For anyone interested, I have recently (just a few minutes ago!) posted several videos on my YouTube channel of some early Columbia brown wax cylinders in my collection played on a circa 1898 Edison Suitcase Home model A also in my collection. Most of the cylinders are from 1898 and one is from 1897 (or possibly late 1896).
In keeping with my style of posting videos on my channel, all of these have background information that I provide at the beginning. Those who may not care for that part of the video(s) please feel free to use the fast forward button or simply don't bother to watch them.
Bruce very nice videos. Did you notice the slight changes to the Columbia Brown waxes? From what I understand is the American Graphophone company starting about 1894 wanted to make their own blanks. Experiments were started late in 1894, and it was not until around early 1895 that Columbia through Adolph Melzer had a formula similar to Edison, however Columbia did not really do well producing the blanks on a large, commercial scale until about mid 1897, and even so Columbia on occasion still ordered blanks from Edison. I am very interested in any observable differences in Columbia blanks. From my observations, the first Columbia made blanks are slightly shorter by almost an impreceptable amount, however shorter, and the thickness of early Columbia cylinders is 2.130-2.150 adv thickness. While Edison blanks were 4 ¼" long and no shorter. The early self made Columbia cylinders have a dainty feel, and many a kind of pinkish brown color,light tannish. While early Edison blanks were a little more robust, and that is a good visual indication to tell the two apart. Later on about late 1898, you will see the Columbia blanks used for commercial recordings are 4 ¼" long and thicker than the earlier in house production, and they also vary more in color to be darker and a little more reddish cast to the blanks. As early Columbia blanks are heated to less than 400F while later ones are cooked above 475F. 1898 1899 Columbia blanks have slightly wider spirals and not as dainty as the 1895-late 1897 blanks, (the Non Edison Columbia Blanks)
For further reading of the development of the Columbia and Edison blanks read . Legal box 170 United states Circuit Court District of Connecticut
National Phonograph Company VS American Graphophone Company In Equity 1076 patent 667,662 And American Graphophone Company VS National Phonograph Company in Equity 1103 on patent 713,209
Attachments
You can see the difference the later Columbia record on the left being a later Columbia self made record (circa late 1898-1900) and it has slightly wider spirals, longer in length, and thicker, while the Columbia record on the right is Circa 1897 is slightly shorter and much thinner, the spirals are more dainty and go farther into the cylinder.
Last edited by edisonphonoworks on Sun Nov 06, 2016 6:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Thanks for your gracious comments, Andreas, Tom and Shawn. Whenever I decide to record videos on my channel this time of year (when it's too cold outside to use natural lighting) it typically takes me about 2 hours to set up the lighting and select the phonograph and record(s) I want to feature. And when I'm finished it takes another half hour or so to put everything away. With that in mind it's always a pleasure to receive positive feedback from fellow phonograph collectors. It helps make the effort and time worthwhile.
Sorry Doug about the name mixup. Your payoff for the long setup time is some nice looking and sounding videos. It does seem that digital video cameras require quite a bit of light to obtain the best detail, if not enough light, the quality is grainy even with the same camera I have always liked your videos.
I really enjoyed your videos showing the brown wax cylinders. These are not very common in the wild, and as such are usually not in very good playable condition when found. It has been a treat.
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