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I posted about this a number of years ago, on Phonoland, but it never sparked that much discussion. Thought I'd try it here, since there seems to be more UK based collectors who might find some of this of interest.

I found these culling through the European Patent Database. These made it through the patent stage, but were never put into production. I'm sure there are more hidden in the patent files.






The site I originally used was very straightforward, and user-friendly. I looked over the current version -- http://www.epo.org/ -- and it seems far more complicated. (So far, Google does not seem to archive European Patents.)

Joe

Hi Joe,

interesting topic. The one with patent no. GB321506 I know from Dave Coopers book. There is an image of that prototype shown on page 55. Are there any other known images of this machine or the other ones?

Jake

Jacob Black wrote:Hi Joe,

interesting topic. The one with patent no. GB321506 I know from Dave Coopers book. There is an image of that prototype shown on page 55. Are there any other known images of this machine or the other ones?

Jake

Hi Jake:

Yes, I also have a copy of Dave Cooper's book and I recognized that one, right away. (As an aside, I see that one of the few remaining new copies is going for big bucks -- http://www.amazon.co.uk/His-Masters-Voi ... 1872727492 )

I haven't seen images of any of the others, and don't even know if they made it to the prototype stage. The one I'd really like to see is the top one -- GB270238 -- which uses a "fluid column transmission" to mechanically drive a speaker cone. About the closest I've seen to this concept is the little Phonola Dynacoustic portable manufactured by Waters Conley, which was discussed several years ago on this forum:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ?f=2&t=950

There's a YouTube video of one in action, though it's probably in as-found condition --

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzU1AX3QOsw[/youtube]

Unlike the one described in the patent, the Dynacoustic phonograph's tonearm is fitted with a steel rod that transfers the vibrations directly from the needle to the paper-cone speaker. It seems capable of pumping out quite a bit of bass, so I'd imagine the Gramophone Co's version, with a much larger cone speaker, might have given some of the electrically amplified machines a run for their money.

Joe