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Here's an interesting find, belonging to a friend of mine.
A smooth inner core.

The core looks and feels to be made with the same material.
The entire surface is at the level of normal ridges, without its hollowed sections.

Does anyone know how these were constructed/assembled?
Possibly a production step was missed?
It's interesting to say the least.

Thanks,
James.

As the surface looks new, the grooves were probably ground away with a reamer. The material used in the core is hygroscopic and tends to swell over time, not fitting in the mandrel anymore and requiring reaming. Reamers are mandatory tools for people like me that collect such amberols.

Way Over-reamed..in my humble opinion!

No mystery here....!

)

Tony K.

You will find Blue Amberol cylinders with a smooth inner core but they were for Ediphone business machines.


Examples of them are:

15 GOOD LETTERS EDW J. MCNAMARA 125 WPM
ALEXANDER THE GREAT EDW J. MCNAMARA 125 WPM
2 LOYALTY IN BUSINESS EDW J. MCNAMARA 125 WPM
EDIPHONE STANDARD PRACTICE RECORD NO 3 40 WPM

Andersun wrote:You will find Blue Amberol cylinders with a smooth inner core but they were for Ediphone business machines.

Thanks for that information, Steve. I just played it hoping it was not miss-titled too! No such luck, but still an oddity!
If these were produced at the same factory, then it's easy to understand that someone produced this on the wrong core.

Does anyone know why the ribs were not used on these Ediphone Blue Amberols?

Here are close-ups of the core. No reaming is evident.

The first image shows that the title rim is above the core. The second image shows the core's moulding pattern.
What may be perceived as ribs ground flat, are not. They are in different positions and don't have the same count. The third image is what I think would have happened if the core swelled to the suggested extent. James.

The Ediphone practice record has a smooth dark plaster core with a slight recessed spiral pattern in it.......

I'm thinking this could simply be a test of some sort.

Sean

Thanks for the replies.

Another small mystery to ponder.

James