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I guess I really missed the DD anniversary.

The past few months--in which I have been able to combine a couple of Larry Hollenberg's "True Tone" diaphragms with reproducers w/good original styli--has resulted in my giving around 95% of my listening time to Diamond Discs via my Schubert Edisonic. The quality of the recordings is a revelation--even records from the 1916-1918 period can be satisfying. The best I can describe it is a kind of "monorail stereo" effect: the various instruments sit on the same acoustic plain, as it were--but each retains its own unique tonality.

Anyway, just wanted to give a shout-out to the Diamond Disc and resurrected this thread to do it.

Ralph

We did not miss this anniversary. Edison Discs and machines were hardly available until 1915; the catalogue was tiny and the machines had defects, before then.

While it is true that we may have missed the Diamond Disc's 100th Anniversary, 1915 was a pivotal year for the Diamond Disc Phonograph. The B-250 -- with the perfected Type B mechanism -- would, by the end of the year, pave the way for the Edison company's most successful disc Phonograph; the "Chippendale" C 250.

100 years ago was a very exciting time for the Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph!

Because of the climbing sales of the B 250 (by all accounts it appears to have been a strong seller), I'm sure that John Constable must have felt encouraged, and that he was finally on the cusp of something truly great.

The next several years would prove the Edison company's mastery, despite incredible technological difficulties and the labyrinth of legal boundaries it needed to navigate.

Best,
Fran

fran604g wrote:The next several years would prove the Edison company's mastery, despite incredible technological difficulties and the labyrinth of legal boundaries it needed to navigate.

The DD was in effect designed by lawyers to avoid patent lawsuits, particularly from Victor.

Victor patented the doors on a Victrola that enclosed the horn, so Edison had to conceal the horn with grills and use ball to muffle the sound volume.

Victor patented the tapered tone arm, so the Edison had no "tone arm" per se -- the whole sound column from reproducer to bell was a "horn".

The Edison DD had no motor board like a victor, but the motor was instead suspended on supports and surrounded by wood trim.

The mechanical feed was another workaround to avoid patents on a floating reproducer propelled solely by the record grooves. This additional mechanism added more load to the motor, thereby requiring a stronger motor (and costlier) to be made than the competitors. And indeed, I think the Edison motor is better than most.

VintageTechnologies wrote:

fran604g wrote:The next several years would prove the Edison company's mastery, despite incredible technological difficulties and the labyrinth of legal boundaries it needed to navigate.

The DD was in effect designed by lawyers to avoid patent lawsuits, particularly from Victor.

Victor patented the doors on a Victrola that enclosed the horn, so Edison had to conceal the horn with grills and use ball to muffle the sound volume.

Victor patented the tapered tone arm, so the Edison had no "tone arm" per se -- the whole sound column from reproducer to bell was a "horn".

The Edison DD had no motor board like a victor, but the motor was instead suspended on supports and surrounded by wood trim.

The mechanical feed was another workaround to avoid patents on a floating reproducer propelled solely by the record grooves. This additional mechanism added more load to the motor, thereby requiring a stronger motor (and costlier) to be made than the competitors. And indeed, I think the Edison motor is better than most.

Exactly my point.

The proprietary design of the Diamond Disc Phonograph mechanism was developed expressly around their competitors' patents to avoid litigation. In my opinion, exactly as they should have done considering their vast resources and very talented engineering staff.

Another interesting tidbit: the Edison Electric Automatic Stop (commonly referred to as the "Duncan Stop") was being experimented with in the Edison Laboratory 100 years ago this
summer (insert party emoji here).

However, it wouldn't actually be included as a standard feature on the Chippendale C 250 until January 1917.

Best,
Fran