| Description |
LOCAL PICKUP ONLY > An upright floor model Edison Diamond Disc Wind-up Phonograph, presented in a Sheraton style wood cabinet as Model C-150 ~ Standing 44" tall on wheels, measuring 19.5 x 20.25" overall to the cover ~ Includes older reprints of the original instructions for unpacking, setting up and operating this model ~ Note this model plays the specific Edison Diamond Disc "thick" type records and is not designed for typical 78 RPM records.
CONDITION REPORT > Fully functional, with good speaker sound ~ A remarkably well preserved example ~ Overall fine, vintage condition, best noted by examining the images offered.
HISTORY and OPERATION of the EDISON DIAMOND DISC PHONOGRAPH
All Edison Phonographs were built at the Edison Phonograph Works in West Orange, N.J. In the case of the Disc Phonographs, cabinets were manufactured by outside suppliers (usually furniture manufacturers) spread across the Northeast and into Wisconsin. The empty cabinets were shipped to West Orange where the mechanisms were fitted into them.
The C-150 was introduced in June 1915, and original price was $150 (raised to $160 in January 1918, $170 in July, and finally $175 in September). During 1917, the C-150 briefly became the best-selling Disc Phonograph in the Edison line. During 1918, a total of 18,000 C-150s had been assembled. Sales trailed off in 1919 and it is believed all production was cleared by 1920. Your serial number seems quite high, and although no comprehensive production/sales figures are known, I would guess your machine must be relatively late production (1918/1919).
The Edison Disc Phonographs use a permanent diamond stylus and typical 78s cannot be played with it. Also, Edison Records cannot be played with an adapter using steel needles.
Edison Diamond Disc records were thicker than common 78 RPM records, as they were scanned like cylinders with a vertically moving diamond stylus mounted into a heavy metal shank, requiring a very flat surface for the records. The diamond disc reproducer uses an unusual diaphragm made of seven layers of rice paper impregnated with shellac, and the records have a Bakelite surface. The vertically cut grooves can be placed much denser than those of a regular shellac record, since it was unnecessary to accommodate the horizontal excursions needed for these lateral cut Berliner or Victor-type records. Since both record types are played with about the same speed of 80 rpm, not only the playing time (5 minutes per side) but also the dynamic range is much larger for Edison records. Edison "re-created", not simply "recorded" his artists performances, and had these recreations tested by the public in his famous "Tone Tests". It is tragic that Edison had to give up his superior vertical philosophy in 1929 for both, cylinders and records, because production of lateral discs was much cheaper. He himself had sold a lateral attachment for 6 months in 1919, but stopped, when sales of diamond discs started declining.
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