What key balance did Edison’s team seek when developing the viable wax cylinder compound?
Answer
Malleability for recording and sufficient hardness for durability.
The required material needed to be soft enough for the stylus to accurately impress sound waves while simultaneously being hard enough to resist damage during playback and storage.
Related Questions
What material was used in the foundational tinfoil phonograph invented by Thomas Edison in 1877?What was the most significant limitation making the initial tinfoil medium commercially unviable?Which two inventors, exploring Bell’s telephone technology, also experimented with wax cylinders?What key balance did Edison’s team seek when developing the viable wax cylinder compound?What major innovation facilitated the mass production of uniform, durable wax cylinders?What fundamental physical constraint inherent to the cylinder format caused fidelity inequality across a recording?What groove modulation system did the cylinder format primarily utilize?Compared to the turntable-based disc machines, what unique benefit did the cylinder’s axial recording stylus movement offer early users?For roughly how long did the improved wax cylinder enjoy a vibrant commercial life as the primary recording format?What characteristic of the flat shellac disc ultimately led to the cylinder format’s obsolescence in the consumer market?