Diamond Shine?

[MisterGramophone]

I have been wondering why Edison diamond discs are so shiny, they are only wood flour and have no diamond. Why do they shine like that?

[VanEpsFan1914]

Edison records are "condensate." It might be a compressed wood flour core but it's not a wooden record. The wood flour is a substrate for the playing surface which is more akin to bakelite (a phenolic resin) than to, well, wood or plywood derivatives.

Laminating disc records was surprisingly common, with Columbia doing this quite often. The 1940s classical albums with the Steinweiss covers often mentioned the lamination as a feature which yielded less surface noise on the electric phonographs of the time.

This sort of thing is readily explored on Wikipedia or backlogs in the forum using the search feature.

[the padre304]

Yes and I remember reading that Edison discs used a material from Germany that ceased during WWI and so he had to use a different ingredient for awhile which made the new diamond discs nosier. Is that right?

[Wagnerian]

The "problem" ingredient in Diamond discs during WW1 was Phenol, which I think is more commonly known as carbolic acid.

The worlds largest manufacturer of Phenol at the time was Germany. Whilst America was neutral until 1917, Germany was blockaded by the British and no goods could get in or out.
The second largest producer at the time was Britain but could not spare any for export as it was a vital ingredient in some kind of weaponary. This lead to Edison having to create a substitute, which as we know was no real substitute, hence the noisy war time pressings. Actually they were noisy until about 1920/21 when supplies of Phenol could resume.

Regards

Tim W-W

[recordmaker]

I am pretty sure that Edison made actual phenol ( not sure the quality of course)at West Orange and set up pretty fast to do it. I understand that the number of layers of varnish were reduced to save material and this would also affect the quality.

Phenol Trinitrate was the explosive Lyddite and used to fill shells in WW1 and at one time to dye duster and other fabric yellow as well as making the munitions workers go yellow after working with it.

[OrthoFan]

... and have no diamond. ...

By the way, the word "diamond" was used because the records were played with a reproducer fitted with a diamond stylus, instead of a conventional steel needle, fiber needle, thorn, or sapphire stylus--such as was used by Pathé.

OrthoFan

[MisterGramophone]

... and have no diamond. ...

By the way, the word "diamond" was used because the records were played with a reproducer fitted with a diamond stylus, instead of a conventional steel needle, fiber needle, thorn, or sapphire stylus--such as was used by Pathé.

OrthoFan

I knew they aren’t made of diamond, I just said that as an example. Is the carbolic acid the thing that makes the discs shiny?

[Curt A]

The shiny ones were cleaned with WD-40...

[alang]

The shiny ones were cleaned with WD-40...