The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

as a collector of phonographs i got interested in machines that where build by the soldiers in the trenches to date i found 2 the first one is belgian build out of millitairy bread cases they used a Pathé type motor
the sound box is swiss or german very common in pre 1914 france the soundbox has a diagraph from a telephone this would render the soundbox quite blast proof
the second one is a brittish machine it is build out of suplies and amunition cases you can clearly see the board of an amunition case on the lid of the machine
the maker of this one had the fillosofy of you can never use enough nails
again we can see protection of the diagraph by the use of a ring cap
the two filing cabinet handles reminds me a bit of the edison army & navy model on the inside of the case i found a emty tube that once held a hand grenade and a hankershief with the music and lyrics to the song its a long way to tipperary
i found nearly no foto's of machines like this on the web but im sure there must be more out there
if anyone has a machine like this or has foto's of one i would love to know greetings
tino

Dominic DeBarnardo has one on his website that his father built while a POW during WWII. It is what got him into collecting. Anyone who knows him knows how that turned out! He has wonderful collection of rare and wonderful machines.
Dave D