re history question in article snap paj uk co gec mrc paul johnson writes i recall reading of a phonograph which used mechanical amplification compressed air was squirted out of a valve which was controlled by the pickup the result was noisy and distinctly lo fi but much louder than a conventional phonograph it tended to wear the disks out pretty quickly though this was the pathe you are thinking of although there were other imitators it didn t wear the disks any more than conventional acoustic designs but it did have a high noise level due to the continual hiss of escaping air there are a lot of them still operating and they are pretty ingenious there was a pneumatic amplifier designed by alexander graham bell as well but i don t know if it was ever constructed scott
