The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have never seen an Edison home model C, I have seen plenty of model A's, B's and D's, where are the home model C's??? I have a late model B with a serial number greater the the early model D's serial numbers. OK, these 2 models crossed in the manufacturing process. Did Edison just skip a letter in the alphabet or are they very rare. Whats the story??

I believe Edison had legal problems in the state of New York and the C series of machines avoided the patent issues. The C series originally were intended to be sold only in New York. Without looking it up in my reference books, that's my quick answer. I've seen more C Gems than anything and that's odd because Gems sold in such small numbers. I wonder why. Jerry Blais

I believe the legal problems in New York had something to do with the end-gate, in that the end-gate had been eliminated in the next iteration beyond the Model B, but Columbia successfully sued in NY state courts for patent infringement, so Edison was ordered to sell a machine with an end-gate in New York state only, thus the Model C with an end-gate, and the Model D iteration without. The first cylinder Phonograph I ever owned was a C 'Home'.