Episode 2 of 3

Flat Disk Recording Patent

When: 1887-1896
Where: Washington, D.C.
Part of: Emile Berliner starts work leading to the invention of the gramophone

Berliner received a patent for recording on the underside of flat, transparent disks.

U.S. Patent 564,586 for the gramophone, specifically regarding recording on the underside of flat, transparent disks, was filed on November 7, 1887, and issued in July 1896.

Sources

Emile Berliner Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-10

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.