Edison Bell Discaphone ?

[casey-eamonn]

Hi All
Bought this machine recently in trrible condition. The bottom of the case was missing among other problems. I ve replaced the missing bottom of case as I prosumed it would have been, but could be totally wrong. The motor was pretty rough but its in working order again although its pretty noisy.I dont know if the bottom of the case would have been open or closed in (if closed in it might have been a little less noisy)as the top is not hinged.
I think it MIGHT be a Edison bell Discaphone but not sure.
Does anyone know what make, model and year it could be? I ve put qiute a bit of work into it and would like to as much about it as possible. The only marking I found on it was a 'J' on the motor.
All help would be greatly appreciated.
Regards

[Phototone]

That appears to be a much newer spring motor than one would find on an open-horn model of this age. Also it doesn't look like the tonearm/soundbox is correct..and this would include the whole tonearm horn mounting, as it appears from your photos that the needle does not bisect the turntable center spindle, which is the correct position. It sits further back, which would cause severe mistracking. My opinion is that this machine was made from various parts.

[estott]

It looks as if the motor and case are from one machine and everything else from another.

Handsome horn- even with the damage

[tinovanderzwan]

That appears to be a much newer spring motor than one would find on an open-horn model of this age. Also it doesn't look like the tonearm/soundbox is correct..and this would include the whole tonearm horn mounting, as it appears from your photos that the needle does not bisect the turntable center spindle, which is the correct position. It sits further back, which would cause severe mistracking. My opinion is that this machine was made from various parts.

i agree the motor is of the type that you find in german box gramophones like f.i. odeon jumbo parlophone lindstrom ec
from the late 1910s to the 30s
the items on the case like brake and speed knob also indicate this as does the crank
the backmount bracket is of a type you find on the early type india crapo's of the 1980s-90s as you see the possition of the reproduser is way off as is the angle of it

in my opinion its a frankenphone not an ugly one but still..


tino

[estott]

I think the back bracket is genuine- but cheap. I have a Parlophone with one of those, it is cast iron with a thin copper plating and then nickle plate. The arm on mine is stamped sheet metal in two pieces soldered together- again genuine but cheap.

[US PHONO]

Very nice job with the base, and the horn is quite stunning. The bottom should be closed unless you want motor oil sprayed on your furniture. My vote would be for all the pieces probably belonging together.

[Phonofreak]

If we can see a picture of the case with the turntable removed, that way we can tell if the motor is original or a swap. I think this is original machine from the teens or twenties. Open horn machines like this were made in England, Germany, Switzerland, or other countries clear up to the twenties or possibly thirties. The was still a market for open horned machines after they fell out of favor in the U.S.A. I think this was an inexpensive machine made to look impressive to a modest buyer. I really like the looks of it. I've always had a soft spot for European machines.
Harvey Kravitz

[Phototone]

Original or not, the tone-arm and sound box are not in alignment with the turntable. No way.

[casey-eamonn]

Hi Guys thanks for your suggestions. I ve posted some pictures of the motor-board & the back-bracket & tonearm.
For what its worth, I had recently come across a reference for the Edison Bell Consolidated Phonograph Company of Peckham London England which states that they used motors from a Swiss company for their phonographs/Gramophones.The pictures with it has a machine with exactly the same back-bracket,elbow,similar horn, brake and speed control as on my machine except all the corners of the case are rounded. From that I was hoping that maybe my machine was a newer model than the one in the article (which I ve misplaced somewhere ofcourse!).
There does seem to be a problem with the position of the needle and the center of the turntable so maybe back-bracket & tonearm / case are from two different models?
I was hoping that maybe someone had come across either or before but I know theres a lot out there.
The only thing I m confident of is that neither case nor attachments are fake or from a crapophone but everything else is up for grabs.
Thanks again guys.

[estott]

All the parts look genuine, but is there any indication there was ever a different back bracket on the machine?