Edison Home Model B With Rare Wilkeslyke Attachment

[FellowCollector]

It's been a couple of months since I've had any spare time to post a video on my YouTube channel but this morning my wife was away so I seized the opportunity to make a video.

For anyone interested, this is an Edison Home model B Phonograph from my collection that has the rarely seen patented Wilkeslyke (Wilkes-Lyke) Automatic Start and Stop Attachment from circa 1907 installed.

The Wilkeslyke Attachment is a very simple yet ingenious device that permits the Edison Home Phonograph owner (in this case a model B) to start and stop their phonograph by simply using the Edison Home’s originally equipped swing gate lock switch to automatically start and stop the motor.

A nickel plated spring loaded plunger through the top wooden frame engages a pivoting adjustable bar that controls a special brake lever near the friction disc that would provide the means to start and stop the motor. The elongated hole where the original manually operated start / stop lever protruded from the metal bedplate was covered by an attractive nickel plated plug!

The cylinder featured in the video is a “Favor”ite tune of mine by Edward M. Favor, “Take Me ‘Round In A Taxicab”, on a 2 minute Albany Indestructible cylinder sold by Columbia in their own attractive blue cylinder box. I recently purchased another large collection of Albany Indestructible cylinders and all of them had their original boxes and lids. Interestingly, all of the original lids were hand decorated with attractive ladies and gents in their period dress of those early days by the owner's grandfather who was an artist! They're lovely lids and I would never trade them for the original plain Albany Indestructible lids!

I hope that some of you will enjoy the video.

Doug

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzaXZNYG2So[/youtube]

[ambrola]

Thanks Doug. That is a very clean and wonderful Phonograph. I don't think I have ever seen that attachment before. Again, Thanks for showing it.

[FellowCollector]

Thanks for your gracious comments, Ronnie. I'm pleased that you enjoyed it.

Doug

[PeterF]

Really clever, quite interesting, and almost completely unnecessary! That's the best kind of phono gadget.

At first I read its name a bit hurriedly, and got excited that it was the even rarer Winsleydale Attachment, of which there are no known examples. It reputedly auto-translates cylinders into Russian, Cantonese, Cuban Spanish, or North Korean.

[FellowCollector]

Really clever, quite interesting, and almost completely unnecessary!

With few exceptions (ie. certain horns, auto-stops, volume controls), Talking Machine gadgets offered the contemporary customer little more than bragging rights. That said, this particular device does remove the need to use a separate on/off switch. As a side note, even most aftermarket cylinder reproducers that are aggressively sought and highly valued today (Bettini, Mobley, Polyphone Attachment, Max Wurker) were pretty much "fluff" and offer little if any noticeable acoustic improvement over the majority of original equipment cylinder reproducers...IMHO. Again, this is just my opinion. There's no doubt that these reproducers are indeed incredibly interesting and innovative designs but noticeable acoustic improvement? Not from my perspective.

Doug

[winsleydale]

Really clever, quite interesting, and almost completely unnecessary! That's the best kind of phono gadget.

At first I read its name a bit hurriedly, and got excited that it was the even rarer Winsleydale Attachment, of which there are no known examples. It reputedly auto-translates cylinders into Russian, Cantonese, Cuban Spanish, or North Korean.

As you wish, Peter. Here we have the only known extant example of the Winsleydale attachment for a Standard. Unfortunately, the auto-translate feature only translates to text - the audio version was cancelled before release, after it was discovered that Western spies could rig them to work backwards, providing an easy source of subversive propaganda within the USSR.

Though it looks like a modern cellphone attached with a C-clamp, it is definitely not. Looks can be deceiving.

[gramophone78]

Doug, Great thread of an unusual attachment. Thanks for taking the time to show us all. Hopefully, it will stay on topic... .