Ragtime Rastus history

[Yamaphone]

Concerning the reproduction Phonograph toys that I make which have the "Uncle Sam" figure with the jointed legs; that is a version that I designed myself. As far as I know, that style was not originally made by the National Toy Company. The "Uncle Sam" figures that were originally made seem to all use solid cardboard legs. I always liked the action of the jointed leg figures.
Dan Z.
By the way, I usually have these for sale on eBay and Brian at The Phonograph Shop sells them as well, but have been out of them for a couple of months. Making more though- I cast 60 weights today in fact.

[DanP58]

I bought an Uncle Sam figure from you , it’s great . I’d love to see the reproduction US /Kaiser you built.
Dan

[AllenKoe]

In case anyone wishes to solve this riddle, I am posting the original (somewhat confusing) notice from the TMW, Feb 1920. The actual date may well be a little earlier, buried in a different ad or notice in a diff publication.

"Heretofore these [Rastus] toys were not used on Edison phonographs as they are hitched [=connected] on the table pin [spindle] which in the case of the Edison phonograph does not project [all the way] through the record. The National Co. has developed a rubber bottom center device to be set on the center of the record which overcomes this difficulty."

I have located what seems to be the "rubber template" but surely it can't be the whole shebang, selling for a quarter (25c). I have heard of another wooden interface which is not as deep (vert) and is wider (horiz). The usual wooden accessory is 1-1/16" wide and its height is 9/16". This was used for all other phonograph brands, exc Edison.

The other interface (presumably to be used with the thicker Edison recs on an Edison DD Phono), is just under 1-¾" wide, and ⅜" thick. Presumably it would be placed/centered on top of the rubber template shown here (3-⅛" long, about 1-⅝" wide) prior to attaching the basic mechanism.

RastusEdisonRubberTemplate1920.jpg (31.07 KiB) Viewed 192 times

Seems like a lot of trouble to me... so I am open to suggestions.

Allen

[Yamaphone]

Allen, I think you have discovered some important clues about the DD adapter. Possibly a weight (probably cast iron) with rather soft rubber glued to the bottom and located in the center of the record would work to drive the mechanism. I had, over the years, thought of something like this but always thought that it would fly off the record. Maybe they found that it doesn't have that tendency if reasonably centered on the record. I think I'll try to make one today (though circular in shape) and give it a try. Will report back with results.

[Yamaphone]

Here is an adapter I made to use dancing toys on the Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tjId9qY7oc

[AllenKoe]

very well done...

The original 25c device was made of wood and a little bit of metal. So I have a question, how much lighter could you make the interface, compared to cast-iron, and still have it operate as you wish?

No doubt there would have been additional figures from National but the founder of the Co died in 1922; I will add some details in the article as to what the last one (intended) was.

Thanks.

Allen

[Starkton]

In this context: What are the earliest known turning figurines, offered for this purpose, that were placed on the spindle of gramophones and rotated with the turntable (without additional mechanical function)?

[Yamaphone]

Allen,
I don't know at this point- would take a little experimenting with different shapes and weights. Maybe the wood versions had some lead cast into them for the weight. That would actually make them easier to make. I'm really happy with the results I got. Thanks, Allen, for the details you provided that inspired me to try this. I'll bet some people actually have found the DD adapters and didn't recognize them for what they were.
Dan