gramophone78 wrote:kirtley2012 wrote:and remember it is a non-essential part! a machine can work perfectly well without a hold down so for someone to spend that much on a non essential part is insain!
I beg to differ. The part is very essential. Without that part the record will just sit as the table rotates under it from the weight of the reproducer, arm and horn assembly.
I think the point everyone's missing is that these machines were designed along the lines of the earlier Berliner machines, & the clamp was indeed essential for early light weight rubber & celluloid discs, some of which were only 5" in diametre. That didn't give much of a surface area for friction to take hold, particularly if the spindle hole in the disc wasn't a good fit for the spindle.
I know some of my small diametre kiddy discs will slip now & then on the turntable of some of my machines if the spindle is slightly too small. Some will even remain stationary while the turntable spins below it, as soon as it bares the weight of the soundbox.
Also, early shellac discs varied in composition until a happy medium was found, so although a machine purchased in 1901 may have worked fine without a clamp when playing a disc produced in 1900 or 1901, a disc that was old stock & perhaps pressed in 1895 or 96, may not have faired so well due to higher (or lower) amounts of abrasives or other fillers used at the time they were made.
Some discs even had paper labels on the blank side, making them all the more slippery on a brand new flat smooth felt.
I guess on these later machines the clamp remained so older discs could be played and as a safe guard against slipping during a loud passage, or worn sections of the groove where friction might increase enough to overcome what little friction existed between the record & felt.
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