Charles Sumner Tainter (April 25, 1854 – April 20, 1940) was an American scientific instrument maker, engineer and inventor, best known for his collaborations with Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, Alexander's father-in-law Gardiner Hubbard, and for his significant improvements to Thomas Edison's phonograph, resulting in the Graphophone, one version of which was the first Dictaphone.

During this time, Tainter worked with the Bells on several inventions, amongst them the photophone and phonograph, which they developed into the Graphophone, a substantial improvement of Edison's earlier device, for which Tainter received several patents along with the Bells.

Further reading

  • Frow, George L. & Sefl, Albert F. "The Edison Cylinder Phonographs 1877 – 1929", Kent, Great Britain: Flo-Print, 1978.
  • Juttlemann, Herbert. "Phonographen und Grammaphone", Braunschweig, Germany: Klinkhardt and Biermann, 1979.
  • Marty, Daniel. "The Illustrated History of Phonographs", translation by Douglas Tubbs, VILO Inc., New York,1981.
  • Proudfoot, Christopher. "Collecting Phonographs and Gramaphones", Christie's International Collectors Series, Mayflower Books, New York, 1980.
  • The National Phonograph Company. "The Phonograph and How to Use It", Allen Koenigsberg, New York,1971 (c. 1900).
  • Charles Tainter and the Graphophone
  • Plaque in Washington D.C. marking the successful Bell/Tainter photophone experiment