Edison Ediphone Grand Prize Worlds Fair Dictaphone

[Chuck]

gramophone78 : Thanks for mentioning me as I do
have quite an interest in these dictation machines.
I learn as I go. I have never yet came across any
manuals for them.

sfischer : Your machine looks like it can work again
just fine with a little TLC, taking apart, and oiling.

So, here goes: Your machine looks to be a "transcriber".
That machine only plays, it cannot record. It is the
machine that the typist uses so she can listen to the
dictation, and type the letter. I have a similar machine to this, but it's much later, from the late 1940s or early 50s, and it's Dictaphone brand instead of Ediphone. They are both very similar though.

My later Dictaphone "Cameo" model transcriber has 2
pneumatically operated footpedals. There are 2 air hoses
that connect the pedal's air cylinders to the machine.
One pedal starts and stops the machine, while the other
pedal backs it up a few grooves to repeat a phrase.

The machine I have, had lots of rust on the topworks
and that needed to be carefully treated with penetrating
oil and wiped with rags. The footpedal cylinders on
mine were frozen, but came loose easily upon disassembly
and oiling, as did the small "receiving" air cylinders
on the machine.

These machines have so many covers fastened to them
that you can't work on them until you figure out how
to get all the covers and guards off. That can be tricky
too, as they tended to hide the method (where's the
dang screw??) Don't get impatient and start prying.
That will only bend things. Find the secret screw.
On mine, one of those was top-front-middle, just behind
the carriage rest. That unlocks the secret lock so
the bedplate can hinge up to get at the motor.

But, once you get those off, then plug it in and get
the motor running and oil the motor. Then make a
belt out of folded scotch tape or whatever's handy.

Oil it all up and get the rust off and it should work fine.

My interest in these machines comes from the fact
that an Ediphone or a Dictaphone shaver works well
for Edison phonograph blanks, which I make.

I currently own 4 Dictaphone shavers, from different
eras. I also own a Dictaphone model 12 dictating
machine, which is the one the boss would have had.
It records and plays. And, of course I also have
the "play only" transcriber, which is what your machine
appears to be.

Those machines cut the grooves at 150 or 160 per inch.
Ediphone uses 150 I think, and Dictaphone uses 160,
I think....but I always get them mixed up because
I don't yet own any Ediphone machines.

The way it works out on a Dictaphone is the cylinder
turns at 80 rpm, and it cuts 160 grooves per inch and
the cylinder is 6 inches long, so it plays and records
for 12 minutes.

Shawn Borri (edisonphonoworks) here on this forum
knows more about Ediphones because he has several of them. I have all Dictaphones. They are very similar,
and some parts may even be interchangable.

So, to sum up, in order to fully use and enjoy these
machines, you need the complete set of them.
The set is: Dictation machine, Transcriber, Shaver.
As far as I can see, your machine can only play.

Hope this helps some.

Chuck

[SFischer]

Chuck,

Thank you for the detailed information about my machine. I'm really glad you posted this because I thought the Mic unit was missing and I was on the hunt for one. I guess I will now have to start the hunt for the other machines as you described. I look forward to picking your brain down the road.

Thanks,
Scott

[Chuck]

Scott,

My pleasure! I am happy to be able to help!

A few other little tidbits of info for handy
reference:

The machine that can both record and play (the one
I am familiar with anyway, which is a Dictaphone model 12),
has a lever on the carriage arm. This lever has three
positions. In the center position, neither the cutting
stylus nor the playback stylus is down. This position
is used when putting the cylinders on and off the
mandrel.

To record: the lever is pushed forward and that moves
the recorder/reproducer into such position and drops
it so that the cutter cuts a groove.

To play: The lever is pulled back toward you and that
puts the reproducing stylus down.

The stylus mounting bar on there has the cutter on
one end, and the playback stylus on the other end
and the whole recorder/reproducer unit slides forward
and back, in a very ingenious fashion so as to
expose the proper stylus. This all gets done
using sliding telescoping metal tubes so that everything
can move around, while still being air tight.

On your machine, you *may* be able to figure out
how to loosen the screw that holds the reproducer
into the carriage, and gently remove the reproducer
so you can look at the bottom of it to see the
stylus and the diaphragm.

The Dictaphone "Cameo" model transcriber that I have
has its reproducer hopelessly frozen into its
potmetal carriage arm, and no amount of coaxing
has loosened it so far.

So, there it stays.

Fortunately, this reproducer seems to still work
quite well, so it's not too bad if it can't come out.

I just have been not wanting to put too much force
on anything for fear of wrecking the pot metal or
marfing up the reproducer.

All in all, they are fun machines!!

They are especially nice because the taper on the
their mandrels is exactly the same as on the much
earlier Edison phonographs.

The dictation blanks are of a much larger
outside diameter than entertainment cylinders.
(When new an Ediphone blank is about 2.384 inches
in diameter, where as the largest outside diameter
which can fit and work on a cylinder phonograph
is around 2.196 inches)

The dictation blanks are also 6 inches long, where
as the entertainment cylinders are 4.25 inches long.

The dictation machines did serve very well to
preserve the basic cylinder format for many, many
years after the entertainment cylinders and phonographs
were no longer made.

These cylinder type dictation machines were used well
up into the mid 1960s.

So, fortunately for us now, there are many of these
machines and the blanks for them out there, floating
around in people's garages and basements.

From what I can tell so far, these machines are
extremely robust and well built. I just got
another shaver machine last summer for $25 from
Craigslist. It looked a real mess!!

It was rusty as all getout! The mandrel was rusty,
the feedscrew was all rust. The motor compartment
was packed full of mouse nest material and it even
had a dessicted dead mouse inside.

That machine took me two days to disassemble, clean,
oil, make a few parts for, then got it running.

It shaves an absolutely beautiful, shiny, perfect cut.
I never dreamed it would work again at all when
I first saw it. I thought it would maybe yield up
a few parts to fix other machines at best.

So, unless they have been run over by a freight train,
these machines will work again with a little oil,
some cleaning, and rust removal.

Chuck

[rgordon939]

Thought I would just throw this in. This is a 1905 Edison Business Machine that is both AC and DC. It is the predecessor to the Ediphone. It recorded, played back, and shaved cylinders. Some of the early cylinders were made of brown wax. Edison thought that the Business Machine was going to be more successful than the phonograph. If I am correct the 6 inch cylinders were made up into the 1940's. I also have the original horn and crane which are not attached in these pictures. I just sold a second Business Machine I had at Wayne, NJ phonograph show on 04/13/2014.

Rich Gordon

[Chuck]

I think that the dictation cylinders were
being produced all through the 1950s and maybe
even into the early 1960s.

I say this because my dad worked at the huge
Allis-Chalmers plant in West Allis Wisconsin from
the late 1940s until 1976, when they closed the
plant.

All throughout the early 1960s he told me about how there
were still hundreds of old cylinder type Dictaphones
in daily use in the vast floors of offices there.

Well into the late 1960s and early 1970s he would talk
about still seeing them all around those offices, but
by then they had been wheeled over and parked along
walls and in corners and were no longer used.

But, up until around 1962 or 1963, they were still
in daily service, which leads me to think that
new blanks were probably still being made for them
at that time.

Anyone have any other info about when the
production of these blanks stopped?

Chuck

[JohnM]

I'm certain that Erich Von Grimmenstein could tell you!

[edisonphonoworks]

I would add you probably want to take the motor apart and clean it, and put it back together, I usually take lots of photos as I go with a project. Make sure all wires are not frayed, and replace as needed with cloth covered wire. If it does not work, many times the resistor is tarnished in the spot it sets, and moving it around and back to position it was will regain contact, if the wire is not broken. You can use model C Edison reproducer gaskets. These have a rice paper diaphragm usually, sometimes mica. clean

[Chuck]

Shawn is correct in saying that it's always a good
idea to make sure the motor and the wiring is in
good shape.

The old cloth covered wiring in most of these machines
is in usually in remarkably decent shape, I've found.

Usually, I will inspect it all, and find some few places where the insulation is cracked. Those are no big problem to fix and make safe to use. I try to find some way to slip some heatshrink tubing over the bad spot, and then shrink it on there using a heat gun.

Some places in the wiring, you may have to unsolder a
lug or something, in order to allow the heatshrink
to slide on. Then after the repair, solder the lug
back on the end of the wire.

For places that don't easily lend themselves to
using heatshrink, some electrical tape can be
wrapped around. But then be sure to tie off the ends
of the tape using lacing cord or some heavy carpet
thread. This prevents the tape from later coming
loose, which it always seems to do.

As far as the motor is concerned, really, usually,
the shaft bearings just need oil. This can be done
without taking the motor apart. That's always my
first step. Then after oiling and freeing up the motor
I'll power it up with plenty of resistance in series
and get it running. Then decrease the resistance and
watch it speed up, all the while watching the commutator
to see how it's doing as far as sparking.

A few small sparks are normal. If there's a lot of
sparking, especially noisy ones that make a crackling
sound, then it's a good idea to take the motor apart
and clean the commutator, and inspect the brushes.

Some of the smaller motors have the commutator
end sealed and you can't see it. If those run
smooth, I just oil them and leave them alone.

These "universal" motors run on AC or DC.

Great care must be taken when disassembling.
Once the 2 or 4 long screws have been removed that hold
the whole works together end-for-end, then be real
careful.

Gently coax the back end where the brushes are,
starting to slide off. By this time you should
already have slid the brush holders open, and removed
the brushes and the springs, and set them aside.
Be careful opening the brush holders. The spring pops
out and can go flying away.

There's a screw-terminal connector block in there
where the stator leads and the brush leads are
terminated. Those wires must come off of there
to get it apart. Make a diagram so you can put all
wires back. Be very very careful with the stator
wires!!! They lead directly to the stator coils
and can very easily be broken off if handled roughly.

Once you get it all apart then you can pull the
armature (the part that spins) clear out so you
can see it and inspect it and clean the commutator.

Some times a few errant armature coil wires need
to be glued down, as well as the string-band on the
commutator end. I've had good luck using super glue
and contact cement for this.

These motors have lots of small parts and can be a
real headache even for someone who has had many apart
and who has worked on them before.

If it powers up and spins and doesn't spark too
much, oil the bearings and leave it together!

Anyone who might want to venture in and really
work on one of these motors, just contact me and
I'll help you through it as best as I can.

Chuck

[edisonphonoworks]

I also have made blanks for these machines, but they are more difficult, and only blanks that shrink more than usual are used for the purpose of making the Dictation Machine Blanks.