The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

George

I read your article in the Antique Phonograph on the Columbia Commercial Graphophones, it was very good with information I hadn't found before. I picked this one up a couple years ago at a local auction, just because it looked interesting and it fit with my collection of Columbia phonos.



It's complete except for the power switch and the reproducer is missing the stylus assembly. The serial number is 985.

The motor seems to be vintage 1890's style:



Is the motor the same as in your machine? It appears to be a universal type as it works on AC or DC & runs in same direction no matter which polarity you connect it to the DC source.

I thought it was missing a pair of binding posts for the electric connection, but in your picture it looks like the wires just come through the holes, are there grommets or some other insulator in the hole to protect the wires?

What does the long handle do? I don't have that and can't see anyplace it would have been attached.


Chuck

Chuck,

Your Commercial Graphophone has the early reproducer arrangement. Very nice!

The motor on this one is quite similar to yours (photo below) but I haven't been able to run it. It doesn't respond to about 30 volts DC. Yes, there are rubber grommets in the bedplate holes to protect the wires (photo below). The long handle is a record extractor (photo below). Latest thing in 1907! I've also included a closeup of the exhibit plate. Space is always tight in The Antique Phonograph so I usually have a photo or two that can't be fit in. Thanks for posting photos of your very early Commercial Graphophone, Chuck!

George P.

phonogfp wrote:Chuck,

The motor on this one is quite similar to yours (photo below) but I haven't been able to run it. It doesn't respond to about 30 volts DC.

George P.

George,

My motor wouldn't run when I first tried it either, what I found was that about 8 of the armature windings had extremely high resistance. I temporarily soldered a jumper across each high resistance winding and that got it working. I need to go back and remove the old solder and clean the wires to make a solid connection.

I found this 1906 ad showing a very similar cased machine like mine:

(from Early Office Museum Site, (http://www.earlyofficemuseum.com))

Chuck

Here's the initial announcement of the Columbia Commercial Graphophone as it appeared in the November 1906 issue of The Columbia Record. (All known issues of this company periodical are available in reprint form from Ryan Barna at http://www.phonostalgia.com or [email protected]. I have no commercial interest in the sale of these, but I highly recommend them for those who are interested in the 1904-1917 history of the Columbia Phonograph [Graphophone] Company. There's nothing like primary resources! )

The photo in the article shows the pneumatic device which could be used to stop and start the record while the motor runs continuously.

George P.

phonogfp wrote:Here's the initial announcement of the Columbia Commercial Graphophone as it appeared in the November 1906 issue of The Columbia Record. (All known issues of this company periodical are available in reprint form from Ryan Barna at http://www.phonostalgia.com or [email protected]. I have no commercial interest in the sale of these, but I highly recommend them for those who are interested in the 1904-1917 history of the Columbia Phonograph [Graphophone] Company. There's nothing like primary resources! )

George P.

I'll second what George says, I bought the entire run of these from Ryan, not only are they packed with fascinating stuff, but you can lose yourself for hours reading them. Well worth owning!

Sean

I read the nice article on the early Columbia Commercial machine.
I have been experimenting with the manufacture of new dictation machine blanks, especially suited to these earlier business machines. They would be great on a spectacle, wood cased Edison machine, or the Class C Columbia, or this early commercial Graphophone. They are rather hard to make due to the precise size for later machines that have the ejectomatic system, but works good on the early ones. I am not trying to push these as there are problems keeping them to exact interior dimensions, however I just sent some of these new business machine blanks to Ireland with a good review, of the performance.

http://youtu.be/tw2ssSSXTqc