Editing Tape recorder (section)

=== Wax strip recorder ===
The earliest known audio tape recorder was a [[non-magnetic]], [[electricity|non-electric]] version invented by [[Alexander Graham Bell]]'s [[Volta Laboratory]] and patented in 1886 ({{US patent|341214}}). It employed a {{convert|3/16|in|mm|adj=mid|-wide}} strip of wax-covered paper that was coated by dipping it in a solution of [[beeswax]] and [[Paraffin wax|paraffin]] and then had one side scraped clean, with the other side allowed to harden. The machine was of sturdy wood and metal construction and hand-powered by means of a knob fastened to a [[flywheel]]. The wax strip passed from one eight-inch reel around the periphery of a pulley (with guide flanges) mounted above the V-pulleys on the main vertical shaft, where it came in contact with either its recording or playback [[stylus]]. The tape was then taken up on the other reel. The sharp recording stylus, actuated by a vibrating mica diaphragm, cut the wax from the strip. In playback mode, a dull, loosely mounted stylus, attached to a rubber diaphragm, carried the reproduced sounds through an ear tube to its listener. Both recording and playback styluses, mounted alternately on the same two posts, could be adjusted vertically so that several recordings could be cut on the same {{convert|3/16|in|mm|adj=mid|-wide}} strip.<ref name="Newville"/>

While the machine was never developed commercially, it somewhat resembled the modern magnetic tape recorder in its design. The tapes and machine created by Bell's associates, examined at one of the [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s museums, became brittle, and the heavy paper reels warped. The machine's playback head was also missing. Otherwise, with some reconditioning, they could be placed into working condition.<ref name="Newville">Newville, Leslie J. [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30112/30112-h/30112-h.htm Development of the Phonograph at Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory], United States National Museum Bulletin, [[United States National Museum]] and the [[Museum of History and Technology]], Washington, D.C., 1959, No. 218, Paper 5, pp.69–79. Retrieved from ProjectGutenberg.org.</ref>

The waxed tape recording medium was later refined by Edison's  [[wax cylinder]], and became the first widespread sound recording technology, used for both entertainment and office dictation. However, recordings on wax cylinders were unable to be easily duplicated, making them both costly and time consuming for large-scale production. Wax cylinders were also unable to record more than 2 minutes of audio, a problem solved by [[Phonograph record|gramophone discs]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-sound-recordings/history-of-the-cylinder-phonograph/ |title=History of the Cylinder Phonograph |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2024-02-24}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/emile-berliner/articles-and-essays/gramophone/ |title=The Gramophone |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2024-02-24}}</ref>