Automatic repro variation

[wtt11]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Very-early-Edis ... 4190234b91

This one has two position screws. Is that how it is when first being produced?

[rgordon939]

The sure looks like a Polyphone reproducer to me. The Polyphone reproducers have the two limit screws like the one you have in this picture. What is the serial number? Can you post a picture of the top?

Rich Gordon

[wtt11]

Thank you!

[wtt11]

#67478

[rgordon939]

I spoke to a few other experts about this reproducer. Both agree that it is not an original Polyphony reproducer but rather an Automatic that someone started modifying to look like a Polyphone reproducer but never finished. Its at $268 on eBay now but don't think it will go much higher because it has been altered and no longer original.

[wtt11]

Agree. But original weight has a cutout in the middle. Does it suggest that some one made a new weight as well

[rgordon939]

Here is what Steve Medved said about the reproducer.

Polyphone reproducers have two limit screws. There are two types of these. The early ones have three 0-110 holes tapped in the reproducer body, the two that Polyphone put there and the one that the Edison factory put there. The second or later style has only two of the 0-110 holes tapped because Polyphone was able to purchase the parts they needed from Edison and not whole reproducers that they reworked.

The reproducer you asked me about is a mystery. It would have to be a reproducer that someone was either making a reproduction Polyphone out of or one that Polyphone started to convert but never drilled the holes for the male or female alignment link.

The very first Polyphone has a black carriage, these are rare with only two known. They have the adjuster. The next style of carriage is the nickel plated one with the adjuster. All the Polyphone carriages with the adjuster use regular automatic reproducers. The first carriage without the adjuster uses the Polyphone with two limit screws and the male and female links. This is the most common carriage. The next style of carriage is the licensed one that Edison made, these are rare because they appeared in or around 1901. The Model C made the Polyphone obsolete.

[wtt11]

Thank you! very appreciate!