11 Facts About Berliner Gramophone

An 1890 recording of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, likely made by Berliner Gramophone himself, is the oldest disc in the BBC Library or in the Bibliotheque nationale de France and was once touted as the oldest commercial disc in the world, though this has since been disproven.

Back in Washington, D C, Berliner tried again under the name of the United States Gramophone Company and began to manufacture machines and 7-inch hard rubber discs in 1894.

In 1898, Berliner Gramophone shut down at least two firms that were leeching off his business models and, in the first case, products.

In 1899, Berliner discovered that Frank Seaman was behind a machine called the Zonophone that seemed an exact replica of the Gramophone.

Furious, Berliner Gramophone cut off all supply to New York, which proved a fatal error.

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Berliner Gramophone transferred his patents to Eldridge Johnson, who then changed the name over the door to his own, though Berliner Gramophone retained a share in the new company.

In 1895, comic Billy Golden introduced Berliner to Fred Gaisberg, who, with Barry Peter Owen – a trusted associate within the National Gramophone Company – helped to establish Berliner's overseas interests.

In 1924, Canadian Berliner Gramophone was bought out by USA's Victor and became Victor Talking Machine Company of Canada.

Emile Berliner Gramophone died in 1929 – the same year RCA bought out Victor – and Edgar Berliner Gramophone resigned from Canadian RCA in 1930.

Range of material on Berliner Gramophone records was wider than that available from cylinder companies in the 1890s.

Naturally, Berliner Gramophone was well-supplied with the typical band and song selections commonly found on cylinders, but he branched out into piano music, ragtime, speeches, sermons, instrumental solos and some ethnographic material on a greater scale than his competitors.