The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

“On This Day in the History of Recorded Sound…”

October 25, 1904: Eldridge Johnson and William Moore were granted a U.S. patent (No.773,290) on the tubular tone arm that had begun appearing on Victor Talking Machines in October 1902. This was the “Rigid Arm,” which removed the weight of the horn and earlier style traveling arm from the record.

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Gorgeous!!!! I am still on the hunt for a tapered arm Victor R. The back brackets for an E or 1 don't fit right. There must have been a special one for the R. Some of the plates on the front mount R models state "Remove This Plate To Attach Tapered Arm"

The Rigid tone arm took the weight of the horn off the record and permitted the horn to grow.edisonplayer.