Unusual Reproducer Design by Fletcher

[CDBPDX]

Just rediscovered a couple Fletcher reproducers and looked at them closely. Seems the design is really different from just about any other reproducers I've seen. Behind the diaphragm are 6 small holes evenly spaced around the edge instead of the usual large center hole. Behind that is another chamber and it has 4 small exit holes around the center into the tone arm. Another interesting feature is the wire spring that snakes inside the outer diaphragm gasket. This spring is used in place of the usual screw in/on top piece to secure the diaphragm. And, it just happens to be the right size to fit on a Victrola tone arm. Last, it has an unusual wire spring setup to secure the needle bar to the reproducer housing.

In addition, it looks like Fletcher made reproducers for other folks, too. Cool weird bit of Phono trivia...

Listen to the sound on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/1VlN7s_BW4g

CDB

[alang]

CDB,
thanks for sharing these detailed pictures. Very interesting! So as I understand it, there is really no way or need to adjust or tune the needle bar? Kind of self-adjusting.
Does the multiple hole design help with sound quality? How about volume, does it not obstruct the way for the sound waves? Sorry, can't listen to it at work
One problem I could see is the lack of some kind of rubber insulation and dampening where it connects to the tonearm.
Thanks again
Andreas

[OrthoSean]

Here's an ad for Fletcher from October of 1923.

Sean

[De Soto Frank]

At the risk of being critical, this soundbox looks more like a "patent-dodge" creation more than a scientific advancement...

I am curious as to how the "breathing" compares to something with an "open throat", such a a conventional Victor or Columbia box...


At the auction where my parents & older brother picked-up the family Victrola (VV-IX) in 1972, I was only about 4 years old, but vaguely remember there being other machines there, several uprights, and I thought one of them had an octagonal or hexagonal sound-box... whatever it was, must have had one of these Fletcher boxes...

Did Fletcher make complete machines ?

[VintageTechnologies]

I have used a Fletcher reproducer on my Edison 78 adapter and other disk machines for the past 40 years. I always preferred its reproduction over a Victor Exhibition, as it has better volume and more bass. I'm not sure the odd design adds or detracts from the sound - I figure it is all due to the mica. I finally had to rebuild the Fletcher when I got tired of the rattle from hard gaskets. Getting those very stiff springs off and back on again was a challenge. There is no adjustment to the springs and the needle bar is balanced on a knife edge, as many are. The inner gasket behind the diaphragm was solid rather than hollow and resembled a gray putty. The front gasket was hollow with a snap ring inside.

You can see and hear an example of my Fletcher if you missed it before. Go to a thread titled "Problem playing Pathé" or click on the link below to access that thread:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =2&t=14846

Below is a direct link to the sound file:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/downlo ... p?id=23617

The recording is a 14" Pathé center-start record titled "Mit Klingendem Spiel (With Ringing Play)". It was recorded in Berlin before WW1 and is played on an Edison.

[CDBPDX]

At the risk of being critical, this soundbox looks more like a "patent-dodge" creation more than a scientific advancement...

Ya think..??

[De Soto Frank]

Here's an ad for Fletcher from October of 1923.

Sean

Interesting that two of the three photos show it outfitted with a fibre needle...

[De Soto Frank]

I have used a Fletcher reproducer on my Edison 78 adapter and other disk machines for the past 40 years. I always preferred its reproduction over a Victor Exhibition, as it has better volume and more bass. I'm not sure the odd design adds or detracts from the sound - I figure it is all due to the mica. I finally had to rebuild the Fletcher when I got tired of the rattle from hard gaskets. Getting those very stiff springs off and back on again was a challenge. There is no adjustment to the springs and the needle bar is balanced on a knife edge, as many are. The inner gasket behind the diaphragm was solid rather than hollow and resembled a gray putty. The front gasket was hollow with a snap ring inside.

You can see and hear an example of my Fletcher if you missed it before. Go to a thread titled "Problem playing Pathé" or click on the link below to access that thread:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =2&t=14846

Below is a direct link to the sound file:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/downlo ... p?id=23617

The recording is a 14" Pathé center-start record titled "Mit Klingendem Spiel (With Ringing Play)". It was recorded in Berlin before WW1 and is played on an Edison.

I wonder if the internal "baffles" cut-down on "blasting"...

[Lenoirstreetguy]

I believe Fletcher started making reproducers in the cylinder era ,and I was surprised to see the McLagan reproducer south of the border. McLagan was a manufacturer of fine furniture in Stratford, Ontario . They,like so many piano and furniture makers, took a flyer at phonograph manufacture in the late teens to about 1926. McLagan advertised fairly extensively and made a feature of the Fletcher reproducers in their ads. McLagan made a feature of being a high end machine and some of the examples I've seen are quite lovely indeed from the perspective of cabinetry. The universal arm shown in the add is the 0ne McLagan used. That thick flange at the base rotates so that one can adjust the tracking weight. McLagan had a life after phonographs. They continued making their fine furniture and they ventured into radio cabinets for RCA Victor in Montreal.
I have a Fletcher reproducer and it sounds very nice. The high end is attenuated and consequently
there is less surface noise with a steel needle. As Vintage points out they are quite loud yet mellow. I have the sense that the configuration of small holes acts as a mechanical filter for the high frequencies.
Jim

[James]

FLETCHER REPRODUCER: Six sided (hexagonal), with six sound control openings or apertures at the centre of each side. The sound waves enter through the six sound control openings or apertures, and thus have more chance for the sound waves to expand, before passing through the tone arm.

Elmer Fletcher's principle
US patent number 1,322,890
November 25, 1919


Jim

I believe Fletcher started making reproducers in the cylinder era ,and I was surprised to see the McLagan reproducer south of the border. McLagan was a manufacturer of fine furniture in Stratford, Ontario . They,like so many piano and furniture makers, took a flyer at phonograph manufacture in the late teens to about 1926. McLagan advertised fairly extensively and made a feature of the Fletcher reproducers in their ads. McLagan made a feature of being a high end machine and some of the examples I've seen are quite lovely indeed from the perspective of cabinetry. The universal arm shown in the add is the 0ne McLagan used. That thick flange at the base rotates so that one can adjust the tracking weight. McLagan had a life after phonographs. They continued making their fine furniture and they ventured into radio cabinets for RCA Victor in Montreal.
I have a Fletcher reproducer and it sounds very nice. The high end is attenuated and consequently
there is less surface noise with a steel needle. As Vintage points out they are quite loud yet mellow. I have the sense that the configuration of small holes acts as a mechanical filter for the high frequencies.
Jim