Playing shrunken Indestructible cylinders

[Wolfe]

James, I have seen dozens of split U.S. Everlastings over the years while shopping through boxes of cylinders, to the point I am now rather hesitant to pay much for one. It's a shame, because the 4M U.S. Everlastings (band recordings) often sound every bit as good if not better than any brand I've ever heard, including directly recorded Edison Blue Amberols.

Agree.

[Victrolacollector]

I have Indestructibles, so will these also split?

[NEFaurora]

"I have Indestructibles, so will these also split?"

Well, If they are Albany Indestructibles.. No. Not likely..! But what happens with Albany Indestructibles (Made 1907-1922) sometimes is that...Usually about 1 in every 10 or so cylinders has what's called "Shrinkage".....No, Not the swimming pool type, lol, This is the Celluloid Cylinder Type!!...Albany Indestructible "Shrinkage" usually happens at the very beginning and at the very end of the Albany Indestructible Cylinder. This happens when the "Camphor" chemical that the Albany Indestructible Cylinder was originally manufactured with starts to deteriorate or completely evaporate within the Celluloid cylinder material over the 90 or 100 or so years that the cylinder has sat around. The bad news is that Not much can be done to stop it, but the Good news is that the process takes about 80+ or so years for the process to happen so the rate of decay is super slow. Some cylinders are more affected than others and not much is known why this is the case. It usually causes the Albany Indestructible cylinder to "skip" at the very beginning or "skip" at the very end of a cylinder performance. Sometimes in extreme cases it can also cause what's called "Cylinder Creep"...This is when the Inner Cardboard tube that is the inner core of the Albany Indestructible cylinder starts to "Creep" out from under the bottom of the cylinder. This will be noticeably obvious to the casual observer and is a Great indicator that the cylinder is going through these described Shrinkage changes.

All in All, Albany Indestructible cylinders have an extremely HIGH survival rate as compared to other cylinders of the same period (2 minute Edison Black Wax and 2 minute Columbia Black Wax as an example) and are very Robust usually in their recordings and do not suffer from Mold issues due to their Celluloid construction. They are still a "good bet" today and offer great value for what they are and should be around for the next 80-90 years in good condition at least. I say "Buy Them". I own a few hundred of them myself, and I am always looking to trade my doubles for ones that I do not already have...so you can PM me or e-mail me at "[email protected]" if you would like to trade some of your doubles with me, and I encourage it. I have attached a JPEG Picture of a typical Albany Indestructible cylinder so you can identify it over a cylinder from another manufacturer. Another positive thing is that millions and millions of them were produced and are easily found today for $3 to $10 or more on average depending on the song and artist..

A good rule of thumb in buying these is to Stay Away from cylinders of this type where the top and bottom core rings are severely rusted and also where the inner cardboard core of the cylinder is "creeping" out of the bottom of the cylinder. These will be cylinders that are prone to having problems and future issues that have been described above. Follow that, and you should be AOK...

"Good Reading"-Related articles on the same subject:

http://blog.timesunion.com/chuckmiller/ ... ecord/626/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indestruc ... rd_Company

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/histo ... ctible.php

http://www.cylinder.de/guide_indestruct ... nders.html

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/r ... detail/109


Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer


A typical Albany "Indestructible" Cylinder pictured below. They can also go by the names of "Columbia Indestructible", "Oxford Indestructible", "Everlasting Indestructible", and "Federal Indestructible". They all look the same, and were all made by the Albany "Indestructible" Cylinder Company. They ALL carry the "PAT'D. JUL. 29, '02" Patent date on the rim of the cylinder. A very easy identifier of these cylinders and a "DEAD GIVEAWAY" in identifying them. They were also made in other colors other than Black as well..Sometimes A Robin's Egg BLUE color, or a Rarer Very Light Green color.