Emile Berliner originally Emil Berliner, was a German-American inventor. He is best known for inventing the lateral-cut flat disc record used with a gramophone. He founded the United States Gramophone Company in 1894; 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. Berliner also invented what was probably the first radial aircraft engine (1908), a helicopter (1919), and acoustical tiles (1920s).
Emile Berliner
1897 Berliner Gramophone record
E. Berliner Toy Gramophone, 1889 (collection Musée des ondes Emile Berliner, Montreal)
Emile Berliner with a veiled woman
A phonograph record, a vinyl record, or simply a record or vinyl is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the outside edge and ends near the center of the disc. The stored sound information is made audible by playing the record on a phonograph.
Three vinyl records of different formats, from left to right: a 12 inch LP, a 10 inch LP, a 7 inch single
Conductor and cast members of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company with acoustic recording horn at HMV, c. 1924
Emile Berliner with disc record gramophone
Hungarian Pathé record, 90 to 100 rpm