The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I found this British ad the other day. A Flamephone...????. You can warm yourself while listening to your favorites.... . Would this not warp the record??. Do any of our UK member know of one that has survived??. I for one for love to see this.

What will they think of next! That would go well with my grandma's 1920s Christmas tree candles holders. They've been consigned to the attic, but in a past, young and foolish life, they came out every Christmas. That advert just illustrates how the world has changed.

Bell & Tainter produced a modulated flame Graphophone for experimental purposes in the mid-1880's.

The advert is familiar but I have never seen an actual machine, not that one would be of any use to me.

There is no mains gas supply in my village, and connecting a Flamephone to an LPG cylinder would be a dangerous experiment

Just imagine. You could listen to your favorite record and roast marshmallows at the same time.

Clay

epigramophone wrote: There is no mains gas supply in my village, and connecting a Flamephone to an LPG cylinder would be a dangerous experiment

That's a shame - and I was thinking it would be great to take camping.

I first came upon "FLAMEPHONE" from an advertisment in an old gramophone magazine, and was fascinated by it's excentric features. So I decided to go one better, and produce a cartoon drawing of what I thought the machine should be like.

Appologies to all! The wording on the cartoon is as follows.

"THIS BRILLIANT AURAL AND VISUAL MACHINE COMBINES THE BEST OF BEAUTY OF TONE, WITH WONDERFUL ATMOSPHERIC CONFLAGRATIONS, IN WELL CONFINED PLACES OF SAFETY.
THIS PARTICULAR MODEL IS NAMED "THE PYROMANIC HARMONIOUS MARK 11". THE TITLE MEANING A GRAMOPHONE PRODUCING THE NEW TYPE "FIRE TONE",IS SUPPLIED WITH A FULL SIZE, STUFFED MODEL OF AN "ANTELUVIAN PERU SCULCH VULTURE". THE CREATURE IS FINISHED IN FINE PASTEL SHADES, GARNISHED IN REAL SPARROW AN DO DO FEATHERS. THE MACHINE IS ALSO SUPPLIED WITH A FINE RECORDING OF THE "FIRE BIRD" MUSIC BY STRANGLEASKY.
THE BEAUTY OF TONE IS PRODUCED THROUGH THREE JETS OF FLAME, SUPPLIED FROM THE DOMESTIC GAS SUPPLY. THE GAS BEING IGNITED, OR COURSE, BEFORE THE RECORD IS PLAYED ON THE GRAMOPHONE.
AT THE TRULY MAGNIFICENT CONCLUSION OF THE "FIRE BIRD" MUSIC, THE GAS JETS AUTOMATICALLY CHANGE IN INTENSITY AND COLOUR, TO GREEN AND RED, CAUSING COMPLETE AND DAINTY CONFLAGRATION OF THE STUFFED BIRD, WHICH AFTER THE DUSPLAY, DROPS NEATLY INTO THE TIN TRAY BEHIND THER GRAMOPHONE"

Best gramophone cartoon in years. And now I really want to hear Strangleasky.

...and I thought the Paillard Maestrophone with the alcohol powered Stirling engine was a bad idea!

This machine, however, really gives new meaning to the term hot jazz!