The 'Gramophone'  was invented in 1888 by the German-American Emile Berliner (1851-1929). The name gramophone came from an inversion of the name 'Phonograph' invented by Edison. The gramophone played flat disc records at 78RPM which are very similar to the vinyl LPs records today. 

 

The gramophone discs offered several advantages over the earlier phonograph. The discs could be more easily copied for manufacture by making a reverse image of the audio track (on a master disc) and pressing this pattern onto a 'blank' disc. This image could be transferring easily onto the disks to produce multiple copies from the a single original master. The gramophone discs could also be more easily stored than the rival phonograph's cylinder records. 

The 78RPM gramophone records were made from shellac and could easily be broken or cracked. They had a short playing time and suffered from high surface noise with the gramophone needle requiring changing after just 15 minutes of playing time.

The gramophone was very popular in the UK from 1900 right through to the 1950s. In 1948  the vinyl LP record was introduced with a much longer playing time. These new LP records rotated at a lower speed 33^1/3RPM and had much lower surface noise and were more durable. 

The last EMI 78RPM gramophone record was recorded in 1960, it featured Russ Conway playing 'Rule Britannia'.  Today the gramophone is very much a collectors item with many fine examples surviving. The successor to the 78RPM records (the microgroove vinyl record) was popular through the 1980s when eventually it was overtaken in sales by the more convenient Philips compact cassette tape.

Gramophone needle & tins click here


The 78rpm record was very popular
 throughout the 1920s/30s/40s

The Symphony Victory c1910

 

78RPM HMV Record Label 

HMV Portable Gramophone
Model 102 from 1931-1958