A Rare Opportunity To Hear A Berliner Hand-Wind

[phononut]

Thanks very much.

I do wonder why Berliner did not use some sort of gearing system to allow for the operator to spin the crank slower

Brad

[gramophoneshane]

Thanks very much.

I do wonder why Berliner did not use some sort of gearing system to allow for the operator to spin the crank slower

Brad

Yes, I would never have guessed the operator needed such a vigorous workout to get a record up to speed, and then keep it up for a couple minutes. It seems strange to me that either the pulley ratio wasn't altered to make them more user friendly, or that the records weren't recorded at a much slower speed.

[bbphonoguy]

Thanks very much.

I do wonder why Berliner did not use some sort of gearing system to allow for the operator to spin the crank slower

Brad

Possibly, changing the gearing to allow for slower cranking would have led to an increase in effort to turn the crank. Berliner may have thought that a lot of easy cranking was better than a lesser bit of difficult cranking.

There's also the possibility that Berliner was happy that the thing worked as well as it did, and didn't care to improve it. By 1895 he probably figured that all gramophones, phonographs, talking machines, would soon be supplied with some sort of self-contained power source. I'm guessing he assumed that hand-cranked machines would quickly become passe'.

One last thought, this machine appears to have a sort of weighted fly wheel on it, which would be a big help in maintaining speed once the machine was in motion. Maybe the constant cranking is not as difficult as we think.

[gramophone78]

If I can add.....I think Berliner was more concerned with his cost and sales. Kepping the machine as simple as you could was the order of the day IMHO. The fly wheel does help with the inertia. The slightly later version was made with three holes in the fly wheel. I wonder why they did that??.

[JohnM]

Who needs a Shakeweight when you have a hand-wind?

You might approach John Gubbins at Rocky Mountain Rubber Co. about producing a tire for the drive-wheel. He is the fellow who makes excellent Exhibition soundbox isolators and is conversant in things phonographic.
Contact info:
303-934-5071
johngubbins 'at' rmrmfg 'dot' com

[gramophone78]

John, thank you for the contact. However, I have been advised to leave the machine has found. I guess since I play it once every ten years it is best to do so.