# Edison is granted U.S. Patent 200,521 for the phonograph

Date: 1878

## The fact

On 19 February 1878 the United States issued Patent 200,521 to [Edison](/people/thomas-edison) for a phonograph or speaking machine using tin-foil on a cylinder. Public demonstrations, including before the National Academy of Sciences, followed the 1877 laboratory work.

Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19).

## Context

The first commercial music industry is later. Bell and Tainter’s wax Graphophone forced Edison back into the field in the 1880s. This Fact is the 1878 patent, not every later disc.

Thomas Edison is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

## Evidence and sources

The patent is a federal instrument. Library of Congress Edison sound-recording essays independently date the 1878 grant.

Official or archival record: U.S. Patent 200,521 — Phonograph or Speaking Machine (1878) (https://patents.google.com/patent/US200521A; United States Patent and Trademark Office / Google Patents).

## Significance

Cultural-access path.

A demonstration toy and a record industry are different instruments.

## What is established and what is not

Established: Patent 200,521 on 19 February 1878. Not established: that tin-foil cylinders already constituted a music market, or that Edison invented every later microphone.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.
Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19). Patent 200,521 for the phonograph (1878-02-19).

## People

- Thomas Edison: https://factrail.ai/people/thomas-edison

## Drivers

- Social Cohesion: https://factrail.ai/drivers/social-cohesion

## Sources

- https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/
- https://patents.google.com/patent/US200521A

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/us-edison-phonograph-patent-1878