Pathé Records was an international record company and label and producer of phonographs, based in France, and active from the 1890s through the 1930s.
Early years
The Pathé record business was founded by brothers Charles and Émile Pathé, then owners of a successful bistro in Paris. In 1894, they began selling Edison and Columbia phonographs and accompanying cylinder records. Shortly thereafter, the brothers designed and sold their own phonographs. These incorporated elements of other brands. Soon after, they also started marketing pre-recorded cylinder records. By 1896 the Pathé brothers had offices and recording studios not only in Paris, but also in London, Milan, and St. Petersburg.
Pathé cylinders and discs
thumb|left|An early Pathé cylinder phonograph from 1898. The design closely mimics that of the [[Columbia Graphophone Company|Columbia "Eagle".]]
In 1894, the Pathé brothers started selling their own phonographs. The earliest Pathé offerings were phonograph cylinders. Pathé manufactured cylinder records until approximately 1914. In addition to standard size cylinder records (), Pathé produced several larger styles. The "Salon" records measured in diameter and the larger "Stentor" records measured in diameter. The "Le Céleste" records, the largest commercial cylinder records manufactured by any phonograph company, measured in diameter by long. the Pathé brothers entered the growing field of disc records. They needed to employ several unusual technologies as preventive measures against patent infringement. At first they sold single-sided discs with a recording in wax on top of a cement base. In October 1906 they started producing discs in the more usual manner with shellac. Although Pathé cylinder records were never popular outside France, their disc records had a quantifiable influence in Spanish musical realm, and sold successfully in many foreign countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Russia.
After 1927, the company started taking a more modern approach and commenced using the simple system of master and stamper discs that the rest of corporations were using. Finally, after 1929, the company dismantled their entire Master Cylinder archive and written proof of every selection recorded to finance the company after the crisis.
The vertically cut Pathé discs normally required a special Pathé phonograph equipped with a sapphire ball stylus. The advantage of the sapphire ball stylus was its permanence. There was no need to change a needle after every record side. Since most records and phonographs used a different playback method, various attachments were marketed that allowed one to equip a Pathé phonograph to play standard, laterally-cut records. Attachments were also sold to equip a standard phonograph to play Pathé records.