Hardly any time had passed after the phonograph had been invented until the question arose of the most appropriate material upon which to record sound for distribution to the market. That question has not been left unconsidered at any time from that day in 1877 to this. During that time, there have been some fairly well-defined periods. The first of these periods has to be the tinfoil period which lasted until about 1888, during which the principal activity was with the Edison exposition model of the tinfoil phonograph being shown at fairs and expositions. About 600 of these models were built. Some of them had a handy little drawer built into the base in which the tinfoil blanks were stored. Probably the most successful of these exposition models was that one exhibited and demonstrated at the Chicago Exposition. The tinfoil record revealed itself to be entirely unsatisfactory as a permanent medium. It is at this point that the story of the search for the right material and the right process for manufacturing records begins in this account.