Echophone

[SonnyPhono]

I'm writing this from my iPad in the hospital because our son was born yesterday. I couldn't sleep so I was browsing eBay and came across this echophone. I have seen pictures of these but never seen one for sale so am curious as to how rare they are. Does anyone have one of these? How do they sound?


http://cgi.ebay.com/Echophone-Cylinder- ... 2c5a185900

This is located in an antique shop that i go to often just a few miles from my house. I know the owner well and have done phonograph repairs for him in the past and bought from him as well. He usually calls me if he comes across anything phono related to see if I'm interested. He buys entire estates and doesn't know much about phonographs so if one is with the estate, i get a call. When i came across this on eBay, I saw he was then seller and was confused for a second. Then I remembered i missed a call about a week ago from him and hadn't checked my voicemail with everything being so hectic with the new baby. So i checked and sure enough he had called and left a message to see if I knew anything about an echophone and if so, if I would be interested in it. Wish I had remembered his call!

Anyway, I am obviously busy with the new baby but probably wouldn't have a problem getting away for a bit to take a closer look if anyone on the board is thinking about bidding. I may go regardless just to take some more pictures of it so if anyone is interested send me a PM and I would be happy to help out if I can. Its definitely an interesting find that I'd like to know more about.

[Starkton]

Congratulations to the birth of your son! I won't ever forget the birth of my own son twelve and a half years ago.

The Echophone, invented by Edward Hill Amet and patented by him on November 20th 1895 (U.S. patent 562,694), is a very rare and desirable machine. I would love to hear it in person. I cite from the patent:

I have discovered by my experiments that sounds may be perfectly from phonograms […] by simply tying or clamping a piece of rubber tubing between two rigid pieces or sticks, preferably of wood, the pieces being preferably tied or pressed closer at one end than at the other, so as to give the flattened rubber tube a somewhat wedging or tapering form. The arm or bar carrying the reproducing-point rests loosely upon one of the rigid pieces between which the rubber tube is clamped, its other or point end resting upon the phonogram-cylinder or sound-record. The free end of the rubber tube which is tied or clamped between the two pieces of wood may be connected to the ordinary ear-tube or to a horn. […] [The] point end of the [glass] arm may be caused to feed or swing by the spiral thread of the sound-writing itself […], so that no feed-screw […] will be necessary […].

Initially called the Metaphone (an anagram of Amet’s name) with a celluloid tag, it was introduced in late-1895 mounted in a light wooden carry-case; it soon sold as the “Echophone” stamped directly in the wood - for $5/ $10, the lowest price yet for a phonograph. [...] [T]he string-drive, clock-style motor was placed on top, with a knurled speed-adjustment, but no break, turning the cylinder toward the stylus and listener [...]. Amet was vigorously sued by American Graphophone [...] and the last 2000 models were used as subscription premiums by Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly. (Allen Koenigsberg, in: Patent History of the Phonograph, p. xxxviii)

Here is an interesting letter sent out by Leslie's Weekly Illustrated on December 24th 1896. The accompanying letter reads:

We herewith enclose you an advertisement that we would like to have appear in your weekly. Will you be kind enough to tell us how many times you will run it in exchange for one of our Echo-phones and one record? We will furnish the cut of the young lady listening to the “Echophone” and you to set the balance of the ad.
If you will take a copy of this “ad” to your home and have the ladies read it, we doubt not that you will give us twenty(?) insertions, The “Echo-phone” gives the same reproductions as the “Phonograph” but only costs $3 a piece in lots of 1,000. You can see therefore, that it is no mere toy.
We expect to sell with our Weekly at least 150,000 of these machines this coming year, and we want you to help us in accomplishing the result. We think that one of these machines will repay you, so far as pleasure is concerned, much more than the money you would receive for the advertisements.
Take the advise of the writer: - Get all the amusement out of this life that you can.
Awaiting your favourable reply […].

[SonnyPhono]

Thanks for the kind words and informative reply. I am still up, (can't sleep) and have been doing a bit more research on the echophone. Aside from what you wrote in your reply, i really couldn't find much more about them. The letter you showed was very interesting. Thanks for sharing it.

So are there any records of exact production numbers? Any idea of how many exist today or how often they show up for sale? Like I said, I haven't seen one for sale before this one. But I have only been in the hobby for a couple years. I'm going to try to stop in for a closer look today if I get the chance and am interested to find out where it came from.

[Brad]

Congratulations on the Babyola Sonny!

[phonogfp]

Congratulations on your new family member! I too vividly remember the birth of our son, and that was over 25 years ago. Equally memorable was the appearance of our daughter 29 years ago next week - - the first girl in our family since 1929! I trust your wife and son are doing fine, and will continue to do so.

The Echophone is indeed a rare machine, and Starkton has done a good job of providing an historical background. I thought for sure I had written an article on the Echophone for The Sound Box, but it appears I haven't...Hmmm...

The earliest Echophones were labeled "Metaphone," and we show the only known example in the Talking Machine Compendium. The next incarnation was labeled "Echophone," and retained the Metaphone's wooden dumbell-shaped mandrel. The final version (one of which is currently on eBay) employed a mandrel made of gutta percha. My estimate is that there are less an 30 Echophones known to exist. As for original production numbers, I've never seen any documentation relating to that.

Since the Echophone's stylus was made simply by forming a small drip of molten glass on the rounded end of the glass tube, its playing quality may have varied somewhat from machine to machine. The example I have here plays surprisingly well through ear tubes, but I doubt it would sound as good through a horn. It's not really a machine for playing. But it is a wonderful, historic talking machine. Maybe I'd better do that article...!

George P.

P.S.: Back in the 1950s, one of the authors of Tinfoil to Stereo decided the Echophone employed a bellows in its mechanism. Unfortunately, this myth has persisted, but the flattened rubber tube performs the function of a gasket, floating a wooden "diaphragm." There are no pneumatic properties in this arrangement - - any more than in a Victor Exhibition sound box. The Echophone does not use a bellows!

[syncopeter]

Congrats Sonny,

My daughter has her 24th birthday today, but I well remember the moment she came into the world and the wonderful time before that, seeing life grow in her mother's body. The birth of my two children, my son will be 26 in two weeks, is something that is etched in my memory forever. I just cannot wait to hold my first grandchild in my arms, but I've got to leave them a little leeway, to first set up their career and home. I still melt when I see a toddler in a pram and always try to get their attention. And no, I'm not a paedophile, I would never ever harm an innocent being. I even shush out a bumblebee that accidentally flies in through my window. How could you possibly harm such a beautiful creature?

Peter (in a sentimental mood, because of all the wonderful memories).

[bbphonoguy]

I have no advice regarding the Echophone, but congratulations on the new addition to your family!! (Any chance of his middle name being "Edison"?)

[TinfoilPhono]

Congratulations on the birth of your child! That is one of life's greatest joys, if not the greatest........

@George, actually it was me who wrote the article about the Echophone for the Sound Box.

There's a summary on my website (http://edisontinfoil.com/echo.htm) but Starkton and George have pretty much covered it. It's going to be interesting to see where this ends up.

For such a simple and cheap machine it doesn't sound too bad. One of these days I will upload a Youtube video of mine.

[phonogfp]

@George, actually it was me who wrote the article about the Echophone for the Sound Box.

Rene, I am SO glad you reminded me! It's been bugging me all day - - I could have SWORN that an article on the Echophone had appeared in The Sound Box... Okay - now I can get back to writing that other article...

George P.

[WDC]

Hey congrats Sonny! That's a real good excuse for not answering any calls.

The machine looks quite interesting, and the Echophone in general can work surprisingly well, much better than any of the later pucks. The only scary thing with these ones is the pressure applied to the cylinder by the glass rod. And these were all brown wax cylinders! *ouch*

I remember when we tinkered with Charley Hummel's Echophone last year. We played one of my new Enrico Caruso cylinders on it and it would sound quite nice.