The instrument wrote, so to speak, different hands under my voice and under Esmo's; and those who knew him could identify his phonogram, as my friends my manuscript.
"Across the Zodiac"
Percy Greg
Such a record or phonogram, as it was then called, could be removed from the machine or replaced at any time, many reproductions could be obtained without wearing out the record, and whenever desired the record could be shaved off by a turning-tool so as to present a fresh surface on which a new record could be formed, something like an ancient palimpsest.
"Edison, His Life and Inventions"
Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin
In the same caveat he describes an invention whereby the power to indent on a phonograph cylinder, instead of coming directly from the voice, is caused by power derived from the rotation or movement of the phonogram surface itself.
"Edison, His Life and Inventions"
Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin