F. B. Fenby

Who was F. B. Fenby?

Joseph Beverley Fenby was an inventor in St Johns, Worcester, England. who was granted a patent on January 13, 1863 for an unsuccessful device called the “Electro-Magnetic Phonograph”, making him the first to use the term "phonograph", even before Thomas Edison. His concept detailed a system that would record a sequence of keyboard strokes onto paper tape. Although no model or workable device was ever made, it is often seen as a link to the concept of punched paper for player piano rolls, as well as Herman Hollerith's punch card tabulator, a distant precursor to the modern computer. Fenby was well known in his home community because he was both the fire chief and mayor. The acclaimed scientist would die in 1881, after a laceration he suffered while machining a punch card became infected and he was not hospitalized soon enough.