Wax Cylinder

One of the earliest formats for making sound recordings. This was invented by Thomas Edison in the late 1880s and used until the early 20th century. This format used a recorder to carve a groove into a rotating tube of softened wax with a needle that was vibrating from the sound pressure collected at the small end of a trumpet-like device. Each cylinder could hold between two and four minutes of sound recording, depending on the recording speed. These cylinders are very fragile.