Victrola redirects here. For other uses, see
Victrola (disambiguation) The Victor Talking Machine Company (
1901–
1929) was an
American corporation, the leading American producer of
phonographs and
phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time.The company was founded by
Eldridge R. Johnson, who had previously made phonographs to play
Emile Berliner's
Berliner Gramophone records. Some sources also claim Berliner as a co-founder; others say Berliner was never connected with the Victor company, though that may have been part of a ruse by Johnson to defeat the
Zonophone lawsuits that had put Berliner Gramophone out of business (in the U.S. but reestablished in Canada) and threatened Johnson's phonograph business. (Zonophone had used patent ruses to defeat Berliner, the inventor of disc records whose technology Zonophone had copied.) In any event, Victor ultimately acquired the remaining assets of Berliner Gramophone; it also acquired Zonophone after defeating it in court.
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