structural:summarization, information:classification
Gramophone

In 1886, Berliner began experimenting with methods of sound recording and reproduction. He was granted his first patent for what he called the " Gramophone " in 1887. The patent described recording sound using horizontal modulation of a stylus as it traced a line on a rotating cylindrical surface coated with an unresisting opaque material such as lampblack, subsequently fixed with varnish and used to photoengrave a corresponding groove into the surface of a metal playback cylinder. In practice, Berliner opted for the disc format, which made the photoengraving step much less difficult and offered the prospect of making multiple copies of the result by some simpler process such as electrotyping, molding, or stamping. In 1888, Berliner was using a more direct recording method, in which the stylus traced a line through a very thin coating of wax on a zinc disc, which was then etched in acid to convert the line of bared metal into a playable groove.

By 1890, a Berliner licensee in Germany was manufacturing a toy Gramophone and five-inch hard rubber discs (stamped-out replicas of etched zinc master discs), but because key U.S. patents were still pending they were sold only in Europe. Berliner meant his Gramophone to be more than a mere toy, and in 1894 he persuaded a group of businessmen to invest $25,000, with which he started the United States Gramophone Company. He began marketing seven-inch records and a more substantial Gramophone, which was, however, still hand-propelled like the smaller toy machine.

The difficulty in using early hand-driven Gramophones was getting the turntable to rotate at an acceptably steady speed. Engineer Eldridge R. Johnson, the owner of a small machine shop in Camden, New Jersey, helped Berliner develop a suitable low-cost wind-up spring motor for the Gramophone, then to manufacture it. Berliner gave Frank Seaman the exclusive sales rights in the U.S., but after disagreements Seaman began selling his own version of the Gramophone, as well as unauthorized copies of Berliner's records; ultimately, Berliner was legally barred from selling his own products. The U.S. Berliner Gramophone Company shut down in mid-1900 and Berliner moved to Canada. Following various legal maneuvers, Johnson founded the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901 and the trade name "Gramophone" was soon abandoned in the U.S., although its use continued in the UK and elsewhere. The Berliner Gramophone Co. of Canada was chartered on 8 April 1904 and reorganized as the Berliner Gramophone Co. in 1909 in Montreal's Saint Henri district.