Secrets of a Traveller's Phonograph

[Starkton]

When I first looked in the case of a 1903/04 German three-spring motor gramophone I was flabbergasted in the truest sense of the word.
After decades in the dark, the long time owners had no idea how to open the case, sunlight fell on not serialised wooden components, partly covered with green velvet.



Its purpose was readily apparent. After a few trials I found the correct position of the crank, the horn elbow and the nickel-plated horn support with taper arm and G&T exhibition sound box.
Elbow and horn support are both secured with a screw, which is screwed in metal thread inserts.



A post, padded with green velvet, fixes the taper arm from above:



After closing of the lid all components are protected against shaking and the now compact size gramophone is much easier to transport.
I suspect that the first owner was an inventive traveller or exhibitor in and around Berlin, where I found the instrument. Do you have something comparable in your collection?

[Nat]

That's really wonderful - good work the owner did, too! Many thanks for sharing!

[phonogfp]

Yes - very clever use of space! I enjoy these little glimpses into someone's mind a century ago. It's too bad the original owner's name has presumably been lost.

I could swear I've seen something similar, but it's not coming to me at the moment...

George P.

[Starkton]

It's too bad the original owner's name has presumably been lost.

If the oral tradition within the family is to be relied upon, the original owner's name is "Müller" - of all things. This doesn't help me much in the land of Müller, Meier, Schulze and Lehmann.

Here is a typical German exhibitioner on the stage: "Gramophone Player Arthur with his Hair-tour (? untranslatable)" from Berlin S.O. (= postal district southeast) on an advertising photo of around 1900:

[transformingArt]

Excuse me, but I cannot see any of your photos with imageshack hosting (I actually posted a thread below, but there is no reply so far) - any solutions?

[syncopeter]

I can see it perfectly well here in Holland. Something with filtering or copyright maybe?

[syncopeter]

I think it may be a little later than 1903/4. That was the transition period, where the tapered tonearm and the Exhibition soundbox were introduced. So 1905/6 sounds more probable to me. Great find though!

[Starkton]

I think it may be a little later than 1903/4. That was the transition period, where the tapered tonearm and the Exhibition soundbox were introduced. So 1905/6 sounds more probable to me. Great find though!

Thank you for your submission. I am of course open for discussion on the manufacturing date. Unfortunately, my digital camera run out of order in the middle of the photoshooting. I will show the photos of the "rest" of the machine later.

My dating is based on a few arguments: This type (Monarch No. 15) with tapered, instead of rigid, tonearm was introduced in October 1903. My instrument has the earliest type of three spring motor with upright governor and large, ball-shaped weights. It also has an early speed adjustment, an early brake and a record hold down. The serial numbers of the case (D.G.A.G. 2319) and of the Gramophone & Typewriter Exhibition soundbox (40309) are very low.

[transformingArt]

What I get now looks like this!

[Starkton]

My guess is that you must register at imageshack to view my pictures: http://my.imageshack.us/registration/