His Masters Voice (HMV) gramophones, 1920-40s

His Master's Voice (HMV) is a brand name used by a number of different companies, but it originated with the British Gramophone Company in the early 20th century. The company was founded in 1897 by William Barry Owen and Trevor Williams, and it quickly became one of the leading manufacturers of gramophones and phonographs in the world.

In 1902, the company began using the trademark of a dog listening to a gramophone, which became known as the "His Master's Voice" (HMV) logo. The image was based on a painting by Francis Barraud, which he created after seeing his more... dog Nipper listening intently to a gramophone. The HMV logo became one of the most recognizable trademarks in the world and was used by the company for decades.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, HMV continued to produce high-quality gramophones and phonographs, as well as radios and other audio equipment. The company also expanded into the production of film and music recordings, with a catalog that included everything from classical music to popular songs.

During World War II, HMV faced significant challenges as production was disrupted by the war effort. The company was also impacted by the rise of new audio technologies, such as magnetic tape and vinyl records, which began to replace the older shellac-based discs that HMV had produced for decades.

Despite these challenges, HMV continued to be a leading manufacturer of audio equipment throughout the mid-20th century. The company introduced new products such as high-fidelity (hi-fi) systems in the 1950s and 1960s, which helped to keep it at the forefront of the audio industry.

However, in the later decades of the 20th century, HMV faced increasing competition from other audio companies, as well as from new forms of entertainment such as television and video games. The company eventually went bankrupt in 2018, although it was later revived under new ownership.

Today, the HMV brand continues to be associated with high-quality audio equipment, and the iconic "His Master's Voice" logo remains a beloved symbol of the history of recorded music. less...

In the evolution of mechanical music, the gramophone followed the phonograph and the graphophone, each of which was invented in the United States. For the gramophone, the music was recorded on a flat disk, unlike the phonograph and graphophone. However in modern usage, the words "gramophone" and "phonograph" are both sometimes used to describe a gramophone or a gramophone record.

The phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison in 1877, and its major disadvantage was that, as well as the reproduction being poor, each cylinder lasted for only one play.

The graphophone was an improved version of the phonograph and went more... into commercial production in about 1885. Invented at the Volta Laboratory established by Alexander Graham Bell, it used wax cylinders which lasted for multiple plays. However each cylinder had to be recorded separately, preventing mass reproduction, and also resulting in differences in sound between each.

In 1887, Emile Berliner, a German born American inventor working in Washington patented a successful system of sound recording on a disk, where the sound information was etched into the surface. The disk or record was rotated on a turntable and a needle in the arm of the gramophone read the information in the grooves and transferred the sound to the speaker. The first records were made of glass, later zinc, and then plastic.

Berliner sold the licensing rights to his patent for the gramophone and method of making records to the Victor Talking Machine Company, founded by the engineer who assisted Berliner to develop the turntable and mechanism.

The use of the trademark of the dog listening the gramophone ("His Master's Voice") helped make it a successful product in the United States, and although the company was not called by that name, their records were marketed under the His Master's Voice" label.

Berliner founded the Berliner Gram-o-phone Company in Montreal, Canada, the Deutsche Grammophon in Germany, and the U.K based Gramophone Co., Ltd. less...