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Dual Tone "King of Phonograph", Manor, Pa

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:23 pm
by James
Last summer I acquired a DUAL TONE 'king of phonograph', manufactures at Manor, Pa. What's unusual is the tone arm. It have one base screwed on the motor board, then split into two barrel tone arm, the the two baerrels join back into one, and loop to the left to hold one reproducer. All the hardware could be brass and was gold plated. Unfortunately it have the wrong reproducer. I wonder what the reproducer look like. Any information is appreciated.

James

Here are pictures of the Dual Tone Phonograph.

Re: Dual Tone "King of Phonograph", Manor, Pa

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:56 am
by James
James wrote:Last summer I acquired a DUAL TONE 'king of phonograph', manufactures at Manor, Pa. What's unusual is the tone arm. It have one base screwed on the motor board, then split into two barrel tone arm, the the two baerrels join back into one, and loop to the left to hold one reproducer. All the hardware could be brass and was gold plated. Unfortunately it have the wrong reproducer. I wonder what the reproducer look like. Any information is appreciated.

James

Here are pictures of the Dual Tone Phonograph.
I hope I will get some comments and help with the reproducer now that I post the pictures.

Thanks,

James

Re: Dual Tone "King of Phonograph", Manor, Pa

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 3:53 pm
by alang
James, I'm sorry that you didn't get any reply to your earlier post.
The tonearm on your machine is really quite unusual, I cannot think of what the split and re-connected tubes are supposed to accomplish. Maybe a slight echo effect? Does it sound any different than other phonographs? Or maybe it was just an attempt to get around Victor patents? Lots of smaller companies tried "strange" setups in order to avoid litigation (mostly unsuccessfull).
I'm sorry, can't help you with the reproducer, I've never heard about this phonograph company before. It seems to have the regular Victrola type connector, so I guess any standard reproducer should work.
Andreas

Re: Dual Tone "King of Phonograph", Manor, Pa

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 5:09 pm
by OrthoFan
I was hoping the patent would provide a clue --

http://www.google.com/patents?id=iYY_AA ... &q&f=false

--but it just shows a sketch of a very generic looking sound box.

Base on what little there seems to be about this company, it was probably very short-lived.

An interesting concept, but I can't see any advantage over a conventional tone arm.

OF

Re: Dual Tone "King of Phonograph", Manor, Pa

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 12:42 am
by Lucius1958
Odd: the patent appears to specify a reproducer and horn (?) made largely of Bakelite. Can you confirm the presence of any such parts?

-Bill

Re: Dual Tone "King of Phonograph", Manor, Pa

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 3:04 am
by James
Lucius1958 wrote:Odd: the patent appears to specify a reproducer and horn (?) made largely of Bakelite. Can you confirm the presence of any such parts?

-Bill
I was surprised as mention in the patent that the horn was made largrly of Bakelite. The horn was made of wood. The reproducer which is missing could be brass or pot metal, I presumed.

James

Re: Dual Tone "King of Phonograph", Manor, Pa

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:55 am
by estott
It's a handsome machine, though putting the brass plate right on the front is odd for the 1920's. The way the tone arm divides is pointless but eye catching.

Re: Dual Tone "King of Phonograph", Manor, Pa

Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:58 pm
by bob27556
James,

Glad to hear of another DualTone owner! I have an original soundbox with the DualTone name and patent number on it (1392677). Look up the patent and it shouild show the sound box shape: a pentagon with clipped corners. I have photos and will post them when I can. Life is insanely busy at the moment. The motor is 'The Motor of Quality' which was used in many off brand machines. Ortho Fan, thanks for posting the patent on the tone arm. I've had no luck in finding any info on the company that made this machine.

I bid on this machine for it's gimmicky tone arm and and far as I'm concerned thats all it is: a gimmick. But the machine sounds surprisingly good! I attribute that to a mica diaphragm in excess of 2 inches in diameter; not the split arm. I really enjoy listening to this machine. The data plate is conventionally located at the rear of the motor board, not on the exterior

Very happy to share info and photos with you about this machine. Hopefully I can find some time this weekend to upload some photos.

Bob

Re: Dual Tone "King of Phonograph", Manor, Pa

Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:09 pm
by bob27556
Forgot something, I have not found any Bakelite on this machine at all.

Re: Dual Tone "King of Phonograph", Manor, Pa

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 5:40 pm
by James
Hi Bob,

I have a pentagon shape reproducer with a mica diaphragm of over two inches. The brand name engraved at the middle behind the diaphragm is Supreme. I wonder if the attachment similar to your Dual Tone reproducer? :|

Jim
bob27556 wrote:James,

Glad to hear of another DualTone owner! I have an original soundbox with the DualTone name and patent number on it (1392677). Look up the patent and it shouild show the sound box shape: a pentagon with clipped corners. I have photos and will post them when I can. Life is insanely busy at the moment. The motor is 'The Motor of Quality' which was used in many off brand machines. Ortho Fan, thanks for posting the patent on the tone arm. I've had no luck in finding any info on the company that made this machine.

I bid on this machine for it's gimmicky tone arm and and far as I'm concerned thats all it is: a gimmick. But the machine sounds surprisingly good! I attribute that to a mica diaphragm in excess of 2 inches in diameter; not the split arm. I really enjoy listening to this machine. The data plate is conventionally located at the rear of the motor board, not on the exterior

Very happy to share info and photos with you about this machine. Hopefully I can find some time this weekend to upload some photos.

Bob