Editing Phonograph cylinder (section)

==Hard plastic cylinders==
{{See also|Blue Amberol Records|Edison Records}}
{{stack|{{Listen|type=music|help=no|filename=Auld Lang Syne.ogg|title=1910 Indestructible Record|description="[[Auld Lang Syne]]", sung by [[Frank C. Stanley]] in 1910}}}}
On March 20, 1900, Thomas B. Lambert was granted a US patent (645,920) that described a process for mass-producing cylinders made from [[celluloid]], an early hard plastic. ({{ill|Henri Jules Lioret|fr}} of France was producing celluloid cylinders as early as 1893, but they were individually recorded rather than molded.) That same year, the Lambert Company of Chicago began selling cylinder records made of the material. They would not break if dropped and could be played thousands of times without wearing out. The color was changed to black in 1903, but brown and blue cylinders were also produced. The coloring was purportedly because the dyes reduced [[surface noise]]. Unlike wax, the hard, inflexible material could not be shaved and recorded over, but it had the advantage of being nearly permanent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cylinder.de/guide_lambert-cylinders.html|title=Norman Bruderhofer's Cylinder Guide – Lambert Cylinders|website=The Cylinder Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phonographcylinders.com/lambert-replica-cylinder.php|title=Lambert Replica Cylinders|website=phonographcylinders.com|access-date=2012-03-15|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324014701/http://www.phonographcylinders.com/lambert-replica-cylinder.php|archive-date=2012-03-24}}</ref> A 1905 Edison Phonograph may be seen and heard playing a celluloid cylinder at the [[Musical Museum, Brentford|Musical Museum]], Brentford, England and the quality of the sound is surprisingly good.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MMCatalogue (All) |url=https://www.musicalmuseum.co.uk/mmcatalogue |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=The Musical Museum |language=en}}</ref>

This superior technology was licensed by the Indestructible Record Company<ref>{{Cite web|date=2005-11-16|department=Cylinder Preservation and Digitalization Project|url=http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/history-indestructible.php|access-date=June 19, 2021|title=Indestructible Records|via=UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive|publisher=[[University of California, Santa Barbara Library]]}}</ref> in 1906 and [[Columbia Records|Columbia Phonograph Company]] in 1908. The [[Edison Bell]] company in Europe had separately licensed the technology and were able to market Edison's titles in both wax (popular series) and celluloid (indestructible series).{{sfn|Read|Welch|1976|page=146}}

In late 1908, Edison had introduced wax cylinders that played for nominally four minutes (instead of the usual two) under the ''Amberol'' brand. They were made from a harder (and more fragile) form of wax to withstand the smaller stylus used to play them. The longer playing time was achieved by reducing the groove size and placing them half as far apart. In 1912, the Edison company eventually acquired Lambert's patents to the celluloid technology, and almost immediately started production under a variation of their existing ''Amberol'' brand as ''Edison Blue Amberol Records''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cylinder.de/guide_blue-amberol-cylinders.html|title=The Cylinder Archive – Cylinder Guide: Amberol and 4-minute Indestructible Cylinders|website=The Cylinder Archive}}</ref>

Edison designed several phonograph types, both with internal and external horns for playing these improved cylinder records. The internal horn models were called ''Amberolas''. Edison marketed its "Fireside" model phonograph with a gearshift and a 'model K' reproducer with two different styli, which allowed it to play both two-minute and four-minute cylinders.<ref>Model Number taken directly from actual Fireside reproducer.</ref>