The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi, i was hoping someone could help me date and give me some information about an Edison Triumph i bought today at auction. Thanks for your help! -- Joel

It looks like from the fuzzy photograph to be a Model B Triumph from 1906-1908. It only plays 2 minute cylinders and the mandrel has a swing arm to close after placing a cylinder correct?

Most early styles of Edison Phonographs (pre-May 1908) can be dated to the month and year, but Triumphs are a little trickier. That said, Triumph #57148 can be reliably dated to the first quarter of 1907. A detailed illustrated article on the Edison Spring-Motor/Triumph appeared in the December 2019 issue of the Antique Phonograph Society magazine.

https://www.antiquephono.org/#/

That Model B Triumph has a nice Hawthorne & Sheble horn, but it should not ride the Reproducer unsupported. Hopefully no damage was done.

Among the several free articles on the Antique Phonograph Society website is this one, which may be helpful to you:

https://www.antiquephono.org/#/collectiondetails/16

George P.

Sorry about the blurry pictures potato. I got them off the auction site. I'll upload better ones tomorrow.

George, I thought it should have come with a crane but wasn't sure. I asked them about it and they said what was there is what it is. Could you tell me what kind would be compatible?

Thank you both for your responses. I appreciate it!

You have a couple of options. The most commonly found are the Hawthorne & Sheble (pronounced "Sheb-lee") No. 5 cranes:
Here are a couple more:
Other commonly-found cranes are those by the Tea Tray Company. Here's an example from one of our books:
https://forum.antiquephono.org/

George P.

Here's a couple better pictures

Thank you George!

So I can't leave anything alone and have to figure out how it works. So I took the phonograph out of the box (I didn't know i could just lift the top until after that.) Anyways I found the bottom part of a crane inside so hopefully it wasn't used without it. Maybe I can make something up for the top part. Just a couple more questions... The knob with the numbers 120 160 and 180 is locked up. What does it do and what's an easy way to loosen it up? It's on 120 if it's not hurting anything I'll just leave it be. Also there's a thumb turn dial on the underside. What does yet l that do? Besides the things stated it seems to be running well. I only have blue amberols right now so I can't fully try it out yet but I'm pretty excited. Thanks again for any help! -- Joel

The knob with 120/140/160 markings is the speed control. After 1902, most cylinder records were recorded at 160 rpm. If the machine is running at 160, you don't need to mess with it.

The knob on the underside is the belt tightener.

Your partial crane is the bottom of the common Edison crane included with most Edison machines after October 1907. There should be a bracket in the underside of your machine's cabinet into which the crane foot may be slid. Fabricating a rod to complete that crane should be an easy matter.

George P.