Berliner "Battery Motor" Gramophone

[Victor A]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone could inform me on the Berliner gramophone with a battery powered motor. There are a couple of photos on the internet, and absolutely no information that I could find (and I dug deep! ). If anyone knows more about the design or its specifications, i'd like to hear your input on the subject.

Also, any other known photos you could contribute would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[phonogfp]

As far as I know, Frank Seaman's National Gramophone Company did not market these electric Gramophones, but the United States Gramophone Company apparently did. Production must have been very, very low.

Here's the Battery Motor (Type B) Gramophone:

Years ago I found photos on the Library of Congress site, which I printed out. Here's one of the Battery Gramophone:

Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Here's the Incandescent Motor (Type C) Gramophone, for 110 volt D.C.:

And the photo from the Library of Congress:

Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Hope this helps,
George P.

[Victor A]

It certainly does George. Thanks!

[phonogfp]

Glad to help.

Have you encountered other photos/illustrations or descriptions of these machines?

George P.

[Victor A]

Personally, I haven't found any more photos, although I assume that for Berliner to market these gramophones, he must have secured a patent for the motor configurations.

So, I think I'll try to find it, supposing it exists. It most likely has some vital specifications and different illustrations.

[phonogfp]

Personally, I haven't found any more photos, although I assume that for Berliner to market these gramophones, he must have secured a patent for the motor configurations.

So, I think I'll try to find it, supposing it exists. It most likely has some vital specifications and different illustrations.

A search through Google Patents shows 31 for Emile Berliner, but nothing related to electric motor placement. Of course, an associate (rather than Berliner) might have filed for a patent, but I doubt there's a patentable feature involved. Good luck!

George P.

[Curt A]

Per the ad, I'll take 10 dozen of the machines and 20 dozen extra records...

[Victor A]

A search through Google Patents shows 31 for Emile Berliner, but nothing related to electric motor placement. Of course, an associate (rather than Berliner) might have filed for a patent, but I doubt there's a patentable feature involved. Good luck!

George P.

Thanks George, I'll keep looking! Generally on Google Patents, the older ones are chock full of spelling errors and nonsensical letters (which are mostly pretty comedic), so I'll have a heck of a time deciphering those!

[Lucius1958]

As far as I know, Frank Seaman's National Gramophone Company did not market these electric Gramophones, but the United States Gramophone Company apparently did. Production must have been very, very low.

Here's the Battery Motor (Type B) Gramophone:

GramoBattA.jpg

Years ago I found photos on the Library of Congress site, which I printed out. Here's one of the Battery Gramophone:

BatteryGramoB002.jpg

Here's the Incandescent Motor (Type C) Gramophone, for 110 volt D.C.:

GramoIncanA.jpg

And the photo from the Library of Congress:

IncandescentGramoB002.jpg

Hope this helps,
George P.

Odd: the photo of the Incandescent Motor shows no belt connecting the top works with the motor, unlike the previous cut.

Might it be that, having no complete example to photograph, they simply placed a hand wind model on top of the motor box?

Bill

[OrthoFan]

I've spent a few hours on Google Patents over the past few days and haven't spotted anything.

I'm wondering if anyone has a copy of "The Patent History of the Phonograph, 1877-1912" by Allen Koenigsberg -- https://www.amazon.com/Patent-History-P ... 0937612103 -- they could cull through. That might have something.

I would guess that any patents issued or applied for would would date from the early to mid 1890s. That's too early for this site -- http://www.phonozoic.net/patents/ -- which only lists patents from 1913-1919


By the way, if you haven't read it, this is a fascinating and detailed history:

ETCHING THE HUMAN VOICE: THE BERLINER INVENTION OF THE GRAMOPHONE by Raymond R. Wile
http://www.arsc-audio.org/journals/v21/v21n1p2-22.pdf

OrthoFan