Every Arm Need a Taper

[phonogfp]

“On This Day in the History of Recorded Sound…”

March 13, 1906: Eldridge Johnson was granted a U.S. patent (No.814,786) for a tapering tone arm. The acoustic improvement over the short-lived “Rigid Arm” (introduced in October 1902) was noticeable, and the ingenious goose-neck sound box tube would distinguish Victor’s products for decades to come.

https://www.antiquephono.org/#/

[Phono-Phan]

I am surprised the Rigid Arm models ran for about four years. I thought it was a much shorter span.

[phonogfp]

No, the rigid arm models ran for only about 6 months: October 1902-April 1903. By the time this patent was granted, the technology was obsolescent and had been abandoned by Victor.

George P.

[Phono-Phan]

I have heard of that timeline for the Rigid Arm models before. So what type of tone arm was on the models from April of 1903 to March of 1906?