The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I’m interested in this listing on eBay for a repeater attachment for a triumph a and b model. The question I have is, did Edison make these add ons? And do I have to drill holes in the bed plate to install the part?

I saw that repeater listing - pretty pricey but it’s 2 and 4 minutes and for a triumph so very very cool. I put a repeater on an Edison Home last year. It was a lot harder to install than I anticipated but did get it working after a lot of experimenting, I still love it! Mine had a 2/4 minute pulley as well, but I couldn’t get that working, so I switched it out for a two minute only pulley which worked great.

I did have to drill two holes in the bed plate. That was surprisingly easily, however, in the end I needed to adjust the repeater position so I ended up needing to widen the holes a little with a dremel, which wasn’t too hard but took a lot of tinkering.

It’s a process (which is what I was told) however an Edison repeater is a really neat add on. Whom ever thought it up was very bright! Watching it work is so awesome!

If your Triumph has never had a model D repeater installed on it then, yes, you will definitely need to drill two holes in the casting and TAP each one. And the holes need to be drilled exactly where they need to be so that the gear teeth mesh perfectly and any gear lash is removed. The two holes in the model D repeater casting allow for some MINOR adjustment but not much so you need to be very precise when drilling and tapping the two casting holes. The model D repeater after installation can be VERY finicky to adjust to operate correctly so expect to spend quite a bit of time fiddling with it. Once set up and operating they are a delight to watch.

Doug

Doug’s comments remind me of a few things! I agree, you have to drill the holes and then tap them. I misspoke above - I had to dremel the holes on the repeater, not the base plate itself. The repeater holes do have a little wiggle room, but not a lot. I agree - it’s a very sensitive device but so so cool when it finally works. If you can get both 2 and 4 minute hearing going on a repeater then you’re really cooking!

The Model D Repeating Attachment was invented and patented by longtime Edison employee Edward Aiken. There's a brief illustrated writeup on the attachment here:

https://forum.antiquephono.org/topic/59 ... c-history/

Based only on what I've observed, it seems that most of these were installed by dealers. Factory-installed Model D repeaters included a leather insert on the left end of the straight-edge to cushion the carriage as it was dropped there. Most machines I've seen equipped with these repeaters don't have the insert.

George P.

I have a Triumph B with a factory installed repeater (has the leather inset). It is an interesting thing to watch but not easy to get it set just right. Tried getting it to work with just a small horn after getting it to work well with no horn but only works intermittently. I think it will work if I set it up with a large horn and crane. Just need to get the horn weight just right.

I found that neither of my Model D repeaters would work with a small horn, as it exerted too much weight on the carriage. However, one repeater (used with a Cygnet horn) has worked flawlessly for 20 years this past summer, and the other (in an Eclipse) has worked perfectly for 12 years. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've had no trouble with them getting out of adjustment.

George P.

If you need to use a short horn, 14" aluminum horns work great. Even my Home can handle it.

Agree with George, once you set the end points for a record I never had repeat ability problem.
If you change records you pretty much need to reset the lift and drop points for each record.

Chuck

I had the some trouble with horns. My Edison Hime with a D repeater will not run with a horn of any type placed directly on the reproducer with no other form of support. If I use a crane then I can use a very large horn and repeat multiple times with no problems.

Again, finicky device but sooooo awesome when you get it going. Totally worth all the trouble!

It won't lift the carriage on to the return screw or it won't carry it back to the beginning?

Chuck