[78-L] Tinfoil (was: Sound for early silent films Was: what a whiner!)

[Michael Biel]

David Lewis <uncledavelewis at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> Probably not, and no record is worth $150K.

From: david_breneman at yahoo.com
>> Well, if one were to discover the original "Marry had a
>> Little Lamb" crumpled up in a corner of Edison's lab at
>> Greenfield Village...  :-)

There is a framed tinfoil in the Edison Museum in Ft. Myers, Florida,
which for many years they claimed was exactly that, but finally they
were convinced to stop claiming that.  Edison signed it and noted that
it was recorded on the MODEL of the original phonograph.  I wouldn't be
surprised if this is the foil recorded at the Aug 12, 1927 ceremony. 
The foil is in perfect condition except where Edison signed it.

> There's a hunk of tinfoil on display at the Belfer Lab, Syracuse University..
> looks as if it once had a bunch of grapes wrapped in it, but you never know.   dl

>> Only half in jest - if a "dawn tinfoil" was found, I'd
>> imagine that all sorts of resources could and would be
>> pressed into service to try to glean some recognizable
>> audio off it. Does anyone know if any audio has been
>> recovered from a "demounted" tinfoil record?

As far as I know there have not yet been any successful transfers from a
tinfoil but the FirstSounds folks are considering tackling this next. 
New tinfoils can easily be recorded to give them examples to practice
on. I've already recommended the Ft. Myers tinfoil to them, and we
assume the writing can be optically removed. Additionally there is an
early tinfoil from the late 1870s or early 1880s at the Schenectady
Museum that they are attempting to get a grant to allow recovery
efforts.  This foil was folded into a printed envelope as a souvenir of
an early phonograph exhibit.  Peter Dilg has declared this envelope to
be the first record sleeve!!!  

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com