Rather basic brown wax cylinder question

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Phototone
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Rather basic brown wax cylinder question

Post by Phototone »

Are all brown wax commercially released cylinder records either original recordings ( banks of machines) or pantograph duplicates, or were some late brown wax mounded? By the same token, are all black wax cylinders moulded?

52089
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Re: Rather basic brown wax cylinder question

Post by 52089 »

I'm pretty sure that with Edison cylinders, it's either/or. That is to say, brown wax was never molded and black wax was always molded. I would happily stand corrected by anyone with more info.

On the Columbia side the wax formulation for molded cylinders seems to be a sort of brown/black wax hybrid. It's sturdier than "regular" brown wax, but not as wear-resistant as Edison-style black wax. Experienced collectors usually recommend playing Columbia molded wax cylinders with a "floating" reproducer, or for Edison machines, a Model B or Automatic reproducer.

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rgordon939
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Re: Rather basic brown wax cylinder question

Post by rgordon939 »

Edison stopped production of brown wax cylinders in 1902. Early cylinders were direct recordings while later ones were produced by the pantographic duplication process. Columbia continued to produce brown wax cylinders until 1904. Thier late brown wax cylinders were produced with the moulded process. These cylinders have the titles in the dead wax at the end of the playing surface. Brown wax cylinders continued to be produced up until 1906 by small companies around the world. All black wax cylinders are moulded as far as I know.

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edisonphonoworks
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Re: Rather basic brown wax cylinder question

Post by edisonphonoworks »

I will say that MOST brown wax, with spiral cores, were cut records. Some are direct, live recordings, some are pant-o-graphed, some tube copies. Edison was experimenting with moulded records right from 1888, For in house use Edison had the process working by 1898, and regularly making sub masters by the Edison gold moulded method, however not commercially until 1902. It is not to say, that some of those moulded sub masters might have been sold with regular commercial cut brown wax. And even more odd, 1889, you had the option of 200 threads per inch, however it does not seem any of those records have survived, it was offered though, see below from the Inspectors of the Phonograph handbook, published in 1889. Also this inspectors book, caused me to look at microscope cover slips for recording diaphragms, it even mentions this, on this page that they ARE exactly that! The early recording industry relied on Carl Zeiss brand specifically 33mm, round microscope cover slips.
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Proof that four minute cylinders were possible in 1889, from the Inspectors handbook of the phonograph, by The Edison Phonograph works.
Proof that four minute cylinders were possible in 1889, from the Inspectors handbook of the phonograph, by The Edison Phonograph works.

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WDC
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Re: Rather basic brown wax cylinder question

Post by WDC »

When looking for an overview of US-American brown wax cylinders, Glenn Sage's website is still the very best and most informative source: http://www.tinfoil.com/trc-do.htm#date


I do have a commercially pre-recorded 4-minute brown wax cylinder from around 1895-97. These were issued in England for the early Edison-Bell phonograph which would only run at 200 tpi to prevent users from importing US pre-recorded cylinders. A few years later, of course, they also switched to 100 tpi for obvious quality reasons.

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