The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Gramtastic wrote: Thu Oct 07, 2021 2:47 pm I have to agree with Dulcetto - I have several of these and one has a registered design number of 741056 and the date of 1928 on the collar so well after phonographs. I also seem to think I have one somewhere made by Kleneze who didn't begin trading until 1923. They are often found with gramophones but only because they are a useful size for dusting records etc.

Very good and appreciated Gramtastic.

Agreed, just an ordinary everyday dusting brush of the period, nothing to do with records, even though I've had one or two turn up with gramophones in the past.

For the benefit of those who have never seen one, here is an original Edison cylinder cleaning brush :

This is another cylinder brush, designed to clip onto the reproducer carriage and remove dust etc from the cylinders as it played.
And of course there are the camel hair brushes that were often offered with recording outfits to brush away any debris after shaving or recording blank's. The cylindrical brush posted at the start of this thread, as well as mine, were made by the Fuller Brush co, with its trademark embossed on the collar.
So far I haven't been able to find any period advertising or catalogues showing this brush and it's intended use.
There's apparently over 300 patents for Fuller's brushes, so that's probably the next place to look.

I don't think it's a coincidence that these identical "Fuller" brushes seem to turn up occasionally with Edison DD machines (in different countries), nor do I think they (Fuller) date from the late 20's, when by the early 20's the regular round record dusters made in Philadelphia were starting to be made for Edison Recreations.

And what an actual chip brush looks like...