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Emile Berliner Facts & Worksheets

Emile Berliner, originally Emil Berliner, was a famous German-American inventor.

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Emile Berliner, originally Emil Berliner, was a famous German-American inventor. He is best known for his invention of the vertical-cut flat disc record called a “gramophone record”.

See the fact file below for more information on the Emile Berliner or alternatively, you can download our 22-page Emile Berliner worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND CHILDHOOD

  • Emile Berliner was born in Hanover, Germany, on May 20, 1851.
  • His father, Samuel Berliner, was a merchant, and his mother, Sarah Fridman Berliner, was an amateur musician.
  • He finished an apprenticeship to become a merchant, which was a family tradition.
  • While his real hobby was inventing, he worked as an accountant to help support the large Berliner family.
  • Berliner migrated to the United States of America in 1870 and settled in Washington, D.C., initially working as a store clerk.
  • He later moved to New York, and while living off of temporary work like paper routes and cleaning bottles, he educated himself in physics with evening classes at the Cooper Union Institute.

WORK ON THE TELEPHONE AND THE MICROPHONE

  • Berliner was fascinated by the newly invented telephone by Alexander Graham Bell.
  • He built his own version of an improved telephone transmitter, which he called “loose-contact” (one of the first type of microphones).
  • He later sold his invention to The Bell Telephone Company and received a job there as a research assistant working on telephone improvements in New York and later in Boston in the 1880s.
  • In 1881, Berliner became an American citizen while working in Boston.
  • In the same year, Berliner married Cora Adler. Together, they had six children – Edgar, Herbert, Henry, Louise, Hannah, and Alice.
  • In 1884, he decided to establish himself as a private researcher and inventor. He resigned from his job and returned to Washington, D.C., to begin working on more developments for the telephone.
  • In 1886, his interest switched to mechanical recording and reproduction of sound.
  • In 1887, he patented what he called the “gramophone”. Berliner’s innovation used a flat phonograph disc (record) across which a stylus moved horizontally. It improved the quality of sound compared to the vertical stylus movement used in Edison cylinders.
  • The sound volume became louder due to the hard plastic records it used. In addition to that, the gramophone recordings captured more of the original sounds. Overall, the gramophone was a vast improvement compared to existing devices.
  • Berliner worked on improving his gramophone and records, and in the mid-1890’s, he had built several gramophone companies to manufacture and distribute his gramophones and records. The gramophone was an on-the-spot success.

THE HELICOPTER AND LIGHTWEIGHT INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

  • Berliner grew further interested in aeronautics. In 1908, he designed a lightweight 6-hp rotary internal combustion engine fit to power an airplane. He established the Gyro Motor Company in 1909, which manufactured rotary engines for the aviation industry.
  • His son, Henry Berliner, designed a helicopter under his general supervision that flew successfully in 1919.

FLOOR COVERING

  • As early as 1883, while being a worker in a telephone company, Berliner obtained Patent 284,268 for a new type of floor covering which he termed Parquet Carpet. From time to time, he would go back to this work, and he obtained Patents 621,316 in 1899 and 656,162 in 1900.

ACOUSTIC TILE

  • Emile Berliner invented an acoustic tile in 1925 for use in auditoriums and concert halls.
  • He invented these tiles to address the poor acoustics of many halls, theaters, churches, and synagogues.

OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND DEATH

  • Berliner, who inherited a great fondness for music from his mother, also tried his hand at composing. In 1897, in honor of the nation’s capital, the District of Columbia, he wrote a song entitled “Columbian Anthem”.
  • Berliner wrote a book entitled Conclusions in 1899 that spoke of his agnostic ideas on religion and philosophy.
  • In 1897, Berliner was awarded the Franklin Institute’s John Scott Medal, and he later received the Elliott Cresson Medal in 1913 and the Franklin Medal in 1929.
  • On August 3, 1929, at the age of 78, Emile Berliner died of a heart attack. He is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Because of his innovations and inventions, he left precious legacies in communications, acoustics, and aeronautics to America and to the rest of the world.

Emile Berliner Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Emile Berliner across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Emile Berliner worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Emile Berliner, originally Emil Berliner, who was a famous German-American inventor. He is best known for his invention of the vertical-cut flat disc record called a “gramophone record”.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Emile Berliner Facts
  • Berliner Quick Facts
  • Berliner Biography
  • Inventions
  • The Who?
  • Gramophone vs Phonograph
  • Gramophone Update
  • Berliner Timeline
  • Social Cause
  • Conclusions
  • My Favorite

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