phonogfp wrote:Uncle Vanya wrote:
Somewhere in storage I have a Half Cabinet machine, either. C200 or a W19, I cannot recall, which has the drawer fitted with I individual Silicate dividers. What's the scoop on that?
I can only guess that it would date from the same period when the C 19 was equipped with a similar arrangement in its drawers. Hopefully Fran will chime in here with more information.
George P.
George, I think you've hit the nail on the head. It appears that TAE, Inc. had planned to discontinue the drawer record storage systems across the entirety of the Diamond Disc Phonograph models, in favor of the obviously less costly vertical individual record divider storage system. As was typical with the company, they would've used the older inventory of drawers until the supply was exhausted, so we observe the drawers outfitted with a "transitional" system utilizing the silicate dividers installed into the drawers preceding a vertical shelf system.
ALL C 250s that I have observed -- and believe to have all the original features remaining intact -- are found
only with the 5-compartment drawers. The C 19, however, utilized all 4 types of record storage observed, changing as the model progressed.
The C 250 was transitioned into the C 19 in the spring of 1919, and the C 19 is found with this feature installed into their drawers, apparently for only a few thousand units (I've observed them used throughout serial numbers 75,144 - 79,304: approximately Mid-March through Mid-May, 1919). It can only make sense that other models would have also been affected beginning around this time period, and proceeded until the old inventories were depleted.
Unfortunately, this usage of vertical dividers was a poor choice in regard to the storage of Re-Creations with paper labels affixed, as the labels could/can be damaged or completely torn off from contact with the glued edges of the applied silicate material of the dividers becoming detached from their heavy paperboard substrate.
Best,
Fran