The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

George back in February of 2020 you posted a copy of your entire article referencing Home #1769 found in the UK. That copy is still on the forum for all to see. Not sure if you want it out there.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43951&hilit=Home+suitcase&start=10

Rich Gordon

Yes that’s me! I got all the parts for that square top and sent them to a guy that has restored for me before. He has a big back log and still hasn’t gotten to it yet but I will post pictures on the original thread when it’s done.

I found my Edison Home on eBay a few years back. I didn’t know it was an 1890s machine but bought it just because I liked the look and the brass mandrel. Just the other night I thought I would check the serial number and post here. It is pretty cool to have a machine from the 1890s!

KCW wrote:Yes that’s me! I got all the parts for that square top and sent them to a guy that has restored for me before. He has a big back log and still hasn’t gotten to it yet but I will post pictures on the original thread when it’s done.

I found my Edison Home on eBay a few years back. I didn’t know it was an 1890s machine but bought it just because I liked the look and the brass mandrel. Just the other night I thought I would check the serial number and post here. It is pretty cool to have a machine from the 1890s!

Yup! 1898 for both of them! Here’s a video of NYC the year your Home and Standard were made.
[YouTube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cippIqiOr0[/YouTube]

Here is what a car looked like then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2bIIUZ3EjE

rgordon939 wrote:George back in February of 2020 you posted a copy of your entire article referencing Home #1769 found in the UK. That copy is still on the forum for all to see. Not sure if you want it out there.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43951&hilit=Home+suitcase&start=10

Rich Gordon

Thanks Rich - I saw that. I also recall posting the article a few years earlier, as a service and to show folks the kind of articles published in the APS magazine. It's okay - -

Thanks for letting me know!

George P.

Serious question - what’s the real difference between a standard and home phonograph? I’ve got both, both play 2 minute cylinder and basically sound the same. Is it the motor and run time? What was the motivation of Edison to sell these two versions? The Truimph and GEM varieties I get, but the standard versus the home I don’t. Thanks everyone for all this info and education!

Surely part of the answer is evolutionary, the class M is simplified to the Spring motor and then to the Triumph and then the Home all with the inline lead screw the Standard departs from that removing the expensive to machine fine lead screw and reducing the footprint of a machine and finally the Standard pattern gives rise to the Gem. The home also has the advantage of running without the top works gear noise of a standard better for recording as well as playback.

Non technically people like to have a choice of status symbol regardless of technical advantages.
The sales figures do suggest that for most people the standard was the best performing machine at the price, and as for the Home at a glance the layout of the home might fool the neighbours in to thinking you had bought a Triumph.
Market segmentation I think it is called.

This is an amazing answer. Thank you for broadening my knowledge base!

KCW wrote:Serious question - what’s the real difference between a standard and home phonograph? I’ve got both, both play 2 minute cylinder and basically sound the same. Is it the motor and run time? What was the motivation of Edison to sell these two versions? The Truimph and GEM varieties I get, but the standard versus the home I don’t. Thanks everyone for all this info and education!

A lot had to do with the price point in 1897-1898. When introduced in August/September 1897, the Eagle Graphophone was only $10.00 ($12.00 cased), while Edison's least-expensive Phonograph (the Home) was $40.00. On September 22, 1897, the price of the Home was lowered to $30.00, but that still left a wide competitive price gap, and the Eagle was selling like hot cakes. The Standard (introduced in April 1898) could be retailed at $20.00 by using a less-expensive feedscrew (as noted by "recordmaker"), eliminating the bedplate of the Home, and a simplified upper casting. The parallel feedscrew/mandrel arrangement allowed the Standard to be significantly smaller than the Home, and the savings in raw materials helped lower the price. The first Standard motors had a mainspring that was noticeably smaller than that of the Home, but within 2-3 years this was replaced by a larger one.

Edison was caught flat-footed by the $25.00 Type A Graphophone in late 1896, and the $10.00/$12.00 Eagle in mid-1897. The Standard was an excellent machine to fulfill the $20.00 price-point. The Gem at $7.50 (in full production by April 1899) was not nearly as successful at first, with nearly 30 variations of the Model A!

George P.