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George, acting like an old lady, clears throat and points finger: Columbia didn't manufacture any talking machines; they were manufactured by American Graphophone!briankeith wrote: I was told were actually made by Columbia but both used unusual size spindles (two differnet sizes) to go along with their own branded records. I always wondered if Victor or Edison did this or was it just Columbia?
George, being a regular guy again: There were a number of machines derived from Columbia models that played discs with various sized spindle holes. These included Standard (½"), Harmony (¾"), United (1.5"), and Aretino (3"). These records can sometimes be found with other retailers' labels (such as a Standard with a Republic or Diamond label), or intermixed among themselves (such as a Standard with a Harmony label). The Standard/Harmony/United/Aretino enterprise was united under the auspices of Great Northern, which distributed these various brands as sales inducers. Some machines were also purchased from Hawthorne & Sheble.
Another firm, the O'Neill-James Company, purchased machines from H&S for its Busy Bee disc machines, and bought modified Columbia Graphophones and records for its Busy Bee cylinder line.
I'm not aware of Edison ever manufacturing premium or "scheme goods" machines such as these.
Victor briefly manufactured premium machines, but ceased this practice in 1906.
George, nearly slipping back into grouchy old lady mode: We described and illustrated these machines in detail in The Talking Machine Compendium and other books.
George P.
