What is This Edison or Columbia recorder what is it >??

[edisonrestorer64]

some kind of recorder or repoducer
comumbia or edison I do not know does anyone here know>??

ohere is what I got on ebay awaiting its arrival anyone knows what this is I am baffeled.?
Much Thanks for any help at all.

[kirtley2012]

It is definately a recorder and because its a floating recorder, i would say columbia

[estott]

Possibly from an early office dictating machine?

[gramophoneshane]

I'm pretty sure I've seen one of these before, and it belonged to a European phonograph, but I cant remember if it was a Thorens, an Excelsior(EWC), or what it was. Might have even been Pathé??

[JohnM]

It's a recorder from a Dictaphone or Ediphone, not certain which brand.

[edisonrestorer64]

does it have any value at alkl>??
I purchased this on ebay any help is appreciated.

Thank You All

[estott]

If it is from an office dictating machine (and I think it is) this has little value. The market for dictating machines is thin, except for the very early ones.

[edisonrestorer64]

Wonderful Thanks so much this means i can snag the diafram and the stylus and scrap the rest again Much thnaks from william

[edisonphonoworks]

1920s Dictaphone Recorder/Reproducer it actually has a playback and recording stylus on it, though it is for 160tpi cutting so it may be used possibly to make 4 minute recordings. I do make a four minute blank for recording with four minute recorders, I do not have any made at this time, but they are not any more difficult to produce than brown wax. The four minute records though can only be played back with an H or sapphire stylus, it is just you have to have one of those special long blade recorders, or throw the belt off a dictation shaver and very slowly feed the cutter by turning the feedscrew by hand so it does not chip the blank, they are so hard that a regular shaver will chip craters in the surface.

[McTodd]

I've got one of those! It's for the Dictaphone Model 12. This is a picture of mine, I got it on ebay recently for £23 including shipping!



Both the recording and reproducing styli are attached to the same mounting, itself attached directly to the diaphragm. Amazingly, despite my machine being a right tatty old lump, both styli are intact and the diaphragm is in excellent shape. How it works is that the small lever to the right of the base of the speaking tube moves the entire recording/playback head (which is buried inside the base of the speaking tube, in the carriage) around half an inch forward or backward, thus bringing either the recording or reproducing stylus into play.

It looks like your styli are intact too, though it's hard to tell as the photo is out of focus.

Here's how it fits on the machine (this is a different one to mine which I spotted on another selling site; the styli and mount are missing, though the rest of the machine was in much better condition than mine):