Contextual Associations

This Edison Standard Model D cylinder phonograph is a totally mechanical (non-electrical) acoustic stylusphone idiophone designed and made in the U.S.A between 1908 and 1911 but also introduced to Europe and elsewhere in the world. The initial Edison Standard phonograph was introduced in 1898 but subsequent models of it introduced small mechanical and decorative changes. From the copyright information found on the ID plate of this instrument (detail #1), it was possibly manufactured in 1908. The first Standard phonographs cost $20.00 in 1898 while subsequent models, such as the one pictured here, cost $30 when new. Whether its price was $20 or $30, it was unaffordable for much of the American population of the time. The Standard Model D was the first Edison phonograph to give its user the option to play either 2- or 4-minute cylinders. In order to do this, the phonograph, when new, came with two interchangeable reproducers (a Type C, used when playing 2-minute cylinders, and a Type H [detail #2, reproducer removed from its carriage], used when playing the new [in 1908] 4-minute cylinders) and with newly designed gearing that allowed the user to change the rate at which the reproducer carriage moved along the length of the cylinder being played (from traversing 100 grooves per inch for 2-minute cylinders to 200 grooves per inch for 4-minute cylinders). Clear instructions as to how to set up the phonograph to be play either 2- or 4-minute cylinders is still found inside the machines arched-top cover (detail #3). When the individual who donated this Edison Standard Model D to Grinnell College purchased it from an antique shop around 2005, the phonograph had only its Type H reproducer, so it has since then been used only to play 4-minute cylinders.

Description

Unlike the Columbia Eagle cylinder machine found in the collection, most of the operational machinery of Edison cylinder players, including the Standard Model D, is located in its box-shaped case, out of sight on the bottom side of the case’s top board. Only the phonograph’s mandrel, its drive screw, its reproducer and carriage and guides, and part of its motor’s belt are visible when in operation. Beneath the top board is to be found the spring motor, the governor, most of its gearing, and the other half of the drive belt that transmits the power produced by the motor to the mandrel on the top side of the wood case (detail #4). The spring motor, which needs to be wound up before the playing of each 4-minute cylinder, is prepped by turning clockwise the removeable hand crank (detail #5) that protrudes from one side of the phonograph’s case. The top board of the case is hinged at the top of the case’s back sideboard and can be propped open with the aid of a metal support so that the underneath mechanical parts can be reached for lubrication and repair (detail #4). The carriage that houses the phonograph’s glass-tipped reproducer/stylus moves along the length of a 4-minute cylinder mounted on the mandrel at a controlled pace of 200 phonogram grooves per inch as the mandrel rotates at a standardized speed of 160 revolution per minute. All this precision is controlled by: a) the governor, which regulates the energy output of the spring motor; and 2) gearing and the drive belt, which collectively coordinate the rate of rotation of the phonograph’s mandrel and the drive screw that controls the rate at which the reproducer carriage moves laterally along the length of the cylinder. The mechanics of the machine can be switched from playing 2-minute cylinders to playing 4-minute cylinders by pushing in (for 2-minute cylinders) or pulling out (for 4-minute cylinders) a sliding stub located on the side of the gear cover located on the left side of the phonograph’s top board (detail #6 shows the gear cover attached; detail #7 the gear cover removed). One small cone-shaped horn came with the phonograph; it slides onto a shaft at the back side of the reproducer (gallery #1). When not in use, the horn and motor crank are removed and an arched wooden cover is placed over the instrument’s box-shaped case and locked in place with latches on the sides of the case (gallery #2).

Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production

The player takes a 4-minute cylinder and slides it onto the phonograph’s mandrel while the sound box carriage (including its attached horn) is at its raised position and so that the starting point of the phonogram’s groove is situated near the phonograph’s drive belt. The player then uses the motor’s crank to fully wind up the enclosed spring while the machine’s on-off switch is in the off position. When ready to play the chosen phonogram, the operator slides the main switch to the ‘on’ position and the governor, gearing, mandrel, and sound box feed screw all start rotating. The operator then slides the soundbox carriage to over the left end of the cylinder and lowers the soundbox until one end of it contacts the drive screw and the stylus end comes in contact with the surface of the rotating cylinder (detail #8). The soundbox/stylus/horn then start to move along the length of the cylinder at a consistent pace (covering 200 passes through the groove spiral per inch of cylinder while rotating at 160 times per minute). When the performance captured on the cylinder comes to an end, the player lifts the stylus and soundbox off the cylinder, slides it all the way to the left, and turns the motor off before removing the cylinder from the mandrel.

Origins/History/Evolution

The cylinder phonograph was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison. His machine was driven by a hand crank and used a cylinder made of tin foil. By 1908, when the Standard Model D was first marketed by the Edison company, a number of technological advances had accrued both in the material science of cylinder phonograms and the mechanical design of phonographs to allow the nascent recording industry, and actors in it such as Edison, to produce marketable machines affordable to a large segment of the public. Edison stuck with cylinder phonographs longer than any other company (Columbia, by 1910, had discontinued production of cylinders and cylinder machines in favor of discs and disc phonographs, and Victor had from its get-go around 1900 produced only disc phonographs). Between about 1911 and 1929, Edison was the only major company still producing cylinders and cylinder phonographs. Production of Edison Standard phonographs ended in 1913, when the last Model G of the line was produced.

Bibliographic Citations

Frow, George L. 1994. The Edison Cylinder Phonograph Companion. 1^st American ed., newly rev. and enlarged. Woodland Hills, CA: Stationary X-Press.

Reiss, Eric L. 2003. The Compleat Talking Machine. 4^th ed. Chandler, AZ: Sonoran Publishing, LLC.