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Recently, I was given this Edison cylinder player by my parents.

The back story is back 1926, my grandparents bought a farm just outside of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The farm had 2 houses on it and this player was found in the attic of one of the houses. Everything else in both houses was gone, so the story goes. It was handed down to my father after his parents passed away, and from there moved, with him, to the Yukon, where it sat in storage until my parents gave it to me. I built a custom, wooden crate for it and had it shipped on the plane to my home in British Columbia.

Anyway, it seems to have 2 needles for it. I've gently cranked it up and the cylinder seems to spin freely. I timed it and it seems to spin for about 6 minutes, or so, before it starts to run out of steam, so, I'm not sure if that's about right?

The best I can tell, it's an Edison Fireside - Model B. I believe that means it's a 4 minute machine? There was also 46 blue cylinders that came with it that were found in the attic when the player was discovered in the old farmhouse.

The only things missing are the horn crane and an elbow to go from the reproducer to the horn. In 1 pic you'll notice that on the bottom of the player cabinet, there are 2 stainless steel "shoes" or "cleats" for lack of a better word. Are these to hold the horn crane? Also, I can't find a "type" letter on the reproducer, although it is stamped with the number, "49415."

Anyway, ANY other information anyone has would be greatly appreciated. My goal is to get missing parts and have it playable in our media room. So, I suppose I just need to track down a horn crane and elbow and go from there.

Thank you for the time, and for any assistance in tracking down parts, you all may have!

Regards,

Barry
Mission, BC, Canada

Welcome to the forum. The horn on the Fireside was a small maroon horn. The crane was fitted into the hole next to the gear cover. The horn that came with your machine was an upgrade either at the factory or a dealer. The 2 fittings on the bottom held the crane feet. The larger machines used one crane foot, but the upgraded Fireside used 2. That was to keep the machine from tipping over with the larger horn. The horn you have was made for the Standard Model E in 1911. It could be purchased separately for other machines. There was a 45 degree elbow to attach to the reproducer, so the horn will be at a proper angle. Also. a rubber tube was connected to end of the horn and reproducer. What you will need is an Edison horn crane, 2 Edison feet, 45 degree elbow, and rubber tubing. There is a picture in one of the Compendium books showing a Fireside with this setup. George, can you help with this? One thing of note, I never saw an Edison machine with a paper label on the bottom. That is very unusual. Once you get the right parts for your Fireside, you will have a very unusual machine. Also, don't forget, this model only plays 4 min. cylinders. Do not play 4 min. wax cylinders on it, only blue amberols or 4 min. indestructible ones. Good luck with your machine
Harvey Kravitz

I look forward to seeing a horn crane setup with 2 feet. All I can seem to find online are setups with 1 foot.

Then the trick is to locate such a horn crane configuration for my machine. Will this be difficult?

I found this picture with two feet setup. It even has the same horn

Hi Barry
Here's a close up of an original two foot setup on a Fireside A that I have. The horn I'm using is larger than your Standard horn and it's still stable and works fine. An original second foot is hard to find but you can easily get a repro crane set and a second repro foot to set up your machine until you find the original parts.
Best Regards, Larry

The Fireside came out very late in the horn era and at a time when low cost Amberolas were becoming more popular. I believe the Fireside was sold to big mail-order jobbers and was offered to the public at good prices with the big blue painted Standard horn. When you see a Fireside with brackets for two crane feet, it was set up for the big straight blue horn with flowers. I can't prove it but I suspect Edison dealers sold the Fireside with the Cygnet horn or the little red horn and the blue Standard horn was typical with mail order sales. Jerry Blais

So, I've been looking around and found this webpage:

http://www.wyattsmusical.com/cranes.html

Does item #H-113 look like it might get me off and running? However, I don't see an elbow to connect to the rubber tubing shown in the pic. Also, I can't find a second foot on this site.

All of your pics and information is greatly appreciated! Ironically, I have a musical background with an emphasis on live sound and recording. This step back into "yester-century" is pretty cool!

I just found this link, as well:

http://www.collectorsworldwest.com/lookup.php?id=33

This looks a bit like the other one.

Welcome to the forum!

When you mention "2 needles", do you mean there is an extra reproducer with the machine? If so, what model?

As for the motor: have you cleaned and re-lubricated it? That, plus cleaning and re-greasing the mainspring, might extend the playing time a bit more (I believe the Fireside B was probably capable of playing 2 4-minute records on one winding when new)…

Bill

gloveguy wrote:So, I've been looking around and found this webpage:

http://www.wyattsmusical.com/cranes.html

Does item #H-113 look like it might get me off and running? However, I don't see an elbow to connect to the rubber tubing shown in the pic. Also, I can't find a second foot on this site.

All of your pics and information is greatly appreciated! Ironically, I have a musical background with an emphasis on live sound and recording. This step back into "yester-century" is pretty cool!

Welcome to the Forum!

Have you called Duane at Wyatt's and talked to him yet? He's a very friendly and helpful guy with a lot of knowledge. Also, I've seen a reproduction elbow on eBAY recently, try searching there for one to get an idea of what you need.

Fran