Featured Phonograph № 139 - Canadian Berliner Type A

Discussions on Talking Machines & Accessories
User avatar
Django
Victor IV
Posts: 1691
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2017 7:31 pm
Location: New Hampshire’s West Coast

Featured Phonograph № 139 - Canadian Berliner Type A

Post by Django »

Make: Canadian Berliner
Model: Type A
Serial No. 3516
Year(s) Made: ? - 1903
Original Cost: $15.00
Case Size: 4" tall, 10" wide by 10" deep
Turntable: 7" turntable
Sound-Box: Berliner Automatic Soundbox
Motor: spring, (1)
Horn Dimensions: 8.5" bell x 14" long
Reproduction Parts: crank, spring barrel, traveling arm, record hold down and main spring
Current Value: subjective and not for sale

Interesting Facts: This machine was a bit of a basket case. I had to produce a new spring barrel from grey iron. I made the traveling arm from a 100+ year old piece of quarter sawed Oak and I produced the traveling arm hardware from 1018 low carbon steel. The brake, traveling arm hardware, arm support, spring barrel and screws were plated locally. The brass bell horn was restored by John Duffy, (highly recommended). The all black horn was restored by me. The cabinet was cleaned and received a coat of shellac, (not stripped). The sound box was rebuild by me and acquired on this forum. Zwebie kindly donated the crank. I will add a picture of the motor next time I have the case open. This machine has been shown on the forum, but I wanted to add it to the archives as a featured phonograph. The elbow in the pictures is a reproduction, but it currently has an original.
Attachments
R3.JPG
R1.JPG
IMG_0422.JPG
8.jpg
IMG_0419.JPG
12.jpg
1.jpg
cb4.jpg
cb5.jpg
cccccc.jpg
cb2.jpg
cb1-A.jpg
cb1-A.jpg (167.04 KiB) Viewed 3642 times

User avatar
alang
VTLA
Posts: 3109
Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2010 9:36 am
Personal Text: TMF Moderator
Location: Delaware

Re: Featured Phonograph № 139 - Canadian Berliner Type A

Post by alang »

Great, two outstanding Featured Phonographs in one day! I remember when you shared pictures of the restoration, admire and envy your skills. Related to a question somewhere else on the forum earlier today, this is where restoration was done perfectly and definitely increased the value dramatically.

Andreas

User avatar
Django
Victor IV
Posts: 1691
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2017 7:31 pm
Location: New Hampshire’s West Coast

Re: Featured Phonograph № 139 - Canadian Berliner Type A

Post by Django »

alang wrote:Great, two outstanding Featured Phonographs in one day! I remember when you shared pictures of the restoration, admire and envy your skills. Related to a question somewhere else on the forum earlier today, this is where restoration was done perfectly and definitely increased the value dramatically.

Andreas
Thank you Andreas. It was a labor of love, and a fulfilling project. I am glad that I was able to get it back together.

tomb
Victor IV
Posts: 1381
Joined: Sat Oct 24, 2015 10:46 pm
Location: riverside calif

Re: Featured Phonograph № 139 - Canadian Berliner Type A

Post by tomb »

Does the rope propel the turn table like a spring?? How does it go manually?? Very nice restoration I wish I had a little of you patience and talent. Tom

User avatar
Django
Victor IV
Posts: 1691
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2017 7:31 pm
Location: New Hampshire’s West Coast

Re: Featured Phonograph № 139 - Canadian Berliner Type A

Post by Django »

tomb wrote:Does the rope propel the turn table like a spring?? How does it go manually?? Very nice restoration I wish I had a little of you patience and talent. Tom
At some time in the machines past, someone had cut into the spring barrel and fashioned a spool in place of the spring. It was quite clever and may have functioned until the governor failed. I don’t know if it was weight driven or if they just kept tension on the cord. It is now a fairly normal Canadian Berliner once again.

User avatar
phonogfp
Victor Monarch Special
Posts: 7384
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:08 pm
Personal Text: "If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will." - A. Lincoln
Location: New York's Finger Lakes

Re: Featured Phonograph № 139 - Canadian Berliner Type A

Post by phonogfp »

That little machine came a long way - congratulations!

George P.

User avatar
TinfoilPhono
Victor IV
Posts: 1925
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:48 pm
Location: SF Bay Area, Calif.

Re: Featured Phonograph № 139 - Canadian Berliner Type A

Post by TinfoilPhono »

Beautiful work. I'm very impressed. It looks amazing!

User avatar
gramophone-georg
Victor VI
Posts: 3984
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 11:55 pm
Personal Text: Northwest Of Normal
Location: Eugene/ Springfield Oregon USA

Re: Featured Phonograph № 139 - Canadian Berliner Type A

Post by gramophone-georg »

Django wrote:
alang wrote:Great, two outstanding Featured Phonographs in one day! I remember when you shared pictures of the restoration, admire and envy your skills. Related to a question somewhere else on the forum earlier today, this is where restoration was done perfectly and definitely increased the value dramatically.

Andreas
Thank you Andreas. It was a labor of love, and a fulfilling project. I am glad that I was able to get it back together.
You did very well. It's a true poster child for a correct restoration in my opinion.
"He who dies with the most shellac wins"- some nutty record geek

I got PTSD from Peter F's avatar

User avatar
fran604g
Victor VI
Posts: 3988
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2013 2:22 pm
Personal Text: I'm Feeling Cranky
Location: Hemlock, NY

Re: Featured Phonograph № 139 - Canadian Berliner Type A

Post by fran604g »

Thank you for sharing your restoration with us, you've done beautifully!

Best,
Fran
Francis; "i" for him, "e" for her
"Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while" - the unappreciative supervisor.

User avatar
Curt A
Victor Monarch Special
Posts: 6412
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2010 8:32 pm
Personal Text: Needle Tins are Addictive
Location: Belmont, North Carolina

Re: Featured Phonograph № 139 - Canadian Berliner Type A

Post by Curt A »

That is some great work... just the type of restoration anyone can appreciate.
"The phonograph† is not of any commercial value."
Thomas Alva Edison - Comment to his assistant, Samuel Insull.

"No one needs a Victrola XX, a Perfected Graphophone Type G, or whatever you call those noisy things."
My Wife

Post Reply