The U.S. Patent No. 200,521 for the phonograph is awarded to Thomas Edison on February 19, 1878. The first machine capable of recording and reproducing sound used a tinfoil-wrapped cylinder to record sound vibrations. The inaugural recording was "Mary Had a Little Lamb".
Edison and his mechanic, John Kruesi, developed the device in 1877 and Edison applied for the patent on December 24, 1877. The device used a stylus to engrave sound vibrations as indentations onto a rotating cylinder covered in tinfoil. To reproduced the sounds, a needle traced the grooves and reproduced the sounds. The invention eventually led to the music recording industry.
