Post by lyneisfilm on Sept 9, 2021 20:08:06 GMT -5
On July 11 after finishing a repair on my 1972 Dual Turntable, I opened up some boxes with the pieces of an Edison Cylinder machine. Years ago my father-in-law had left it with us, say I was the only family member that might get it running. Today, it is mechanically restored and sounds remarkable for something purchased in 1915 for $29.95. I had never seen on of these close up and it took a while to recognize the good, the bad and the ugly of this "gift." The spring motor only had a one inch fragment of the spring. The governor was gone with one weight from some other type of governor in the box. The on off brake lever was gone along with a chassis spring. There was some rust on some parts, black goop coating most parts and a questionable reproducer. To make an initial assessment, I installed a 12 V DC motor which runs at about 200 rpm and bought a rubber belt. Purist would have been horrified no doubt. I tested it on three of the thirteen ambersol cylinders that arrived with the Fireside Phonograph and the audio was barely intelligible. It frequently had an echo occurring about 360 ms after the initial sound, which is consistent with sampling one groove twice. So the reproducer traveled to New York and Wyatt Markus found the diamond B needle in good condition but the pivot providing lateral movement of the needle was frozen. He fixed that and rebuilt the diaphragm of the reproducer and now that works great. Then I sent the motor spring housing to George Vollema in Michigan along with an order for a governor, on off brake, a knurled know, isolation spring etc. It arrived about a week ago and those parts all worked well. We have a full size Edison Standard flower horn and I built a horn crane for it. The Fireside has a slot for a small crane, but I added some extensions the the front to keep it from tipping forward under the weight of the large bell.
iOn July 11 after finishing a repair on my 1972 Dual Turntable, I opened up some boxes with the pieces of an Edison Cylinder machine. Years ago my father-in-law had left it with us, say I was the only family member that might get it running. Today, it is mechanically restored and sound remarkable for something purchased in 1915 for $29.95. I had never seen on of these close up and it took a while to recognize the good, the bad and the ugly of this "gift." The spring motor only had a one inch fragment of the spring. The governor was gone with one weight from some other type of governor in the box. The on off brake lever was gone along with a chassis spring. There was some rust on some parts, black goop coating most parts and a questionable reproducer. To make an initial assessment, I installed a 12 V DC motor which runs at about 200 rpm and bought a rubber belt. Purist would have been horrified no doubt. I tested it on three of the thirteen ambersol cylinders that arrived with the Fireside Phonograph and the audio was barely intelligible. It frequently had an echo occurring about 360 ms after the initial sound, which is consistent with sampling one groove twice. So the reproducer traveled to New York and Wyatt Markus found the diamond B needle in good condition but the pivot providing lateral movement of the needle was frozen. He fixed that and rebuilt the diaphragm of the reproducer and now that works great. Then I sent the motor spring housing to George Vollema in Michigan along with an order for a governor, on off brake, a knurled know, isolation spring etc. It arrived about a week ago and those parts all worked well. We have a full size Edison Standard flower horn and I built a horn crane for it. The Fireside has a slot for a small crane, but I added some extensions the the front to keep it from tipping forward under the weight of the large bell.
Here is a recording showing how it looks and sounds now. vimeo.com/601451998
So it is mechanically restored. Should I do some cosmetic work or leave it as is?
