Small phonographs

Discussions on Talking Machines & Accessories
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drh
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Re: Small phonographs

Post by drh »

VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 10:55 am .... Intertique also has phonographs for sale if you get to feeling spendy; I've never bought one of theirs but some here have--and they always have some fascinating machines for a bit of window shopping (with sound samples, too.) ....
I hope I'm not telling tales out of school, but in (ongoing) efforts to buy a big Pathé machine from Intertique and get it from Ohio to Maryland (see my "transportation wanted" ad in the Yankee Trader), I've learned the unhappy news that Lynn Bilton, the long-time proprietor, has run into some bad health issues and has turned the operation over to his wife. As far as I know, it continues to be an active concern, but I think she has her hands pretty full at the moment.

But that's by no stretch of the imagination a "small phonograph." The closest thing I have to one is also a Pathé, a Model 0 (aka "Democratique"). It's my sole machine capable of playing salon sized cylinders, when fitted with the slip-on mandrel sleeve shown here, but it's not really practical--for one thing, it runs backwards.
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Pathe 0 no 2.jpg

Jerry B.
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Re: Small phonographs

Post by Jerry B. »

that's gotta be one of the strangest horns I've seen on any cylinder phono
Thanks, it's one of my creative Gourd-O-Horns that I made when we wintered for a couple of months in Arizona a couple of years ago. They are super lightweight and work great. Here's my favorite:

Jerry B.
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26176064-BF79-4559-B0F2-58F8AA1D04B7.jpeg

gunnarthefeisty
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Re: Small phonographs

Post by gunnarthefeisty »

that's gotta sound nice!

Pathe Logical
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Re: Small phonographs

Post by Pathe Logical »

Okay Jerry,

I'll bite --- What kind of records does your Phrog-O-Phone use, and where does the sound come out???

Dazed and confused,
Bob

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dzavracky
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Re: Small phonographs

Post by dzavracky »

Pathé Logical wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 2:26 pm Okay Jerry,

I'll bite --- What kind of records does your Phrog-O-Phone use, and where does the sound come out???

Dazed and confused,
Bob
I am also curious :? :lol:

David

VanEpsFan1914
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Re: Small phonographs

Post by VanEpsFan1914 »

The Phrog-O-Phone's mechanical ancestor is the infamous Goatophone Talking Machine, invented in 1904 by a Mr. Bezoar Stone of Woolsock County, Delaware. However, as a portable version, the Phrog-O-Phone has a small inflatable resonator under the chin of the frog much like the celluloid resonator of a Kameraphone box portable.

The Goatophone had the horn on top, achieving the rudimentary stereo effects of the Edison Polyphone as any self-respecting goat is equipped with two horns. Single-horn prototypes were attempted but remain a collector's unicorn to this day. The expiry of the Victor patent in 1912 led to the expiring of several goats consequent to the development of the Goatrola internal-horn model, which failed to catch on for unknown reasons. Though the sound was advertised as uncannily realistic, the Goatrola and Goatophone machines were known as uncanny most often for other reasons.

Surviving Goatophone Disc Records are single-sided efforts pressed on a noisy but otherwise unremarkable black shellac. Titles include:

"Sheep May Safely Graze," by Homer Rodeheaver,
"A One in a Million Shot, Doctor--Comic Monologue" (unnamed vocalist),
"Just a Twilight Rumination" by a Miss Elsie Borden on Stroh viol,
"Pastoral" Symphony No. 6 by Beethoven, condensed into a single side of a 10" record and played by a banjo orchestra,
"Uncle Josh In Lambing Season" by Cal Stewart,
"When the sheep are in the fold, Jennie dear" by Manuel Romain,
a presumably pirated copy of "My Uncle's Farm" by Golden & Hughes,
and an Ada Jones rendition of "Oh, You Kid."


The Goatrola was one of the few machines where adding an internal horn did not help sales at all, but though unpopular it still sold better than the Goatrola prototype where the crank exited what is now the internal horn location. Both the prototype and the production model retained the same dead dull stare.

Rams typically formed the base for Goatophone products, supplied as surplus from prototypes of the Dodge Brothers "Ram" light delivery currently under testing by Dodge Brothers motorcars as a side project as Horace & John Dodge were interested in ending their contract with Henry Ford by 1914. During WWI the Goatophone plant sent machines over, and, in the hands of the Canadian army, they ended the Christmas ceasefire when one of the Canadian troops sent an operational Goatrola across no-man's-land and into the German trenches. Immediately the shooting resumed.
Extant examples of Goatrolas and Goatophones have aftermarket Orthophonic-type reproducers as the original reproducers were removed in the late 1920s and sold for mass-marketed supplements to boost hair growth and general virility.

One of these machines, last owned by Ed & Lorraine Warren of Monroe, Connecticut, surfaced on eBay. Due to the service history of this Goatrola (note the wooden leg, needed after the Battle of the Somme) this Goatrola currently is the center of a hot custody dispute between the Smithsonian, the National WWI Museum, and the Walter Potter Memorial Society of Taxidermists.
Goat-o-phone 1.jpg
Goat-o-phone 1.jpg (36.72 KiB) Viewed 704 times
Goat-o-phone 2.jpg
Goat-o-phone 2.jpg (60.41 KiB) Viewed 704 times




(I had to see this & now so do you.)

Jerry B.
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Re: Small phonographs

Post by Jerry B. »

Dear Dazed and Confused,

Frogger made an appearance for the simple reason being I couldn't help myself. The basement is full of collections as well as "one off" interesting items. Frogger falls into that group. We were in Hawaii several years ago. One of the things we really enjoy is enjoying a book around the pool or at the beach. I needed a bookmark because folding a page corner is frowned upon. We were walking down a dirt road on the way to the beach and I noticed Frogger. He was perfectly flattened out and dry making him the solution to my bookmark issue. He moved from one book to the next and eventually returned to Oregon in a book. He was rewarded for his dedicated effort after several coats of lacquer both front and back sides to seal in his freshness and placed in a prominent spot in the basement. So stop for a visit when in Oregon and say hello to Frogger and enjoy the basement.

Jerry B. CEO of Gourd-O-Horns Inc.

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Fonotone
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Re: Small phonographs

Post by Fonotone »

VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 7:48 pm
The Goatophone had the horn on top, achieving the rudimentary stereo effects of the Edison Polyphone as any self-respecting goat is equipped with two horns. Single-horn prototypes were attempted but remain a collector's unicorn to this day. The expiry of the Victor patent in 1912 led to the expiring of several goats consequent to the development of the Goatrola internal-horn model, which failed to catch on for unknown reasons. Though the sound was advertised as uncannily realistic, the Goatrola and Goatophone machines were known as uncanny most often for other reasons....

(I had to see this & now so do you.)
Nice Goatophone. I was forced to sell mine 35 years ago when we moved into a subdivision that had livestock restrictions. I still miss it. I had the earlier version -- top wind, sans supplementary rubber resonator that doubles as a flea collar. Does yours bleat when the motor starts to run down?

-- Grant
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zonophpones7
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Re: Small phonographs

Post by zonophpones7 »

Here are a few small machines from my collection...
Edison drip pan gem
Edison drip pan gem
Edison Gem French cased style
Edison Gem French cased style
Fondane tin foil
Fondane tin foil
Lioret jemeau doll
Lioret jemeau doll
Lioret no 2 early model
Lioret no 2 early model
Lioret no 2
Lioret no 2
Columbia toy
Columbia toy

gramophone78
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Re: Small phonographs

Post by gramophone78 »

I will add a few also.....
Mikiphone.JPG
Gipsy Gramophone (15).JPG
Colibri Gramophone (5).JPG
1920's Polly Phonograph (4).JPG
1920's Peter Pan Gramophone.JPG

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