World Record Company records

[chunnybh]

Excuse me if this has already been posted.
I recall seeing somewhere a list of "World Record Company" records for use with the World Record Controller. I can't seem to find the page anymore. Does anyone also have any pictures of the records. Thanks

[Inigo]

I'm sure these are treated somewhere in the forum, have you tried to search herein?
OTOH just days ago, in a thread about unusual records, someone mentioned them : gramophoneshane in this post viewtopic.php?p=294714#p294714
But there may be others, as I've seen herein photos of the labels and of the world record controller.

[Orchorsol]

Excuse me if this has already been posted.
I recall seeing somewhere a list of "World Record Company" records for use with the World Record Controller. I can't seem to find the page anymore. Does anyone also have any pictures of the records. Thanks

Here's the page on Michael Thomas's invaluable website: http://www.mgthomas.co.uk/Records/LabelPages/World.htm The image top right enlarges when clicked. I have several of these records, all with that label design.

[gramophoneshane]

Yes, I have one. I'll just have to find it first.
I know it's stored in a 12" album, but I've got literally dozens of them with nothing written on the spin to go through.
But give me a day or two and I'll find it.
I wanted to anyway since I mentioned them in the other thread, to check what speed it is- either A, B, C or D, and the title.

I do have a copy of "World Records, Vocalion W, Fetherflex and Penny Phono Recordings, a list by Frank Andrews, Arthur Badrock and Edward S Walker",
Published by AbbeyPrint Ltd, Lincolnshire, which is well worth getting if you can find one, as it has a lot of additional information about the inventor, the company, pricing, label pictures etc.

[Inigo]

I wonder what the speeds ABCD are when compared to a standard 78.
The linear speed at the edge of a12" 78 is 49"/s, and at the edge of the label (I'm assuming 4" diameter for the last groove) may be down to 17"/s, so average speed is 33"/s.
Assuming a78 is recorded at 100 tpi, this 825' run will last 5 minutes.
At 33rpm the linear speed will be near 14"/s, same size.
So at 14"/s the record would last 12 minutes, same tpi or groove separation.
If the World records claim to last from 10 to 100 minutes, it means an average speed equivalent to 33rpm (10 min) to 3.3 rpm (100 min)!
Increasing the tpi to 250, a really thin groove (Edison LPs had 450 tpi) for a standard needle, and decreasing the linear speed to that of the inner grooves of a 16 rpm LP, which is 3.3"/s, it is a run 2100' long; at that slow speed it would last 127 min. So that must be the trick to reach 100 minutes on one side of a12".
Did the World records need a special needle?
250 tpi is a 4 mil space between adjacent grooves, so the width of a groove has to be kind of 1.5 mil, one third of the distance. This is very thin.
A modern 33 LP has a run of 1400' in 20 min, at that average speed of 14"/s. The grooves must be recorded at 165 tpi, with a width of 2 mil or so...

[chunnybh]

Thank you everyone for the info. Very helpful indeed.

Thank you Inigo for the breakdown and explanation. On that note, I just bought a modern newly released vinyl LP in two different formats.

• A double album with 12 tracks playing at 33.⅓ RPM. The tracks stretch from the outside edge to the label.

• A 5 LP box set with the same 12 tracks. These playing at 45 RPM like most normal 12" EP's BUT unlike normal EP's where the track stretches from the edge to the label, this box set is recorded only on the outside edge, so that then there is a long trail off groove to the label. I assume the thinking is that there is less tracking error at the outside edge. The sound quality of the box set is far superior.

BTW here is a 1922 brochure of the World Record Controller from the fabulous GRAMPHOGRAM site. Scroll down to #30
https://www.graphonogram.com/index.php?menu=4&page=2

[gramophoneshane]

BTW here is a 1922 brochure of the World Record Controller from the fabulous GRAMPHOGRAM site. Scroll down to #30
https://www.graphonogram.com/index.php?menu=4&page=2

That's fantastic. Thanks so much for posting the link.

[Inigo]

Thanks for sharing this good and curious piece of gramophonic history! I've enjoyed a lot reading it!