The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

My first Berliner was Throw Out the Life Line and it has two holes on it so can play on some strange machine. I have never seen a machine that has two spindles though would love to. Anyone have a photo of the type of machine this was played on? Neil

Records on early records were prone to slippage- Victor used a screw down plate, but I think Zonophone tried a spring loaded pin in the turntable which fit into a recess in the record. It appears that someone was drilling a recess in this & went through

It's shameful to see Berliner records with an enlarged (drilled) spindle hole as this one has. The large hole was likely drilled to accommodate (ugh!) a Standard Talking Machine or Harmony turntable. I can't tell by the photo.

Doug

vansteem78 wrote:

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My first Berliner was Throw Out the Life Line and it has two holes on it so can play on some strange machine. I have never seen a machine that has two spindles though would love to. Anyone have a photo of the type of machine this was played on? Neil

Neil,

As Eric mentioned, the smaller hole was meant to accommodate a Zonophone pin (which was retractable so conventional records could be played as well). If you look in your copy of The Talking Machine Compendium, you'll find a number of Zonophones.

Here's an image that appeared in a December issue of the APS magazine a number of years ago. It shows the pin protruding through a Berliner record:
Quite a few late Berliners were drilled out this way by the National Gramophone Corporation when the Zonophone machines first became available. Zonophone records didn't appear until a few months later, so Berliner records with an extra hole were provided at first.

I once found a very early production Zonophone and it came with 22 Berliner records - - all drilled for the Zonophone pin.

Here's a picture of another Zonophone before its restoration. The retractable pin can be clearly seen on the turntable.

George P.