Seymour reproducer and recorder

[Lucius1958]

He has been credited with creating quite a sophisticated cylinder copying machine and of all things a "Seymour Death Ray machine".

This must have been his reception at the patent office...
http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Rash/misc/addams.htm

Bill

[chunnybh]

Hello Scott, Hope you don't mind me uploading the picture of your reproducer.
I would suggest you restore it using various diaphragms and see which sounds the best. I'm sure even mica would sound great on it. Obviously keep the original diaphragm. Some of Seymour's diaphragms seem to be laminated celluloid. Film strips might work.
Best of luck with it. A fine piece indeed.

[phonohound]

Hi Chunny

No, i dont mind at all. I am still on the fence about restoring it, but i dont know of anyone yet who has the celluoid you refer to. It would be nice to hear it work.

Scott

[Phonoboy]

I've been making rice paper and resin diaphragms. They may have similar properties.

[chunnybh]

I made up a few diaphragms using celluloid film and also old negatives. I laminated two sheets using hide glue, which is probably what was originally used. Celluloid is really easy to work with, so it was relatively easy cutting out a circle once they were laminated. I also used acetone to laminate two sheets and this worked really well with the best sound results. I haven't found anyone selling different thicknesses of celluloid. That would be handy.
Looking at all the various materials used in diaphragms, it really is a try anything that works. I've even used plastic yogurt carton lids with surprisingly good results.

[phonohound]

Thanks for the suggestions. Do any of you have pics of these diaphragms? I have no idea of the thickness as I never too my reproducer apart. The diaphragm is now rigid and will not bend.

[chunnybh]

Here are a few pictures of my Seymour reproducer. The original diaphragm is made from a very brittle black material. Not celluloid as in some others. The additional weight is very interesting. The only other picture of one I have seen has just been posted under the French Ideal phonograph.

[edisonphonoworks]

Here are a few pictures of my Seymour reproducer. The original diaphragm is made from a very brittle black material. Not celluloid as in some others. The additional weight is very interesting. The only other picture of one I have seen has just been posted under the French Ideal phonograph.

This is the carbon diaphragm. It was probably as brittle as glass. Glass would be a good replacement (With the exception of the Phonoboy diaphragm, Which I hope to have a few review videos up soon, A very fine playback diaphragm.) I prefer glass diaphragms to copper or mica. I even tried glass in a model C with much better results than mica or copper. It looks like the gasket material was very soft so a replacement would be the white rubber Exhibiton gasket material (not the white plastic gasket material that is too stiff.)

[edisonphonoworks]

It would be interesting though to reproduce the kind of diaphragm he had in it, I can see the idea he had is similar to how I like to set up reproducers, that is a piston type affair, we have a very soft gasket on the edge and a stiff, light diaphragm, that is very rigid. I wonder if it was produced similar to how Edison made carbonized filaments? A modern replacement would be made of carbon fiber. Originally, it was most likely a kind of thin Bristol board material, put in a carbonizing furnace and baked until the Bristol board was replaced with carbon? When reproducing this, the thickness is important so keep the shards, and measure the thickness, if you replace it with glass, then the glass should be the same thickness, is it 33mm across the diaphragm? If you can find then original diaphragm glass, that would be the best replacement, or you can order 33mm microscope cover slips, they vary in thickness, so measure them and find one the same as the diaphragm. Shellac looks like it was used to stick the dome on the center of the diaphragm, and probably the gasket to the body, stratina would work great too. To make the gasket, use white exhibition rubber (if they made black,soft rubber tubing then black rubber would work great to match the original), and carefully slit it on the inside, and then fill the inside of the gasket use either rubber cement or silicone gasket sealer and when it is just starting to firm up, roll it around the edge of the glass diaphragm. Rubber Cement is good because the excess that oozes out can be cleaned up with a cotton swabs dipped in acetone, and then a dry one to finish. You can make a cardboard jig, to place the diaphragm with gasket in, so it dries and the gasket joint not pop out.

[chunnybh]

Thanks Scott for the tips. I'll look out for some microscope slides. I have found some carbon fiber sheets that are 0.5 mm thick but they all have a woven texture. I'll keep looking.
I wonder what the 4 holes under the stylus dome do?.