G.E.M.M., Spring 1998
Page 3
What would a mechanical music show be without some beautiful music boxes?
Seen here are both cylinder and disc style machines.
This common B-100 Diamond Disc machine is made special by the addition of the Long Play conversion kit. This allowed an existing Diamond Disc machine to play the short-lived long play (450 tpi!) records, which could play as much as 40 minutes of music per side.
Dealers found it easier to sell a new machine to interested customers than to upgrade their existing machines, a difficult process since the entire motor assembly had to be removed, and very fine adjustments had to be made to get everything to work properly.
Here you can see the added switch which allowed for the switching between "Long" play and the now-called "Short" (standard) discs.
The G.E.M.M show saw the first public demonstration of the ACT Cylinder Reproduction System, whose reproducer can be seen in place on the Standard's carrier eye over the Blue Amberol cylinder.
Seen with the ACT's co-creator Robert Lomas (right), Peter Dilge, noted Edison National Historic Site cylinder reproduction expert, Electrophone Cylinder Record recording engineer, and recording engineer for the "They Might Be Giants" cylinder recording, was duly impressed with the ACT's performance (and even ordered one!).
For a short time after the colorful decal appeared on the lid of the Home model "A", but before it became the brown and gold color we usually associate with the model "A", the colorful label appeared on the front of the case as seen here.
This fine example even drew the attention of a Nipper pillow!
[Previous page] [Back to Special Events Menu]