On this Day

April 25, 1854

Charles Sumner Tainter's Birthday

 

Tainter photograph from newspaper, 1886 (1)

 

April 25 is the birthday of Charles Sumner Tainter (April 25, 1854 – April 20, 1940). Tainter was an American scientific instrument maker, engineer and inventor, best known for his collaborations with Chichester Bell and his work at Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

Tainter made significant improvements to Thomas Edison's Phonograph which resulted in the Graphophone.

 

 

 

Bell-Tainter Type K Electric set up with a mandrel for Edison-type cylinders.

The records play from right to left. Courtesy of René Rondeau (2)

 

 

 

 

Charles Sumner Tainter reading, 1919 (3)

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 25 - On this Day Factola