The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Sold my standard door XVI so this one has moved into the vacant living room
real estate. It has a Duncan brake system but the gold reproducer is shot,
with no diamond. It runs quite well however and I attached my functional
nickel reproducer for now. I got it for $250 so as long as I can find
a gold reproducer under $100 I should be ok. The cabinet is surprisingly
clean, I have not done anything to it yet. There is damage to the right
front corner and the bottom left leg was chipped and re-glued at some point.
The original 1910 battery was inside the cabinet. Is it safe to keep this battery
considering its 100 years old?

Please Please Please post a picture of the battery

If it's not leaking, I cant see that keeping it will do any harm. If it is leaking, I guess you could store it in a glass jar, ideally with a glass stopper too.

Everyone should have an Oak C250/C19. They're a beautiful machine.
Congrats!

gramophoneshane wrote:Please Please Please post a picture of the battery

If it's not leaking, I cant see that keeping it will do any harm. If it is leaking, I guess you could store it in a glass jar, ideally with a glass stopper too.

Everyone should have an Oak C250/C19. They're a beautiful machine.
Congrats!

Thanks! Here are the batt pics Shane. Also I changed out the "grandma" grille
cloth. Looks better now.

Awesome. Thanks!
Hmm, Columbia battery in an Edison. Tom would be pleased
It'd be great if someone reproduced the battery label so it could be applied to new batteries to keep everything looking authentic to the era.
Someone posted a link to about a dozen repro battery labels that were used in 20s/30s radios, on the Antique Radio Forum a month or so back, and it made want to go out and buy a suitable radio just to use them. They were spectacular!

gramophoneshane wrote:Awesome. Thanks!
Hmm, Columbia battery in an Edison. Tom would be pleased
It'd be great if someone reproduced the battery label so it could be applied to new batteries to keep everything looking authentic to the era.
Someone posted a link to about a dozen repro battery labels that were used in 20s/30s radios, on the Antique Radio Forum a month or so back, and it made want to go out and buy a suitable radio just to use them. They were spectacular!

I would like to get the Duncan stop running some day but I will likely use the
mechanical stop for the time being. I am going to find a gold reproducer
however as soon as I find a deal on one.

Something came up and I can't figure it out, maybe you can help with this. It
makes an odd sound especially during the start of the record, "bumb bump" "bump
bump" and when it does this the needle skips on the grooves. It smooths out
for the most part later in the record, so I thought it must be something to
do with the worm screw or the way the gears are meshing. The worm screw
is oiled and seems to be seating properly where it should however. I watched
it closely also and it does not seem to be slipping while this is happening.
When the spindle is spinning, the sounds "bump" at exactly the same points in
time. Its different than the springs bumping, this is something going on
in the gearing apparently. Any ideas?

Did some process of elimination just before going to work. I removed the reproducer
and ran the motor with the arm down as if its playing a record. Dead silent and smooth.
So it must be something to do with the reproducer. Probably the obvious I overlooked:
dirty or bad records.

Dummy question - what is the Duncan braking system, and does it have something to do with the battery?

frenchmarky wrote:Dummy question - what is the Duncan braking system, and does it have something to do with the battery?

The battery operates a solenoid under the motor board that triggers the brake
at the end of a record. From what I understand its a more exact system that stops
as soon as the music is finished instead of at a standard stop point set manually.
I am still hazy on exactly how it works myself. I will post some pics of the Duncan
reproducer it came with tomorrow so some of the more knowledgeable board members
might help with the puzzle.

Im not too sure about the bumping noise. One of my DDs was making a similar noise once the reproducer was lowered, and for some reason, adjusting the governor got rid of it
As for the Duncan brake, this probably explains the principals of it's operation better than I can.

http://www.google.com/patents?id=D_9LAA ... ke&f=false

There should be a hole drilled in the rear of the hinge block for a wire to plug into, and the bottom section of the limit pin needs rubber insulation to stop the circuit completing when the reproducer is in the raised position, and the limit pin is sitting at the bottom of the loop.

The battery should remain stable as long as you keep it dry. Here is a wood shipping crate that these type of batteries were ship to the store in. Instructions on the top tell the store owner to remove the linen strip and attach the two wooden dummy terminals on the top and display is your window. Because of that. I'm sure not many survived.