Name/Title
Graphophone Treadle Type „B“Entry/Object ID
147Description
American Graphophone Company, Bridgeport, Conn.
ca. 1888–1889 | Serial range: 00845–04192 | Rental price: $40 per year
Historical Background
The object on display is a fully original and complete Graphophone Type B with cast-iron treadle base. It ranks among the earliest commercial devices for mechanical sound recording and reproduction.
The Type B was a development of the earlier Type A, introduced around 1888 in limited numbers. It was produced by the American Graphophone Company, the immediate predecessor of Columbia Records.
These machines were not sold outright, but leased at a price of about $40 per year. In the late 1880s, when most areas of the United States still lacked reliable electrical power, the foot-powered drive offered a crucial advantage.
Technical Features
Foot treadle: heavy cast-iron frame with gold lettering “American Graphophone Company, Bridgeport, Conn.”
Governor: centrifugal regulator with cylindrical weights (patented July 20, 1886)
Recording/Playback: wax cylinder system with precision feedscrew, heavy flywheel, and fine gearwork
Table top: solid walnut or oak with two drawers and matching dust cover
Reproducer: early Columbia #000 type, designed for standard wax cylinders
Use
Treadle Graphophones were primarily employed in the business world, especially as dictating machines. They were promoted as the “mechanical stenographer,” designed to replace or support human shorthand writers. Contemporary Columbia advertising proclaimed:
“Every man his own stenographer.”
Their independence from electricity, relying solely on foot power, made them particularly attractive for offices, doctors, and lawyers.
Significance and Rarity
Today, only four to five surviving examples of the Treadle Graphophone Type B are known worldwide, most of them in U.S. museum collections. The Edisonium’s specimen is one of the very few that remain fully complete and in museum condition.
It represents a pivotal stage between Edison’s invention of the phonograph (1877) and the industrial exploitation of sound recording by Columbia/Graphophone. The Type B Treadle combines mechanical ingenuity, recording technology, and craftsmanship – making it a true jewel of early sound recording history.
