The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Did anybody seen this machine in real life?
I think this is one of the few machines that predates the Montross oak boxed lever Berliners.
I know of the "Tin Can" Berliner that looks almost a variation on this machine. This one looks very ornate, one piece cast and sturdier than the "tin Can".

This is the first spring motor gramophone. The photo was taken in 1891. The ornate case probably housed the motor ordered by Emile Berliner from a German clock maker during his stay in Hannover (September 1889 - August/ September 1890). No one has ever seen this prototype(?!) in person.

Below is another photo from the Emile Berliner collection at the Library of Congress:

Starkton wrote:This is the first spring motor gramophone. The photo was taken in 1891. The ornate case probably housed the motor ordered by Emile Berliner from a German clock maker during his stay in Hannover (September 1889 - August/ September 1890). No one has ever seen this prototype(?!) in person.

Below is another photo from the Emile Berliner collection at the Library of Congress:

As Starkton wrote " prototype(?!)". There are a number of photo's that Berliner had taken by "Bishop". Here is the electric "prototype". Part of this machine is in the hands of the "Smith".

Both of the machines on the pictures seem to have a metal elbow.

pappde wrote:Both of the machines on the pictures seem to have a metal elbow.

I would say not. In fact I believe that the horn,arm and reproducer is the very same one used on all the machines in the Bishop photo's. Leather was the material of choice. These machines are not what I would base the Berliner's we are able to find and collect today because these are very early prototypes. If you order the Berliner book, you will see most of the Bishop photo's in there.

I remember back in the good ol' '70's, I was touring the Smithsonian, and in a partitioned area, not well- travelled, they were working on a Berliner exhibit. I nosed around a little but left before anyone saw me. If I had been less honest (and less fearful), I could have come away with a few zinc records and a few machine parts. Oh, the missed opportunities!

The elbow is not metal, it is spiral of coated paper. Fairly robust and used on the earliest Berliner machines.