Emile Berliner
Encyclopedia
Emile Berliner or Emil Berliner (May 20, 1851 – August 3, 1929) was a German
-born American
inventor. He is best known for developing the disc record
gramophone
(phonograph
in American English
). He founded The Berliner Gramophone
Company in 1895, The Gramophone Company
in London, England, in 1897, Deutsche Grammophon
in Hanover
, Germany
, in 1898 and Berliner Gram-o-phone Company of Canada in Montreal
in 1899 (chartered in 1904).
, Germany
in 1851 into a Jewish merchant family. He completed an apprenticeship to become a merchant, as was family tradition. While his real hobby was invention, he worked as an accountant to make ends meet. To avoid being drafted for the Franco-Prussian War
, Berliner migrated to the United States of America
in 1870 with a friend of his father's, in whose shop he worked in Washington, D.C.
. He moved to New York and, living off temporary work, such as doing the paper route and cleaning bottles, he studied physics at night at the Cooper Union Institute. After some time working in a livery stable, he became interested in the new audio
technology of the telephone
and phonograph
, and invented an improved telephone transmitter (one of the first type of microphone
s). The patent was acquired by the Bell Telephone Company, see The Telephone Cases
. But on February 27, 1901 the United States Court of Appeal declared the patent void. Berliner subsequently moved to Boston
in 1877 and worked for Bell Telephone until 1883, when he returned to Washington and established himself as a private researcher. Emile Berliner became a United States citizen in 1881.
In 1886 Berliner began experimenting with methods of sound recording. He was granted his first patent
for what he called the "gramophone"
in 1887. The first gramophones recorded sound using horizontal modulation
on a cylinder
coated with a low resistance material such as lamp black, subsequently fixed with varnish
and then copied by photoengraving
on a metal playback cylinder. This was similar to the method employed by Edison
's machines. In 1888 Berliner invented a simpler way to record sound by using discs
. Within a few years he was successfully marketing his technology to toy
companies. However, he hoped to develop his device as more than a mere toy, and in 1895 persuaded a group of businessmen to put up $25,000 with which he created the Berliner Gramophone Company
.
A problem with early gramophones was getting the turntable to rotate at a steady speed during playback of a disc. Engineer Eldridge R. Johnson
helped solve this problem by designing a clock-work spring-wound motor. Eldridge Johnson was the owner of a small machine shop in Camden, New Jersey who assisted Berliner in developing and manufacturing a low-cost spring wound motor for his disc phonograph. Berliner gave Frank Seaman the exclusive rights to sell in the US, after arguments Seaman refused to sell and Berliner was prevented from selling his products in the USA, and subsequently moved to Canada. Following some legal reorganization, the Victor Talking Machine Company
was officially founded by Johnson in 1901. From his experiences with Berliner, Johnson had already learned a great deal even today the Victrola is generic for a wind up record player like Q-Tip is for cotton swab. The Berliner Gramophone Co of Canada was chartered 8 Apr 1904 and was reorganized as the Berliner Gramophone Co in 1909.
Berliner's other inventions include a new type of loom
for mass-production of cloth; an acoustic tile; and an early version of the helicopter
. According to a July 1, 1909, report in The New York Times
, a helicopter built by Berliner and J. Newton Williams of Derby, Connecticut
, had lifted its operator (Williams) "from the ground on three occasions" at Berliner's laboratory in the Brightwood
neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
In fact between 1907 and 1926, Berliner dedicated himself to improving the technologies of vertical flight through the development of a light-weight rotary engine, which he improved upon throughout the 1910s and 1920s. With R.S. Moore, also a Scientist and Inventor, as his chief assistant, Berliner obtained automobile engines from the Adams-Farwell Company, an automobile manufacturer of Dubuque, Iowa, which he promptly rebuilt as revolving engines for use in perfecting “machines” produced for vertical flight. His realizations allowed him to move away from the heavy in-line engines to lighter rotary models, which led to the invention of a 6-hp rotary engine for the improvement of vertical flight. It was these experiments that led to the formal creation of the Gyro Motor Company in 1909 after inventing the engine between 1907-08. And it was the creation the 6-hp rotary engine that initiated the use of rotary engines in aviation. The Gyro Motor Company manufactured these and other improved versions of the Gyro Engine between 1909 and roughly 1926. The building used for these operations exists at 774 Girard Street, NW, Washington DC, where its principal facade is in the Fairmont-Girard alleyway.
By 1910, continuing to advance vertical flight, Berliner experimented with the use of a vertically mounted tail rotor to counteract torque on his single main rotor design. And it was this configuration that led to the mechanical development of practical helicopters of the 1940s. When the Gyro Motor Company opened, Spencer Heath
(1876–1963), a mechanical engineer (among other things), became the manager. Heath was connected with the American Propeller Company, also a manufacturer of aeronautical related mechanisms and products in Baltimore, Maryland. Both R.S. Moore, Designer and Engineer, and Joseph Sanders (1877–1944), inventor, engineer, and manufacturer, were involved in the original operations of the company. Berliner was president of the newly founded Gyro Motor Company and much of his time was spent dealing with business operations. which merged to become Berliner-Joyce Aircraft
On July 16, 1922, Berliner and his son, Henry
, demonstrated a working helicopter for the United States Army
. Henry became disillusioned with helicopters in 1925, and in 1926 founded the Berliner Aircraft Company, which merged to become Berliner-Joyce Aircraft
in 1929.
Berliner, who suffered a nervous breakdown in 1914, was also active in advocating improvements in public health and sanitation
.
Berliner was awarded the Franklin Institute
's John Scott Medal in 1897, and later the Elliott Cresson Medal
in 1913 and the Franklin Medal
in 1929.
Emile Berliner died of a heart attack
at the age of 78 and is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery
in Washington, D.C., alongside his wife and a son.
Patent images in TIFF format Telephone (induction coils), filed October 1877, issued January 1878 Telephone (carbon diaphragm microphone), filed August 1879, issued December 1879 Microphone (loose carbon rod), filed September 1879, issued February 1880 Microphone (spring carbon rod), filed Nov 1879, issued March 1880
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
inventor. He is best known for developing the disc record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
gramophone
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
(phonograph
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
in American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
). He founded The Berliner Gramophone
Berliner Gramophone
Berliner Gramophone was an early record label, the first company to produce disc "gramophone records" .-History:...
Company in 1895, The Gramophone Company
Gramophone Company
The Gramophone Company, based in the United Kingdom, was one of the early recording companies, and was the parent organization for the famous "His Master's Voice" label...
in London, England, in 1897, Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
in Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, in 1898 and Berliner Gram-o-phone Company of Canada in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
in 1899 (chartered in 1904).
Life and work
Berliner was born in HanoverHanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1851 into a Jewish merchant family. He completed an apprenticeship to become a merchant, as was family tradition. While his real hobby was invention, he worked as an accountant to make ends meet. To avoid being drafted for the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, Berliner migrated to the United States of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1870 with a friend of his father's, in whose shop he worked in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. He moved to New York and, living off temporary work, such as doing the paper route and cleaning bottles, he studied physics at night at the Cooper Union Institute. After some time working in a livery stable, he became interested in the new audio
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
technology of the telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
and phonograph
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
, and invented an improved telephone transmitter (one of the first type of microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
s). The patent was acquired by the Bell Telephone Company, see The Telephone Cases
The Telephone Cases
The Telephone Cases were a series of U.S. court cases in the 1870s and 1880s related to the invention of the telephone, which culminated in the 1888 decision of the United States Supreme Court upholding the priority of the patents belonging to Alexander Graham Bell...
. But on February 27, 1901 the United States Court of Appeal declared the patent void. Berliner subsequently moved to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1877 and worked for Bell Telephone until 1883, when he returned to Washington and established himself as a private researcher. Emile Berliner became a United States citizen in 1881.
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
for what he called the "gramophone"
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
in 1887. The first gramophones recorded sound using horizontal modulation
Modulation
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a high-frequency periodic waveform, called the carrier signal, with a modulating signal which typically contains information to be transmitted...
on a cylinder
Phonograph cylinder
Phonograph cylinders were the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity , these cylinder shaped objects had an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was...
coated with a low resistance material such as lamp black, subsequently fixed with varnish
Varnish
Varnish is a transparent, hard, protective finish or film primarily used in wood finishing but also for other materials. Varnish is traditionally a combination of a drying oil, a resin, and a thinner or solvent. Varnish finishes are usually glossy but may be designed to produce satin or semi-gloss...
and then copied by photoengraving
Photoengraving
Photoengraving also known as photo-chemical milling is a process of engraving using photographic processing techniques. The full form of photoengraving is photo mechanical process in the graphic arts, used principally for reproducing illustrations. The subject is photographed, and the image is...
on a metal playback cylinder. This was similar to the method employed by Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
's machines. In 1888 Berliner invented a simpler way to record sound by using discs
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
. Within a few years he was successfully marketing his technology to toy
Toy
A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
companies. However, he hoped to develop his device as more than a mere toy, and in 1895 persuaded a group of businessmen to put up $25,000 with which he created the Berliner Gramophone Company
Berliner Gramophone
Berliner Gramophone was an early record label, the first company to produce disc "gramophone records" .-History:...
.
A problem with early gramophones was getting the turntable to rotate at a steady speed during playback of a disc. Engineer Eldridge R. Johnson
Eldridge R. Johnson
Eldridge Reeves Johnson co-created the Victor Talking Machine Company alongside Emile Berliner, a United States corporation, and built it into the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time.In...
helped solve this problem by designing a clock-work spring-wound motor. Eldridge Johnson was the owner of a small machine shop in Camden, New Jersey who assisted Berliner in developing and manufacturing a low-cost spring wound motor for his disc phonograph. Berliner gave Frank Seaman the exclusive rights to sell in the US, after arguments Seaman refused to sell and Berliner was prevented from selling his products in the USA, and subsequently moved to Canada. Following some legal reorganization, the Victor Talking Machine Company
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
was officially founded by Johnson in 1901. From his experiences with Berliner, Johnson had already learned a great deal even today the Victrola is generic for a wind up record player like Q-Tip is for cotton swab. The Berliner Gramophone Co of Canada was chartered 8 Apr 1904 and was reorganized as the Berliner Gramophone Co in 1909.
Loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...
for mass-production of cloth; an acoustic tile; and an early version of the helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
. According to a July 1, 1909, report in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, a helicopter built by Berliner and J. Newton Williams of Derby, Connecticut
Derby, Connecticut
Derby is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 12,391 at the 2000 census. With of land area, Derby is Connecticut's smallest municipality.The city has a Metro-North railroad station called Derby – Shelton.-History:...
, had lifted its operator (Williams) "from the ground on three occasions" at Berliner's laboratory in the Brightwood
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
In fact between 1907 and 1926, Berliner dedicated himself to improving the technologies of vertical flight through the development of a light-weight rotary engine, which he improved upon throughout the 1910s and 1920s. With R.S. Moore, also a Scientist and Inventor, as his chief assistant, Berliner obtained automobile engines from the Adams-Farwell Company, an automobile manufacturer of Dubuque, Iowa, which he promptly rebuilt as revolving engines for use in perfecting “machines” produced for vertical flight. His realizations allowed him to move away from the heavy in-line engines to lighter rotary models, which led to the invention of a 6-hp rotary engine for the improvement of vertical flight. It was these experiments that led to the formal creation of the Gyro Motor Company in 1909 after inventing the engine between 1907-08. And it was the creation the 6-hp rotary engine that initiated the use of rotary engines in aviation. The Gyro Motor Company manufactured these and other improved versions of the Gyro Engine between 1909 and roughly 1926. The building used for these operations exists at 774 Girard Street, NW, Washington DC, where its principal facade is in the Fairmont-Girard alleyway.
By 1910, continuing to advance vertical flight, Berliner experimented with the use of a vertically mounted tail rotor to counteract torque on his single main rotor design. And it was this configuration that led to the mechanical development of practical helicopters of the 1940s. When the Gyro Motor Company opened, Spencer Heath
Spencer Heath
Spencer Heath was an American engineer, attorney, inventor, manufacturer, horticulturist, poet, philosopher of science and social thinker. An anarchist and a dissenter from Georgist economic views, he pioneered the theory of proprietary governance and community in his book Citadel, Market and Altar...
(1876–1963), a mechanical engineer (among other things), became the manager. Heath was connected with the American Propeller Company, also a manufacturer of aeronautical related mechanisms and products in Baltimore, Maryland. Both R.S. Moore, Designer and Engineer, and Joseph Sanders (1877–1944), inventor, engineer, and manufacturer, were involved in the original operations of the company. Berliner was president of the newly founded Gyro Motor Company and much of his time was spent dealing with business operations. which merged to become Berliner-Joyce Aircraft
Berliner-Joyce Aircraft
Berliner-Joyce Aircraft was an American aircraft manufacturer. It was founded on 4 February 1929 when Henry Berliner and his 1922 company, Berliner Aircraft Company of Alexandria, Virginia, joined with Temple Nach Joyce....
On July 16, 1922, Berliner and his son, Henry
Henry Berliner
Henry Adler Berliner was a United States aircraft and helicopter pioneer. Sixth son of inventor Emile Berliner, he was born in Washington, D.C....
, demonstrated a working helicopter for the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. Henry became disillusioned with helicopters in 1925, and in 1926 founded the Berliner Aircraft Company, which merged to become Berliner-Joyce Aircraft
Berliner-Joyce Aircraft
Berliner-Joyce Aircraft was an American aircraft manufacturer. It was founded on 4 February 1929 when Henry Berliner and his 1922 company, Berliner Aircraft Company of Alexandria, Virginia, joined with Temple Nach Joyce....
in 1929.
Berliner, who suffered a nervous breakdown in 1914, was also active in advocating improvements in public health and sanitation
Sanitation
Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...
.
Berliner was awarded the Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute
The Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.-History:On February 5, 1824, Samuel Vaughn Merrick and...
's John Scott Medal in 1897, and later the Elliott Cresson Medal
Elliott Cresson Medal
The Elliott Cresson Medal, also known as the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal, was the highest award given by the Franklin Institute. The award was established by Elliott Cresson, life member of the Franklin Institute, with $1,000 granted in 1848...
in 1913 and the Franklin Medal
Franklin Medal
The Franklin Medal was a science and engineering award presented by the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, PA, USA.-Laureates:*1915 - Thomas Alva Edison *1915 - Heike Kamerlingh Onnes *1916 - John J...
in 1929.
Emile Berliner died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at the age of 78 and is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery
Rock Creek Cemetery
Rock Creek Cemetery — also Rock Creek Church Yard and Cemetery — is an cemetery with a natural rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE in Washington, D.C.'s Michigan Park neighborhood, near Washington's Petworth neighborhood...
in Washington, D.C., alongside his wife and a son.
Books
- Conclusions, 1902, Kaufman Publishing Co.
- The Milk Question and Mortality Among Children Here and in Germany: An Observation, 1904, The Society for Prevention of Sickness
- Some Neglected Essentials in the Fight against Consumption, 1907, The Society for Prevention of Sickness
- A Study Towards the Solution of Industrial Problems in the New Zionist Commonwealth, 1919, N. Peters
- Muddy Jim and other rhymes: 12 illustrated health jingles for children, 1919, Jim Publication Company.
Patents
- UK Patent 15232 filed November 8, 1887 Gramophone (horizontal recording), original filed May 1887, refiled September 1887, issued November 8, 1887 Process of Producing Records of Sound (recorded on a thin wax coating over metal or glass surface, subsequently chemically etched), filed March 1888, issued May 1888 Combined Telegraph and Telephone (microphone), filed June 1877, issued November 1891 Sound Record and Method of Making Same (duplicate copies of flat, zincZincZinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
disks by electroplatingElectroplatingElectroplating is a plating process in which metal ions in a solution are moved by an electric field to coat an electrode. The process uses electrical current to reduce cations of a desired material from a solution and coat a conductive object with a thin layer of the material, such as a metal...
), filed March 1893, issued October 1895 Gramophone (recorded on underside of flat, transparent disk), filed November 7, 1887, issued July 1896
Further reading
- Emile Berliner - An Unheralded Genius Part I - The Early Years: Fact Paper 27-I
- Emile Berliner - An Unheralded Genius Part II - The Later Years: Fact Paper 27-II
- The Telephone - Fact Paper 2
External links
- Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry at the Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
including audio archive - Emile Berliner: Inventor of the Gramophone (Library of Congress)
- Berliner timeline and patent list
- The Berliner helicopters at the National Air and Space MuseumNational Air and Space MuseumThe National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world. It was established in 1976. Located in Washington, D.C., United States, it is a center for research into the history and science of aviation and...
- Berliner helicopter at College Park, Maryland
- Berliner in the Inventor's Hall of Fame
- Illustrated Berliner page
- Contents of Berliner's case file at The Franklin Institute contains evidence and correspondence with Berliner regarding the award of his 1929 Franklin Medal for acoustic engineering and development of the gramophone
- Musée des ondes Emile Berliner in Montreal, Quebec contains over 30,000 recordings and other artifacts