Antique Edison New Old Stock 2 Minute C Reproducer Carborundum Stylus

Description: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The circumstances of the introduction of the Edison Model C Phonographs The Model C Phonographs were the hurried outcome of the last major patent lawsuit involving the Edison Company, and which incidentally brought to an end Graphophone molestation of that Company. 'The New York Phonograph Company, chiefly through the efforts of its Secretary, J.L. Andem, a one-time Edison manager and frequent litigant against him, had tried to stop the National Phonograph Company (the Edison Company\ from selling phonograph products in the State of New York, where rights to the use of certain phonograph patents were claimed by the New York Company. The outcome was that at the beginning of 1908 the National Phonograph Company was held by Judge Hazel to be in Contempt of Court for violation of a Court Injunction, and fined $2500 with $1500 costs. Andem's company, having won the day, immediately threatened to sue every Edison trader within the State for all violations over the past two years. Clearly something had to be done right away, and Frank Dyer, the General Counsel of the National Phonograph Company, in a letter of 7th February 1908 recommended that in order to comply with the Court Order, there would have to be immediate changes in the eylinder moulding process and in the style of Model B Phonographs sold in New York State, so as to eliminate features that contravened the New York Phonograph Company patent claims. In fact these new Model C Phonographs, improved by removal of much of the clutter from the top mechanism were to become the pattern for most of the horn models that followed. Cylinders were no longer to be made by the vacuous gold deposit method, but by the graphite process which was apparently just as efficient, and this was made the opportunity to convert all cylinder making, the word "Gold-Moulded' to be deleted from Edison literature entirely. On the machines, Dyer's recommendations were in simplified form, that Model C Phonographs would have:- No shaving apparatus No sapphire material in either recorder or reproducer A single feed-nut instead of on the larger machines, twin nuts The feed-nut to be fixed to its arm by rivet, solder or brazing only A pin arrangement instead of the cam lift-lever on those machines not already so fitted. No end gate 'To the general public the Company gave its reasons for discarding the shaver as being due to the substitution of the centre bearing for that on the end gate, which could make for a less smooth finish to the cylinder; also it was stated that the removal of the end gate eliminated the source of damage to cylinders when being put on or taken off the mandrel. The first tried alternative for a sapphire stylus was glass, and instructions were issued on February 7th 1908 by the Edison Factory Superintendent, Peter Weber, to make styli from hard Jena glass. From April 4th he stipulated reproducers on phonographs for New York State to have the reproducer point made from carborundum. It is not at present known how many or even if any of these styli were actually marketed, because patent rights of the New York Phonograph Company were running out, and as it turned out, so were its funds, and the law caught up with Ander for forgery in connection with another phonograph company. The National Phonograph Company had this Court Order decision reversed in its favour on appeal in a case in April 1908 against Sol B. Davega, and phonograph trading in the State of New York, as well as everywhere else settled down eventually with the Model C range at machines. The proceedings against Davega, a New York City Jobber, were described as a 'test case' in the New York Tribune of March 17th 1907. The Company maintained secrecy over this new Model C Phonograph, as there was up to three months stock of Model B phonographs and spares, and concern was expressed lest Edison dealers outside the State of New York should start ordering the new models before the Model B machines had been cleared, in fact typical instructions to the Company's London Managing Director were that "should you instruct us to forward you samples of the different Model C machines, they should be kept in a room at Willesden under lock and key, in order to prevent any possibility of their being seen by any of your trade or our own people other than yourself." Looking back, it is hard to understand how the National Phonograph Company could have expected its New York agents to keep silence on the arrival of new Edison models, while everyone outside was still handling obsolescent stock. Could it have been the knowledge that transgressors would be put on the Company's Suspended List? (Appendix I is compiled from information kindly supplied by the Staff of the Edison National Historic Site, West Orange)

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Location: Middleville, New Jersey

End Time: 2024-12-04T18:03:43.000Z

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