]
| publisher = [[PBS]]
}}</ref>

==Early development==
In December 1877,<ref name="congress" /> [[Thomas Edison]] and his team invented the [[phonograph]] using a thin sheet of [[tin foil]] wrapped around a hand-cranked, grooved metal cylinder.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mixonline.com/news/news-products/1877-thomas-edison-cylinder-recorder/383579|title=1877 Thomas Edison Cylinder Recorder|date=September 1, 2006|work=[[Mix (magazine)|Mix Magazine]]|access-date=2016-07-11}}</ref> Tin foil was not a practical recording medium for either commercial or artistic purposes, and the crude hand-cranked phonograph was only marketed as a novelty, to little or no profit. Edison moved on to developing a practical [[Edison light bulb|incandescent electric light]], and the next improvements to [[History of sound recording|sound recording technology]] were made by others.<ref name="PBS" />

Following seven years of research and experimentation at their [[Volta Laboratory and Bureau#Sound recording and phonograph development|Volta Laboratory]], [[Charles Sumner Tainter]], [[Alexander Graham Bell]], and [[Chichester Bell]] introduced [[wax]] as the recording medium, and engraving, rather than indenting, as the recording method. In 1887, their "[[Graphophone]]" system was being put to the test of practical use by official reporters of the [[United States Congress|US Congress]], with commercial units later being produced by the [[Dictaphone|Dictaphone Corporation]].<ref name="acusd">{{Cite web|url=http://history.acusd.edu/gen/recording/notes.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813081151/http://history.acusd.edu/gen/recording/notes.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 13, 2006|title=Recording Technology History|access-date=2018-01-12|first=Steve|last=Schoenherr|date=July 6, 2005|publisher=University of San Diego}}</ref> After this system was demonstrated to Edison's representatives, Edison quickly resumed work on the phonograph. He settled on a thicker all-wax cylinder, the surface of which could be repeatedly shaved down for reuse. Both the Graphophone and Edison's "[[Edison phonograph|Perfected Phonograph]]" were commercialized in 1888. Eventually, a patent-sharing agreement was signed, and the wax-coated cardboard tubes were abandoned in favor of Edison's all-wax cylinders as an interchangeable standard format.<ref>Schoenherr, S. (1999) [http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/recording.technology.history/graphophone.html "Charles Sumner Tainter and the Graphophone"] (via the Audio Engineering Society). Retrieved 2014-05-04.</ref>

{{stack|{{Listen|type=music|filename=Edison cylinder Lost Chord.ogg|title=One of the earliest surviving recordings of music|description=1888 recording of Arthur Sullivan's "[[The Lost Chord]]", recorded by [[George Gouraud]], and played at the August 14, 1888, press conference that introduced the phonograph to London.}}}}
Beginning in 1889, prerecorded wax cylinders were marketed. These have professionally made recordings of songs, instrumental music or humorous monologues in their grooves. At first, the only customers for them were proprietors of [[nickelodeon (movie theater)|nickelodeon]]s—the first [[jukebox]]es—installed in arcades and taverns, but within a few years, private owners of phonographs were increasingly buying them for home use.<ref name="Reiss">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hVTcbLuuA5IC&q=Each+cylinder+can+easily+be+placed+on+and+removed+from+the+mandrel+of+the+machine+used+to+play+them&pg=PA1|first=Eric L.|last=Reiss|date=1954|title=The Compleat Talking Machine: A Collector's Guide to Antique Phonographs|publisher=Sanoran Publishing|isbn=9781886606227}}</ref> Unlike later, shorter-playing high-speed cylinders, early cylinder recordings were usually cut at a speed of about 120 rpm and can play for as long as three minutes.<ref name="congress">{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-sound-recordings/history-of-the-cylinder-phonograph/|title=History of the Cylinder Phonograph|access-date=2018-01-12|work=Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref> They were made of a relatively soft wax formulation and would wear out after they were played a few dozen times.<ref name="Adapters">{{Cite web|url=http://45recordadapters.com/10-record-types/|title=13 All About the Records|access-date=2018-01-12|first=Russ|last=Orcutt|date=September 7, 2017|work=45 Record Adapters|archive-date=2018-01-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113150209/http://45recordadapters.com/10-record-types/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The buyer could then<!--reference needed: either bring the worn cylinders back to the dealer to be traded in as partial credit for purchase of new recordings, or have--> use a mechanism which left their surfaces shaved smooth so new recordings could be made on them.<ref name="Gracyk">{{Cite web|url=http://www.gracyk.com/cylinders.shtml|title=Phonograph Cylinders: A Beginner's Guide|access-date=2018-01-12|first=Tim|last=Gracyk|date=2006|publisher=Tim's Phonographs and Old Records|archive-date=2018-01-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128090203/http://www.gracyk.com/cylinders.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:EdisonPhonograph.jpg|thumb|Edison wax cylinder phonograph c. 1899]]
Cylinder machines of the late 1880s and the 1890s were usually sold with recording attachments. The ability to record as well as play back sound was an advantage of cylinder phonographs over the competition from cheaper [[phonograph record|disc record]] phonographs, which began to be mass-marketed at the end of the 1890s, as the disc system machines could be used only to play back prerecorded sound.<ref name="Gracyk" />

In the earliest stages of phonograph manufacturing, various incompatible, competing types of cylinder recordings were made. A standard system was decided upon by [[Edison Records]], [[Columbia Phonograph]], and other companies in the late 1880s. The standard cylinders are about {{convert|4|in|cm}} long, {{convert|2+1/4|in|cm}} in diameter, and play about two minutes of recorded material.<ref name="Adapters"/>

Originally, all cylinders sold needed to be recorded live on the softer brown wax, which wore out after as few as 20 plays. Later cylinders were reproduced either mechanically or by linking phonographs together with rubber tubes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cylinder.de/guide_brown-wax-cylinders.html|title=Brown Wax Cylinders|website=The Cylinder Archive}}</ref>

Over the years, the type of wax used in cylinders was improved and hardened, so that cylinders could be played with good quality over 100 times. In 1902, Edison Records launched a line of improved, hard wax cylinders marketed as "Edison Gold Moulded Records". The major development of this line of cylinders is that Edison had developed a process that allowed a [[Molding (process)|mold]] to be made from a master cylinder, which then permitted the production of several hundred cylinders to be made from the mold.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cylinder.de/guide_black-wax-cylinders.html|title=The Cylinder Archive - Cylinder Guide: Black Wax Cylinders|website=The Cylinder Archive}}</ref> The process was labeled "Gold Moulded" because of the [[gold]] [[vapor]] that was given off by gold [[electrode]]s used in the process.<ref name="congress"/>

==Commercial packaging==
{{stack|{{Listen|type=music|help=no|filename=Ujangong.ogg|title=Song of the "Ujangong" mask dance|description=Phonograph cylinder recorded in [[German New Guinea]] on August 23, 1904, by German [[anthropology|anthropologist]] [[Rudolf Pöch]]}}}}
The earliest soft wax cylinders were sold wrapped in thick cotton [[padding|batting]]. Later, molded hard-wax cylinders were sold in boxes with a cotton lining. [[Celluloid]] cylinders were sold in unlined boxes. These protective boxes were normally kept and used to house the cylinders after purchase. Their general appearance led bandleader [[John Philip Sousa]] to deride their contents as "canned music", an epithet he borrowed from [[Mark Twain]].<ref>Bierley, Paul Edmund, "The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa". [[University of Illinois Press]], 2006. p. 82.</ref>

==Hard plastic cylinders==
{{See also|Blue Amberol Records|Edison Records}}
{{stack|{{Listen|type=music|help=no|filename=Auld Lang Syne.ogg|title=1910 Indestructible Record|description="[[Auld Lang Syne]]", sung by [[Frank C. Stanley]] in 1910}}}}
On March 20, 1900, Thomas B. Lambert was granted a US patent (645,920) that described a process for mass-producing cylinders made from [[celluloid]], an early hard plastic. ({{ill|Henri Jules Lioret|fr}} of France was producing celluloid cylinders as early as 1893, but they were individually recorded rather than molded.) That same year, the Lambert Company of Chicago began selling cylinder records made of the material. They would not break if dropped and could be played thousands of times without wearing out. The color was changed to black in 1903, but brown and blue cylinders were also produced. The coloring was purportedly because the dyes reduced [[surface noise]]. Unlike wax, the hard, inflexible material could not be shaved and recorded over, but it had the advantage of being nearly permanent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cylinder.de/guide_lambert-cylinders.html|title=Norman Bruderhofer's Cylinder Guide – Lambert Cylinders|website=The Cylinder Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phonographcylinders.com/lambert-replica-cylinder.php|title=Lambert Replica Cylinders|website=phonographcylinders.com|access-date=2012-03-15|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324014701/http://www.phonographcylinders.com/lambert-replica-cylinder.php|archive-date=2012-03-24}}</ref> A 1905 Edison Phonograph may be seen and heard playing a celluloid cylinder at the [[Musical Museum, Brentford|Musical Museum]], Brentford, England and the quality of the sound is surprisingly good.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MMCatalogue (All) |url=https://www.musicalmuseum.co.uk/mmcatalogue |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=The Musical Museum |language=en |archive-date=2024-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240808103828/https://www.musicalmuseum.co.uk/mmcatalogue |url-status=dead }}</ref>

This superior technology was licensed by the Indestructible Record Company<ref>{{Cite web|date=2005-11-16|department=Cylinder Preservation and Digitalization Project|url=http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/history-indestructible.php|access-date=June 19, 2021|title=Indestructible Records|via=UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive|publisher=[[University of California, Santa Barbara Library]]}}</ref> in 1906 and [[Columbia Records|Columbia Phonograph Company]] in 1908. The [[Edison Bell]] company in Europe had separately licensed the technology and were able to market Edison's titles in both wax (popular series) and celluloid (indestructible series).{{sfn|Read|Welch|1976|page=146}}

In late 1908, Edison had introduced wax cylinders that played for nominally four minutes (instead of the usual two) under the Amberol brand. They were made from a harder (and more fragile) form of wax to withstand the smaller stylus used to play them. The longer playing time was achieved by reducing the groove size and placing them half as far apart. In 1912, the Edison company eventually acquired Lambert's patents to the celluloid technology, and almost immediately started production under a variation of their existing Amberol brand as Edison Blue Amberol Records.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cylinder.de/guide_blue-amberol-cylinders.html|title=The Cylinder Archive – Cylinder Guide: Amberol and 4-minute Indestructible Cylinders|website=The Cylinder Archive}}</ref>

Edison designed several phonograph types, both with internal and external horns for playing these improved cylinder records. The internal horn models were called Amberolas. Edison marketed its "Fireside" model phonograph with a gearshift and a 'model K' reproducer with two different styli, which allowed it to play both two-minute and four-minute cylinders.<ref>Model Number taken directly from actual Fireside reproducer.</ref>

==Decline==
Cylinder records continued to compete with the growing disc record market into the 1910s, when discs won the commercial battle. In 1912, [[Columbia Records]], which had been selling both discs and cylinders, dropped the cylinder format, while Edison introduced his  [[Edison Disc Record|Diamond Disc]] format, played with a [[diamond]] stylus. Beginning in 1915, new Edison cylinder issues consisted of acoustic dubbings from Edison disc masters; they therefore had lower audio quality than the disc originals. Although his cylinders continued to be sold in steadily dwindling and eventually minuscule quantities, Edison continued to support the owners of cylinder phonographs by making new titles available in that format until the company ceased manufacturing all records and phonographs in November 1929. Many of the later issued Blue Amberols were dubbed electrically from electrical recorded masters.<ref>{{Cite web |last=University of California |first=Santa Barbara Library Department of Special Collections |date=2005-11-16 |title=Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project |url=https://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/history-blueamberol.php |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=cylinders.library.ucsb.edu |language=en}}</ref><!-- presumably still available into October, but no new titles added after mid-year. --><ref name="congress"/>

==Later applications==
Cylinder phonograph technology continued to be used for [[Dictaphone]] and Ediphone recordings for office use for decades.<ref name="Dictaphone">{{Cite web|url=http://www.soundrecordinghistory.net/history-of-sound-recording/history-of-dictaphone/|title=History of Dictaphone|access-date=2018-01-12|first=Tim|last=Gracyk|date=2018|work=History of Sound Recording Devices|publisher=Sound Recording History}}</ref>

In 1947, Dictaphone replaced wax cylinders with their [[Dictabelt]] technology, which cut a mechanical groove into a plastic belt instead of into a wax cylinder. This was later replaced by [[magnetic tape]] recording. However, cylinders for older style dictating machines continued to be available for some years, and it was not unusual to encounter cylinder dictating machines into the 1950s.<ref name="Dictabelt">{{Cite web|url=http://www.obsoletemedia.org/dictabelt/|title=History of Dictaphone|access-date=2018-01-12|first=Jason|last=Curtis|work=Museum of Obsolete Media|date=30 April 2013}}</ref>

In the late 20th and early 21st century, new recordings have been made on cylinders for the [[novelty effect]] of using obsolete technology. Probably the most famous of these are by [[They Might Be Giants]], who in 1996 recorded "I Can Hear You" and three other songs, performed without electricity, on an 1898 Edison wax recording studio phonograph at the [[Edison National Historic Site]] in [[West Orange, New Jersey]]. This song was released on ''[[Factory Showroom]]'' in 1996 and re-released on the 2002 compilation ''[[Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants]]''. The other songs recorded were "James K. Polk", "Maybe I Know", and "The Edison Museum", the last a song about the site of the recording. These recordings were officially released online as MP3 files in 2001.<ref name="giants">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theymightbegiants.com/factory-showroom|title=Factory Showroom|access-date=2018-01-12|date=2017|work=The Official Website of Brooklyn's Ambassadors of Love|publisher=They Might Be Giants}}</ref>

Small numbers of cylinders have been manufactured in the 21st century out of modern long-lasting materials. Two companies engaged in such enterprise are the Vulcan Cylinder Record Company of [[Sheffield]], England,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phonographcylinders.com/|title=New Phonograph Cylinder Records|publisher=Vulcan Cylinder Record Company|date=2002|access-date=2014-10-20|archive-date=2015-09-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910072246/http://www.phonographcylinders.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the Wizard Cylinder Records Company in [[Baldwin, Nassau County, New York|Baldwin, New York]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capsnews.org/apn2008-6.htm|title=The Wizard Cylinder Record Company|first=Peter N.|last=Dilg|work=Canadian Antique Phonograph Society|date=November–December 2008|access-date=2014-10-20}}</ref>

In 2010 the British musical group [[The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing]] released the track "Sewer", from their debut album, ''[[Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1]]'' on a wax cylinder in a limited edition of 40, of which only 30 were put on sale. The box set came with instructions on how to make a cylinder player for less than £20. The [[BBC]] covered the release on Television on [[BBC Click]], on [[BBC Online]], and on [[Radio 5 Live]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10171206 | work=BBC News | title=Tech Know: A journey into sound | date=2010-05-27}}</ref>

In June 2017 the Cthulhu Breakfast Club podcast released a special limited wax cylinder edition of a show.<ref>{{Cite web|publisher=[[British Library]]|date=2017-05-25|title=Podcast on Wax Cylinder|url=https://twitter.com/BL_DramaSound/status/867737576056258561|access-date=|via=Twitter}}</ref>

In April 2019, the podcast ''[[Hello Internet]]'' released ten limited edition wax cylinder recordings.<ref>[http://www.hellointernet.fm/podcast/2019/4/24/hi-122-wax-cylinders "Wax cylinder episode"], ''[[Hello Internet]]'', April 2019</ref>

In May 2023, [[Needlejuice Records]] released wax cylinder singles for [[Lemon Demon]] songs "[[Touch-Tone Telephone]]" and "The Oldest Man On MySpace", from albums ''[[Spirit Phone]]'' and ''[[Dinosaurchestra]]'', respectively.<ref>[https://twitter.com/needlejuicerec/status/1656469832110338049 "We put Lemon Demon songs on wax cylinders!"], ''Twitter.com'', May 2023</ref>

==Preservation of cylinder recordings==
{{More citations needed section|date=November 2019}}
[[File:HoldPhonoCylinder.jpg|thumbnail|Proper way to hold a cylinder record: put fingers on the inside; do not touch the outer surface which has the recording.]]
Because of the nature of the recording medium, playback of many cylinders can cause degradation of the recording. The replay of cylinders diminishes their fidelity and degrades their recorded signals. Additionally, when exposed to humidity, mold can penetrate a cylinder's surface and cause the recording to have surface noise. Currently, the only professional machines manufactured for the playback of cylinder recordings are the [[Archéophone]] player, designed by Henri Chamoux and the "Endpoint Cylinder and Dictabelt Machine" by Nicholas Bergh.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Mystery recordings will now be heard for the first time in about 100 years |language=en |work=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/04/05/1090819310/mystery-recordings-will-now-be-heard-for-the-first-time-in-about-100-years |access-date=2022-04-29}}</ref> The Archéophone is used by the Edison National Historic Site, [[Bowling Green State University]] (Bowling Green, Ohio), the Department of Special Collections at the [[University of California, Santa Barbara Library]], and many other libraries and archives, including the Endpoint by [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts|The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]].<ref name=":0"/>

In an attempt to preserve the historic content of the recordings, cylinders can be read with a [[confocal microscope]] and converted to a [[digital recording|digital audio]] format. The resulting sound clip in most cases sounds better than stylus playback from the original cylinder. Having an electronic version of the original recordings enables archivists to open access to the recordings to a wider audience. This technique also has the potential to allow for reconstruction of damaged or broken cylinders.{{sfn|Fedeyev|Haber|Radding|Maul|2004}}

{{Listen|help=no|filename=Handel - Israel in Egypt, HWV 54 (excerpt).oga|title=An example of a heavily degraded cylinder: Handel's ''Israel in Egypt'' (June 29, 1888)|description=This was played at the conference introducing the phonograph to London.<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/photosmultimedia/very-early-recorded-sound.htm Very Early Recordings], from the Edison National Historic Site, [U.S.] National Park Service.</ref>
|filename2=Arthur Sullivan - wax cylinder recording.ogg|title2=1888 speech by Arthur Sullivan at the Little Menlo, London|description2=One of the earliest surviving wax cylinder recordings.}}

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed">
File:CylinderRecordsWPackage.jpg|Two Edison cylinder records (left and right) and their cylindrical cardboard boxes (center)
File:Brownwaxcylinders.jpg|Brown wax cylinders showing various shades (and mold damage)
File:EdisonSlip1903.JPG|Paper record slip from 1903 cylinder
File:EdisonSlip1903backside.JPG|Back side of 1903 record slip
File:ColumbiaCylLabelPortion.jpg|Portion of the label from the outside of a Columbia cylinder box, before 1901. Note that the title is handwritten.
File:Edisongoldmoulded.jpg|Edison Gold Moulded record made of relatively hard black wax, c. 1904
File:BlueAmberolRim.jpg|Rim of Edison "[[Blue Amberol Records|Blue Amberol]]" celluloid cylinder with plaster core
File:AmberolLid.jpg|[[Blue Amberol Records|Blue Amberol]] cylinder box lid
File:PhonographCylinders.JPG|Disc records and cylinders
File:Wax cylinder in Dictaphone.jpg|Cylinder on Dictaphone dictation machine (c. 1922). The recording head moved left to right. The black lines are shiny gaps between tracks. Each cylinder could record 1,200 to 1,500 words. They could be reused 100 to 120 times by putting them in a machine that erased them by shaving off the surface.
File:Cylinderscolors.JPG|Celluloid phonograph cylinders displaying a variety of colors
File:Cylindersdiameter.JPG|Wax phonograph cylinders in a variety of diameters
File:Cylinderslength.JPG|Wax phonograph cylinders in a variety of lengths
File:Mapleson cylinders.jpg|A sound engineer holds one of the [[Mapleson Cylinders]] containing a fragment of a live performance recorded at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in 1901.
File:Amberola close-up.jpg|Close-up of the mechanism of an Edison Amberola, manufactured c. 1915
File:Thomas Edison listening to wax cylinder, 1888.png|Thomas Edison in 1888 listening to a wax cylinder phonograph at the Edison laboratory, Orange, N.J.
File:CBS-Listening-Post-Cylinders-1941.jpg|Delivering Ediphone wax cylinder recordings of propaganda broadcasts for analysis at the CBS listening post (May 1941)
File:CBS-Listening-Post-Transcription-1941.jpg|Transcribing propaganda broadcasts from Europe recorded on Ediphone cylinders at the CBS listening post (May 1941)
File:Edison cylinder playback demo.webm|Playback demonstration of a recording and playback demonstration at the [[Thomas Edison National Historical Park]] in [[West Orange, New Jersey]]
File:Edison cylinder recording demo.webm|Recording demonstration
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Archéophone]]
* [[Audio format]]
* [[Audio storage]]
* [[Cylinder Audio Archive]]
* [[Mapleson Cylinders]]
* [[Telediphone]]
* [[Volta Laboratory and Bureau]]

==References==
===General references===
* {{cite journal|last1=Fedeyev|first1=Vitaliy|last2=Haber|first2=Carl|author2-link=Carl Haber (physicist)|last3=Radding|first3=Zachary|last4=Maul|first4=Christian|last5=McBride|first5=John|last6=Golden|first6=Mitchell|url=http://www-cdf.lbl.gov/~av/JAES-paper-LBNL.pdf|title=Reconstruction of Mechanically Recorded Sound by Image Processing|journal=[[Journal of the Acoustical Society of America]]|volume=115|issue=5|date=May 2004|page=172|bibcode=2001ASAJ..115.2494F|doi=10.1121/1.4782907|s2cid=7371031 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Read|first1=Oliver|last2=Welch|first2=Walter L.|title=From Tin Foil to Stereo: Evolution of the Phonograph|edition=2nd|publisher=Howard W. Sams|location=Indianapolis, Indiana|year=1976|isbn=978-0672212062}}

===Inline citations===
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last1=Frow|first1=George L.|last2=Sefl|first2=Albert F.|title=The Edison Cylinder Phonographs 1877–1929|publisher=George F. Frow|location=Sevenoaks, Kent|year=1978|isbn=0-9505462-2-4|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Koenigsberg|first=Allen|title=Edison Cylinder Records, 1889–1912, With an illustrated history of the phonograph|publisher=APM Press|location=Brooklyn, New York|year=1987|isbn=0-937612-07-3|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Morton|first=David L. Jr.|title=Sound Recording – The Life Story of a Technology|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore, Maryland|year=2004|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Schüller|first=Dietrich|chapter=Technology for the Future|title=Archives for the Future: Global Perspectives on Audiovisual Archives in the 21st Century|editor1=A. Seeger|editor2=S. Chaudhuri|publisher=Seagull Books|location=Calcutta, India|year=2004|ref=none}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Phonograph cylinders}}
* [http://www.tinfoil.com/ Tinfoil.com] – History of phonograph cylinders; listen to many examples dating from 1878 through 1912
* [http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/ UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive], [[University of California, Santa Barbara]]: Streaming and downloadable versions of over 10,000 cylinders.
* [https://www.vulcanrecords.com/ Vulcan Cylinder Record Company]
* [http://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Ethnographic-wax-cylinders Ethnographic wax cylinders] from the [[British Library]]

{{Audio formats}}
{{Grooved track audio}}
{{Alexander Graham Bell}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Audio storage]]
[[Category:Audiovisual introductions in 1877]]
[[Category:Audiovisual introductions in 1888]]
[[Category:Thomas Edison]]
[[Category:Alexander Graham Bell]]
[[Category:American inventions]]
[[Category:History of sound recording]]
[[Category:Obsolete technologies]]