Weight Difference In Edisonic Reproducers

[wtt11]

Finally have a chance to clean up the two recently acquired Edisonic reproducers for fun. One on the right seems to have a weight factory modified from old standard reproducer parts. As shown in the pics for comparison, it has a wider center cutout which is usually found in early standard reproducers. It also has 'NS' stamped coexisting with 'A' indicting the body is not an exception...

[rgordon939]

Hi Chen,

The NS on the reproducer stands for New Style.

Rich Gordon

[FellowCollector]

The NS on the reproducer stands for New Style.

Hi Rich, NS actually referred to the "New Standard" reproducer introduced in March 1927.

Doug

[wtt11]

Hi Doug,

So do you know what does that A stand for in this particular case?
The entire strain of numbers from reproducer body reads: 'A 236331 NS' Plus, notice that additional letters 'G' and 'I' are stamped on its bottom round rim.

[winsleydale]

I believe that the A indicates that it was the first style of DD reproducer. Edison, if I remember correctly, offered a discount to those who brought in their older reproducers and traded them in for the Edisonics. It is my understanding that the Edison company then dismantled the old reproducers and put larger weights on them, and re-sold them as new Edisonics.

I could be wrong, but this is what I understand to be the case. So it would seem that your reproducer must have started life as an earlier type, and was retrofitted with the newer weight.

[FellowCollector]

Hi Doug,

So do you know what does that A stand for in this particular case?
The entire strain of numbers from reproducer body reads: 'A 236331 NS'

To be honest, I can only presume that the 'A' would signify a first version of the New Standard reproducer. I have seen a number of original Edison New Standard reproducer boxes with an 'A' designation on the box end. Winsleydale's comments above make sense as well. Steve Medved has done a good deal of research on Edison reproducers and he might have more insight as to the 'A' designation. The stamped 'G' and 'I' could simply be factory workman stamps in the manufacturing process for traceability in the event that a failure occurs. A looooong time ago before I earned my college degrees I worked at Remington Arms (manufacturers of the Remington firearms) right out of high school for a few months. On my first day of work I was issued a unique stamp that I was required to stamp into every part that I worked on. If there was a problem with any of those parts, the factory would have some traceability. On the other hand, the 'G' and 'I' at the Edison factory could be denoting something totally different. Wish I had more meaningful info for you.

Doug

[wtt11]

Thank you very much for all your explanation! appreciated!