Edison’s Lab and Phonograph Prototype

We went to Greenfield Village on Friday September 28th and I specifically wanted to revisit Edison’s Menlo Park lab. A lot of structures in Greenfield Village were carefully moved from their original sites and re-erected by Henry Ford’s staff. This is partially true with Menlo Park. Edison built his lab in 1876 and it served as the vanguard of industrial research labs. Ten years later it was completely abandoned. When Ford wanted to move the lab to Dearborn, he and Edison went to Menlo Park to find the buildings in ruins. Here’s a picture of the partially abandoned lab taken in 1880.

 

Ford had his staff recreate the lab from original material salvaged from the site. The rest of the lab was reconstructed and completed using photographs and drawings as de facto blueprints. Here’s what Edison’s lab looks like now:

 

 

Here’s an early Edison phonograph:

 

 

I used this exact prototype in the first chapter of Thomas Edison: RESURRECTOR. Note the delicate tin foil recording material on the right. The foil was wrapped around the recording cylinder and acoustic energy excited a diaphragm that held and vibrated a recording stylus in its center. The vibrating stylus etched the tin foil. When played back the etchings excited the diaphragm and reproduced the recorded sound.  I’m still amazed that this all-mechanical device worked as well as it did.