Gramophones

Instruments of the type first invented by Emil Berliner in the 1890s for the reproduction of recorded sound, comprising a turntable for a disc record, a sound box mounted on a pivot (allowing the record groove to guide the stylus), and a conical sounding-horn. Gramophones operate similarly to "cylinder phonographs" but use, instead of a drum, a flat disc containing a spiral groove; a stylus is allowed to rest in the groove as the disc is rotated on a turntable, and the vibrations communicated to the stylus by the irregularities in the groove are transformed into sound vibrations. The earliest gramophones were also used to cut records, using blank discs. For similar devices that employ electronic amplification of sound recorded on more modern high fidelity vinyl discs, in use since the 1950s, use "record players."