The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Wow... I appreciate you guys and Thanks for all the timely info... I knew that I could get some definitive answers here...

I'd like to add my observations about the
early one which was most likely a Standard Speaker
at one time:

I have and use (2) automatic recorders, so I've
had them apart, adjusted them, looked at them
enough to be able to see a few things about them.

I see some stuff about the one pictured:

1) It's been notched to fit the later carriages
that have the locator pin.

2) It is very obviously a recorder because it has
the type of weight that automatic recorders have.

3) It has been jimmied into working as a reproducer
by the use of a loosely fitting stylus bar pin
which apparently provides some amount of sideways
slop for tracking.

Kind of a waste of what could be most likely a
very nice and workable automatic recorder.

It does have the weight with the solid hinge
which has very little sideways slop. That is
what's needed for a recorder.

Advertisements from an 1898 Edison Dealer catalog:

Standard Speaker - Automatic - Recorder -

Thanks Shawn, for the clarification...