Edison Bell Class M Concert

[saxymojo]

Do you think that the Concert part was an upgrade, that may have been done after 1899?

[phonogfp]

George,
From the Class M and Class E Concerts you have seen, were the belt twist pulleys supported on both ends by part of the upper bed-plate casting like the early Class M upper works? Or did Edison supply later style upper bed-plates with the configuration shown by this Class M Concert and the Class M in the U-Tube video that Marcel just pointed out?

Very interesting Marcel....

I have seen these pin-type pulleys on later machines (say, post-1900), although earlier examples seem to have cast lugs (see The Talking Machine Compendium, p.88, Fig.3-31). There's a 1904-1905 Balmoral in factory gold plate with these pin-type pulleys on page 108 (Fig. 3-48) of Discovering Antique Phonographs. A British coin-slot version with pin-type pulleys appears on page 81 of A World of Antique Phonographs. Clearly, later Class M/Balmoral type machines had dropped the lugs.

As for the possibility of an "upgrade" in the case of the machine in question, I suppose an owner could have had his dealer perform such a grafting (but did Edison sell Concert upper works alone?). But without documentation, the result might be regarded by some as an anachronistic hybrid born on a collector's workbench. In either event, it's still a very nice machine.

George P.

[saxymojo]

Hi

I have found more information on this machine. Just today I got a book printed in 1968 by Peter Betz, published by The City of London Phonograph society.

In the centre of the book is a reprint of an ad for an Edison Opera phonograph. It says, Consists of an Edison Concert Body mounted on a Victor motor. Could this be one of those machines?

I have also attached a copy of the original photo taken for the centre spread of The Phonographic News of 1976. This is the machine they used to play a record in1975, made for the public library by Governor-General Tennyson on January 19th 1904. The record is in the photo with the machine.

Regards Marcel