RECORD
Dimensions0.5 x 25 cm
Object numberHF.74.110.2
DescriptionThick disc record with central hole for a phonograph spindle. Each side has a song from Giuseppe Verdi's opera, Il Travotore ('The Troubadour'). Each side of the disc has a narrow blank band around the outside edge, then a closely grooved, much wider band, and then another blank band. Around the middle of the disc is a label band, identifying the music and the artist, as well as the publishing company. On the label band on each side there are three slight indentations, perhaps to help disc fit more snugly on turntable. There is also a semi-oval pattern ring around "label" band. There is a portrait of Thomas A. Edison etched into the escutcheon on the label band. Narrative
This style of record were named Diamond Discs and accompanied a specific phonograph fitted with a conical diamond stylus. The growing popularity of disc records, developed by Thomas Edison's competitors, spurred him to add flat discs to the product line. By 1910, cylinders which was a mainstay for Edison, were losing favour. These records could not be played on other machines as the disposable steel needles would damage the record.
The recordings on these discs were made in a vertical manner, which mirrored Edison's cylinder records, so the stylus moved up and down to play the sound.
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