The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have a really unusual Aretino Machine. The Horn is mounted in a fixed position and the turntable moves to play the record. It has the typical 3" spindle. It also has a lever where you can adjust the turntable to the start or middle or ??? of the record. It has what looks like an original Aretino reproducer that is different from the more common Aretino. I have included a few pics with the turntable in different positions and also pics of the reproducer. Can anyone give me any info on this unusual Aretino? Sorry about the dust, girlfriend is not very good at dusting these for me.

I don't know the details of this model but one was sold at the last Donley's auction. It was very unique.

The "traversing turntable" Aretino is shown on page 138 (Fig. 4-28) of The Talking Machine Compendium. It was also described in detail in the Dec. 2013 issue of the APS magazine in "Dodging the Fifth Claim, Pt.2."

In short, this machine was designed and patented by Edward F. Leeds and George Rumpf. It was briefly manufactured in late 1908/early 1909 by Hawthorne & Sheble, and was the first true mechanical feed disc talking machine known to have reached the marketplace. The U.S. Patent for the Leeds-Rumpf machine was No.897,836. The whole idea was to dodge the 5th claim of Berliner's U.S. Patent No.534,543, which covered any talking machine whose needle/stylus was propelled by the record's groove.

Here are a couple of shots of the motor. It's pretty flimsy!

George P.

I’ve restored two of these mechanical feed Aretinos. There are two variations in that motor design believe it or not! The differences are very subtle. I was under the impression this version of the Aretino was quite rare.

Thank you George. I even have that book of yours. The info is much appreciated. Looks like the reproducer is the same also.

Two things:

1. Congratulations on your Aretino; those traversing turntable machines are very interesting.

2. So dust them yourself.

Kind regards,
Fran

Here is the other design which I believe is older. They changed the winding mechansim because the small spur gear was stripping the contacting plate which is what happened to my Aretino. They ended doing a reverse setup which is much more robust.

Thanks for posting that variation, Steve. I'll bet you're right about which came sooner.

...And thanks again for all your help with my restoration 8 years ago!

George P.