The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I am hoping that some more Veteran collectors can chime in on this. I have been working on restoring some Victor Rigid Arm items. I have recently purchased a tone arm that is constructed a bit differently than I have seen before. It has a "hooked" end to accept the reproducer swing arm. I contacted Rob Rolfs as I remember them having Rigid Arm machines. He sent pictures of three different swing arms. (Thanks Rob) Does anyone have an idea of the actual production timeframe of the Rigid Arm Victors? I always thought that it was just for a short time in 1901. But, an ad in Cosmopolitan from 1902 shows the Rigid Arm MS with the cutout swing arm. It is very interesting that in such a short production run that there are three variants noticed. Maybe there are more? So far, these variants have been noticed for the Rigid Arm E,M, and MS models. I haven't found variants for the Rigid Arm R...yet. I look forward to hearing more about these rare machines.
Thanks,
Ken Brekke

Interesting thread. Here is an extract of a German ad of late August 1903. The gramophone shown was first introduced to the trade in late August/early September 1903.

The rigid arm M that I had and restored, had a tonearm like the first one shown... Question: did Victor actually make any brass horns with an engraved logo like the one in the ad or is that artistic license?

I wonder if the rigid arm machines were later in getting to Europe. I am sure that by 1903 that the tapered arm design was fully implemented in the US.
I posted the question about the engraved horn a while back. It would be great to find one but it seems that it was only for the ad as no one has ever seen one.
I am still looking to see if anyone has a time line for the rigid arm machines in the US. It is almost like the Model A Fords. There were two, 2 year spans for the most part. The 1928 and 1929 models and the 1930 and 1931 models. Within those two production runs there were MANY redesigns along the way. I wonder how the feedback got back regarding the need for a design change to the actual change.
Thanks for the posts and I hope to hear more.
Ken Brekke