The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Make: Edison
Model: W250 William & Mary Upright
Serial # SM 1582
Year(s) Made: September 1917 - April 1919*
Original Cost: Initially $250*
Case/Cabinet Size: H50 ⅜" x w20 ⅞" x D22 ⅜" *
Turntable/Mandrel: 12"
Reproducer/Sound-Box: Standard Disc reproducer (wired for Duncan stop)
Motor: Double Spring, (standard disc mechanism)
Horn Dimensions: No. 250
Reproduction Parts: none
Current Value:
Interesting Facts: Has the Duncan Automatic stop which dates this particular machine to pre-1918 I believe.*
* According to George Frow's excellent book

Favorite Characteristics: All metal parts except the bedplate but including the original reproducer and key have a somewhat unique finish, antique style but unlike the later antique (gun metal) finish.

A relatively available, inexpensive and great sounding diamond disc machine. I would be interested in others' opinions but to me this machine has a fuller sound than the C19 or other laboratory models, possibly because of the much larger grill area around the horn.

Bruce,

Beautiful Edison DD Phonograph!
The William & Mary uprights are very nice machines.
How does the Duncan Automatic Stop work?

Paal.

I have never heard a W-19 in person, but personally think that they are rather beautiful machines when/if they are found in good condition. I find it interesting that this particular machine has the Duncan Automatic Stop, from which I have been told, can be very, very finicky. Is that the case?

Great machine! I love how the W-19 looks, very distinct from the "usual Edison" look. ...and of course has the 250-sized horn. I even like the W-19 better than the C-19. Mine has the slots, not the drawer for the record storage.

Here is my YouTube video of my W-19 in action...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU96WLzC2rM

Paal,

I can't tell you in a very articulate way how the Duncan stop works but very simply there's a battery connnected which sits inside the phonograph. When the record ends, the limit pin moves to the center and closes a circuit shutting off the mechanism.

Garret, I've also heard that the Duncan is finicky but I've never actually used mine. The W250 also has the standard break mechanism, sort of an emergency stop which shuts the mechanism off in the standard mechanical fashion when the arm gets to s certain point in the center of the record, (later than the Duncan would have shut it off). I've got the old battery but I suppose it's been dead for 80+ years and I've never pursued replacing it.

Garrett, Phonophan79, mine is actually a W250, not a W19 which essentially means that it has a drawer instead of a door with vertical slots behind it and it's a bit older than the W19. I'll check your Youtube video tonight after children are down.

Thanks for the comments!

great machine. I've come across a few of those here and there, although I believe they were the later version, and yours by far is the nicest. I guess that phonograph made the transatlantic trip in that massive container you mentioned before?

brianu wrote:great machine. I've come across a few of those here and there, although I believe they were the later version, and yours by far is the nicest. I guess that phonograph made the transatlantic trip in that massive container you mentioned before?

Thanks for the comments Brianu. No this one did not make the container. It stayed in the US so probably I will not see her, play her, until Christmas when we take the family across the pond again.

Bruce,

A beautiful machine! I've always been fond of that cabinet design. Is there any sign of an original grille cloth?

Regards,
John

What a beautiful Edison! I've always liked that cabinet, with the box-type lid and it's a handsome presence in the corner of the room. You're lucky to have that version with the electric stop. I used to own a Chippendale 250 with the Duncan stop and can attest to it being touchy. I found out that the cabinet had to be LEVEL. Even then the darned thing would brake on some discs no matter what. Eventually I just unhooked the battery and used it as you do now, with the "emergency" or standard brake set-up.

Neophone wrote:Bruce,

A beautiful machine! I've always been fond of that cabinet design. Is there any sign of an original grille cloth?

Regards,
John

John,

No sign of the original cloth although it certainly would have had one. The silk must have been glued ever so lightly onto the back of the grill because on this model, as with the C19 and others, there's no molding to help hold it in. I have a c19 with original but tattered grillccloth, posted earlier as a featured phono, and an A250 with original but very tattered grillcloth but it is really rare to find an Edison machine with an original nice grillcloth. No doors to protect it like on the later machines.