Watchtower phonograph

[johnwilla]

Greetings, I just bought a suitcase portable on ebay that I later learned was a Watchtower phonograph. Never heard of these before, and the idea is very interesting. I find some postings on the listserv, I'd be glad to hear from anybody who knows a bit about these machines and their manufacture, how long they were used, etc... This isn't the vertical play machine, just an ordinary portable and it is missing the needle cup and the serial number label has been half torn off. I see that there are some of the records available on ebay. I'd be glad of any information.
Thanks in advance--

[Oceangoer1]

I'm pretty sure these were used by Jehovah's Witnesses. They are pretty sought after today (they go for very high prices on Ebay). I am not sure what they were used for exactly, maybe to listen to gospel music or to play sermons in order to promote their religion. The construction of these machines is similar to the mass produced economy portables of the 1930's and 1940's, so I'm assuming this is when they were made. They look to be slightly more high quality than the cheap Birch portable phonographs of the time, but they all share the same reproducer design.

[Jerry B.]

The act of spreading the Gospel by talking to strangers or "witnessing" is very important to the Jehovah Witness faith. It is a measure of their commitment to their faith. I believe the first Watchtower machines were the traditional portable type. A member would place an appropriate record on the machine, knock on a prospect's door and hope to convert an unchurched person. Not everyone appreciated the intrusion especially at their home. It was not uncommon for the resident to come out and show his discontent by stomping on the talking machine. The slightly later Watchtower machine, called by collectors as a "vertical" machine, had a neck strap was held against the chest and played. This took the machine out of stomping range. Jerry Blais

[EarlH]

When I was a kid I can remember them coming over to the house with one of those things, I had an Edison by then and knew right away what it was. They showed my Mom filmstrips on the TV screen with that phonograph for the information about whatever apocalyptic message they were giving in those days. After they met my Dad, they never came back. Ha!

[johnwilla]

Thanks, one and all. I understand that the watchtower phonographs were intended for records made by a Judge Rutherford, who was an important Watchtower leader. It was just as has been suggested; a witness would say, 'I have an important message for you' or something similar, start the phonograph, and place the reproducer on the groove. I have seen pictures of the vertical phonograph; it seems to have a large flat diaphragm and a stylus on an arm which plays across the surface of the record, so one could hold it upright against ones chest and avoid anyone stomping it... mine is a conventional suitcase portable without such a reproducer.
There are a couple of watchtower records available on ebay, and I am debating whether or not to buy one just to have the 'correct' artifact to go with the phonograph. The machine itself is sturdy, but the motor seems weak--it couldn't make it through a 10-inch record without a rewind, and the sermon records all seem to be 12-inchers. Probably had been used a lot in its earlier career.

[djoutrage]

as a jehovah's witness myself I can tell you that these machines were imported to the uk and used here along with the records,to give doorstep messages. We also had street cars with the phonographs on which wereprobably very unpopular with passers by! I heard one record which I think was called religion is a snare and a rackit!the good old days :p
there's a chancethat these machines are hard to find because they are still kept!I know at least 2families in yorkshire who have one complete with records,and have heard of many more. There aresome extracts in the anual general meeting last year which can be viewed online, I'll see if I can save you guys watching all that religious programming to get there though!

[bigshot]

Is it true that there were only 144,000 of these made?

(just a little JW humor)

[edisonplayer]

I have a vertical play JW machine.edisonplayer

[tinovanderzwan]

there where different models of phonographs made by the watch tower bible & tract society
here are the pics i saved from ebay and other auction or related sites over the years to save them for prosperity

watch tower bible & tract society portable black 1.JPG (35.62 KiB) Viewed 4461 times

watch tower bible & tract society portable black 4.JPG (28.56 KiB) Viewed 4461 times

a rather normal looking portable from maybe the mid 30s

watch tower bible & tract society portable black w tone arm 1.jpg (34.88 KiB) Viewed 4461 times

a portable again still with tonearm very reminiscent of the us army portables so maybe 1940s

the final product with a sliding conus ''the vertical''(for lateral not vertical cut discs its just plays when held in vertical possition) 1940s-50s?

watch tower p-230.jpg (58.8 KiB) Viewed 4461 times

one of the records

watch tower bible & tract society medium tone sample pack 1.jpg (47.25 KiB) Viewed 4461 times

a sample pack of needles i imagine there must have been tins as well

the portables came in a range of quite boring shades of brown, green, blue and grey (nothing fancy like bright red or sky blue)



tino

[johnwilla]

Thanks for the helpful comments. My machine is like the brown one with the hold down spring, but it is lacking the lidded needle cup. As I noted earlier, the motor spring seems weak. When I looked on ebay there were a couple listed with widely diverging prices. Was the version with horizontal diaphragm a late version? I heard the information about the players being held vertically against the Witness's chest so irate listeners couldn't stomp on the phonograph. I like examples of this technology being used for religious purposes, or for self help, language learning and education, etc. Kind of like laptops in their day, yes?