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Does anyone know who is with Edison in this photograph with the Tin Foil machine? There is also an NBC microphone on the table, so this is obviously late.

Thanks,
Jeff

as I opened this thread, my mind was responding to your question... old white wealthy men... and sure enough...

sorry though, I don't recognize them with any greater specificity. I'm sure someone here will though.

This is from the ceremony on Oct. 20, 1928 when the original tinfoil phonograph was returned to Edison. It had been in the UK since the late 1870s. There is a brief newsreel clip of Edison pointing at the machine and cranking it. One of these guys may be the British diplomat Ronald Ian Campbell. I understand that there also may be some sound recording of this event. I'm sure others may know more.

Martin

Good call, Martin! Here's a picture of Campbell, obviously a few years later. Could easily be the same guy on the left in the group photo. May I muddy the waters further (or re-muddy them) by wondering whether the man in this picture, which was for sale on eBay recently, is the same man several years before 1928? I happened to see both the group and this one on the same night, and thought then that they might be. This time he's on the Victor side of the fence. By the way, I'm sure it's just the formal pose, but doesn't Edison seem to be looking at the tinfoil phono like it's something he'd hoped to never see again?

Wow - two things about that Victor VI photo - it has a Pathé adaptor for playing verticals on it, I thought I noticed a Disque Pathé sleeve on the pile below. The image may just be inverted, but the stylus is on the left side of the disc.

EDIT - nope, the image isn't inverted. Big ooops there!

Sean

It looks like a regular black Pathé soudbox & rubber connector, somehow glommed onto the Victor gooseneck. Seems to be some sort of wreath of wax or something between them - hard to tell, at that angle. I think they had to put it on the wrong side of the record to make it work. I wonder if stylus-meeting-groove-head-on made any difference in tracking or wear ... hmm.

Photo: Ronald Campbell, Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon, T.A.Edison, Princeton President John G.Hibben . See photo below, with Mina .

I saw that Victor photo with the Pathé reproducer on eBay.
the reproducer is attached to the crook without a 90 degree adapter so I assume in order to get it to track a a little better the tone arm is on the other side. Because its a ball jewel stylus I didn't scream at my computer (like I do on YouTube videos were they set the down the needle on the wrong side, turning it into a chisel or gouge ).

It would still track strangely but might have sounded a little better on that side. Its a little like when I see the Ultona reproducer when people do not realize that the diaphragm frame ring rotates to allow the Pathé stylus to move to the center and track correctly.

Jeff (vic-b) obtained the two items in question (currently on eBay) from me several years ago. The late Larry Schlick allowed me to make color copies of the group photo from an original in his possession, and I own the original postcard featuring the gentleman with the Vic VI sporting the Pathé-style reproducer. I just checked the back of the Vic VI postcard, and it has no writing on the back nor was it postally used --- so I, unfortunately, do not know the identity of the man pictured. He certainly does bear a strong resemblance to the man on the left in the group photo, but the chances that they are one in the same are pretty slim in my opinion.

Enjoy the mystery,
Bob

Edisone --- for your viewing pleasure, here's a scan I just did of the reproducer at 4800dpi. I still can't really tell how the reproducer is attached --- looks like some sort of creative engineering here!

Regards,
Bob

Thanks, PL! Now I can drive myself crazy(er) trying to figure it out ... almost looks like a clamping ring at the base, but those funny shapes are mysterious . They didn't have duct tape in 1910, I know that. haha