The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Back in Nov I purchased a group of Suitcase Homes, cabinet wise they were all very nice. Mechanically all were good
and the mechanisms were in very good condition except for one. Of course, it was the most desirable one serial # H902,
someone decided to hand paint it. It has all the early equipment, weighted feed screw, brass governor weights, but it isn't a
skeleton style chassis
It was missing the reproducer adjusting screw, shaver, lift lever & cabinet index pins for the bed plate.

As found condition: The most unusual part of this machine is the motor/spring. Apparently the original spring wasn't big enough for the
original owner for some reason, maybe a custom repeater was installed or...
As you can see the gearbox assembly is stock and correct for this early Home but the spring looks like a real Rube
Goldberg assembly. The spring is about twice the size of an original and is close to being open as in early Columbia
phonos, except for the side plates to keep the spring straight and a method to anchor the spring to the motor.

It isn't a graceful mounting method just a heavy wire twited around the plate separator and anchored through two holes in the
bedplate. Another oddity, it winds backwards when you stand in front of the machine and the crank unwinds like early
Columbia machines.

The restored machine:
Early cover with the banner placed too high so handle wears it.
As you can see there are a couple of extra parts, first, two metal arms attached to the front edge of the cabinet, second is
the small bar with two holes that is screwed into the bottom of the carriage.

There are also holes in the rear and crank side of the cabinet, all old, that may have been used to attach some mechanism to the
machine.

Hey, I used to own that phonograph, Chuck. I picked the machine up at a radio auction about 15 years ago. I respectfully disagree with you about the most unusual aspect of it being the spring. In my opinion, it's the large brass roller bearing on the underside of the carriage casting. I've never seen that on any other Home, early or otherwise. Unlike the phonograph's other anomalies, however, I think the bearing might have been on it when it shipped from Orange in 1897. The phonograph was manufactured pretty early in the production run, when they were still tweaking things here and there. Take a close look at the bearing, and let me know what you think. Would also like to hear from George Paul or Roger Shingler, if either of them are reading this.

-- Grant

I believe that Grant is correct on the bearing being from the factory. I have H894 and often wondered what the mounting provisions on the carriage were for because prior to this thread, I had never seen the bearing. Attached are pics of H894 showing the mounting provisions. Now why they placed a bearing there is another good question to be answered......

Grant,

The bearing is factory for the early style carriage, I have H1311 and it also has the roller. The skeletal home (H775) you sold had the mounting hole but no roller.
No idea what that roller does for the operation of the carriage, the mounting shaft is an eccentric which allows you to adjust how much contact the roller makes on the
back shaft. Might have just been an overkill idea by the designer like the small roller on the early one that rode along the front straight edge. After production both ideas were deemed to be not needed and dropped.

H902, H775 & H894 were all June 1897 production
H1311 was August 1897
H1456 was November 1897

Chuck