The original design of the gramophone with violin as a sound amplifier, "Le Palmodian - Le violon qui chante", was invented and patented in 1903 by the violinist craftsman Herbert Reginald Payne and engineer Thomas Broadbent, patent No 3723 (Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Great Britain).
Another device called "Le Palmodian"; patented by Henry Buffet in 1912 (Condé-sur-Noireau, France) exists. Henry Olympe Buffet (1869-1956), composer, artist, and music teacher designed and patented a device for reproducing sound through a diffuser, which he named "Le Palmodian» that greatly improved the quality of gramophone sound.
Gramophone with a sound amplifier in the form of violin instead of traditional horn is mounted in wooden case, with a nameplate and a snap-button on the top panel. Covered with red cloth disc with green cloth with spring drive and a crank winding the spring, speed control lever with scale with divisions, brake lever for stopping the disk, swivel bracket with a violin fixed on it, and support bracket for fixing the violin in non-operating position are on the top panel.
A violin playing the role of a sound amplifier by contrast with standard instrument with figured apertures has two resonator oval apertures located on both sides of the string stand. The gramophone needle is installed in the cantilever in the form of a stirrup on the bottom deck of the violin, which is a kind of "diaphragm". After putting a record on the disc, winding the spring and activating the mechanism, the needle moves along the sound groove, transmits mechanical vibrations to the violin bottom deck, which is amplified by its body.
Music media: gramophone record.