Re: 1888 Scientific American graphophone illustration
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:40 pm
Ozokerite or ozocerite (Gr. Όζο oze, stench, and κερί kero, wax), archaically referred to as earthwax or earth wax, is a naturally occurring odoriferous mineral wax or paraffin found in many localities.
Specimens have been obtained from Scotland, Northumberland, Wales, as well as from about thirty different countries. Of these occurrences the ozokerite of the island (now peninsula) of Cheleken, near Turkmenbashi, parts of the Himalayas in India and the deposits of Utah in the United States, deserve mention, though the last-named have been largely worked out. The sole sources of commercial supply are in Galicia, at Boryslav, Dzwiniacz and Starunia, though the mineral is found at other points on both flanks of the Carpathians.
Ozokerite deposits are believed to have originated in much the same way as mineral veins, the slow evaporation and oxidation of petroleum having resulted in the deposition of its dissolved paraffin in the fissures and crevices previously occupied by the liquid. As found native, ozokerite varies from a very soft wax to a black mass as hard as gypsum.
From my 1908 books on mineral waxes It also states the same mining areas. I had made a solid cylinder of ozocerite, and it recorded a deep loud groove, however as you say Chuck it was not articulate at all, very muffled, and this is with a late 1890's recorder. I think they might have added some carnauba wax to make it harder, that would make it sound better. Their also is a hard, black grade of ozokerite, and that also is what they might possibly used too, not as soft as the kind we have tried in our experiments.
Specimens have been obtained from Scotland, Northumberland, Wales, as well as from about thirty different countries. Of these occurrences the ozokerite of the island (now peninsula) of Cheleken, near Turkmenbashi, parts of the Himalayas in India and the deposits of Utah in the United States, deserve mention, though the last-named have been largely worked out. The sole sources of commercial supply are in Galicia, at Boryslav, Dzwiniacz and Starunia, though the mineral is found at other points on both flanks of the Carpathians.
Ozokerite deposits are believed to have originated in much the same way as mineral veins, the slow evaporation and oxidation of petroleum having resulted in the deposition of its dissolved paraffin in the fissures and crevices previously occupied by the liquid. As found native, ozokerite varies from a very soft wax to a black mass as hard as gypsum.
From my 1908 books on mineral waxes It also states the same mining areas. I had made a solid cylinder of ozocerite, and it recorded a deep loud groove, however as you say Chuck it was not articulate at all, very muffled, and this is with a late 1890's recorder. I think they might have added some carnauba wax to make it harder, that would make it sound better. Their also is a hard, black grade of ozokerite, and that also is what they might possibly used too, not as soft as the kind we have tried in our experiments.