The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1906)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. 49 TRADE NOTES FROM ST. LOUIS. Dealers, Without Exception, Report a Lively State of Business — The Victor-Victrola Makes Decided Hit — Columbia Manager Makes Good Report — Order for Edison Phonograph for Manila — Recent Trade Visitors— Other Items of Interest. (Special to The Talking Machine World.) St. l-ouis, Mo., Oct. 10, 1906. The past month has been a very satisfactory one to the dealers in talliing machines here, and they all report a lively state of activity during that period, with prospects that it would be hard to improve upon. D. S. Ramsdell, manager of the St. Louis Talking Machine Co., reports a very good trade, and says that the arrival of the Victor Victrola, their new $200 instrument, made a decided hit. Mr. Ramsdeli reports the sale of eight of these instruments in one week recently. The new Auxtephone arrived a few days ago, and is making numerous friends. This firm is still short on Nos. one, two, three, four and five Victors. Manager W. C. Fuhri, manager of the Columbia Phonograph Co., reports trade very good all through his territory, and that he looks for a very large business during the fall and winter months. W. F. Standke, manager of the Columbia Phonograph Co., Memphis, Tenn., spent several days here recently, and reported trade very active at that point. Manager T. P. Clancy, manager of the talking machine department of the Conroy Piano Co., expresses great satisfaction with present trade and future prospects. He received an order for a fine Edison phonograph from Manila, P. I., recently. Marks Silverstone. president of the Silverstone Talking Machine Co., reports trade as being excellent. This concern has just erected a fine display booth in their store. Prominent trade visitors here during the last two weeks were: A. E. Dunk, traveling sales manager of the Talking Machine Co., Chicago: Mr. Myers, of the Victor Talking Machine Co., Camden, N. J.; A. H. Kloehr, Edison Phonograph Co., and C. H. Noyes, western representative of the Hawthorne & Sheble Mfg. Co. The Thiebes-Stierlin Music Co. have let the contracts for building their new talking machine department, and work is expected to commence shortly. They expect to have it in operation by Nov. 1. WE ARE ENLIGHTENED By a Solomon Regarding the Functions of the Various Kinds of Talking Machines and Their Weak Points. "It is quite a general notion, born partly of ignorance, partly of Mr. Edison's intimate connection with things electrical, that the phonograph and its congeners, the graphophone and gramophone, are somehow electrical in their action. This is not the case," observes a writer in the American Inventor. "The phonograph is purely mechanical from first to last — as mechanical as the string telephone. There is a mouthpiece, a diaphragm, a cutting point fixed thereon, and a sheet of wax. Words uttered in the mouthpiece cause air vibrations. These cause the diaphragm to vibrate, raising and lowering the cutting point or stylus. This cuts into the wax, making long, wavy lines or tracks or jagged indentations. When this track is drawn beneath a stylus it jogs the diaphragm up and down, causing the air in the mouthpiece and the attached horn to vibrate therewith, and, voila, the reproduced speech. "I have used the term 'jogs' advisedly. It precisely conveys the action and suggests the crudeness of the means used. The result is as crude as an old sand casting compared with those marvels turned out by the Franklin process. A man who went on rather too frequent sprees was once referred to as 'jumping from jag to jag, like an alcoholic chamois.' Very much the same state of affairs exists in the mechanical phonograph, minus the alcohol, of course. The indentations, hollows, waves, etc., are of infinite complexity. Each slightest curve is a factor in the complete sound, and when reproducing fi-om a record the stylus does not follow these curves exactly. It jumps from one crest to another, striking on the high places, and though the resultant sound is approximately true, it is only approximately. The finer vibrations which distinguish one note from another, and which give character to the sound, are lost. "On the recording side of the matter also, the mechanical phonograph is inadequate. The faint, infinitesimal vibrations of a tenuous medium are put to do work for which they are not strong enough. It is like setting Arial to Caliban's employment; yoking a race horse to a plow; using a razor to cut wood, to employ these delicate air vibrations to scoop out humps and hollows in wax or cut a sinuous track through composition. The faults of the present phonograph and its derivatives, lie not in their construction, but in the principle on which they are built, and the three elements, the mechanical record, the mechanical stylus, and the mechanically operated diaphragm." This Solomon of the pen writes, indeed, glibly of one of the wonderful arts of the world, and it is evident what he does not know about sound reproduction, as demonstrated by the talking machine, would fill several volumes. E. A. Vaughan, the music dealer of Princeton, 111., is giving particular attention these days to talking machines, and is carrying an unusually large stock. A recent advertising feature was the distribution of sheet music containing his advertisement on the back cover page. The Folding Phonographic Horn Co., New York, has been incorporated, with a capital of $20,000. Directors: M. L. Munson, J. W. Foster and F. W. Leikerm. "De Luxe" is the title of a series of extra highclass records now being manufactured by the Victor Co. The Place Automatic Record Brushes For Edison Phonographs and Victor Talking Machines Patented Sept. 25th and October 2nd, 1906. Oilier Patents Pending. Phonograph S(ylcs Nos. 1, 2 and 3— Price 15 cents. Can be used on all Phonographs. Removes lint and dust from record automatically. Saves sapphire from ■wearing fiat and prevents raspint; sounds. Insures a perfect playing Record. It Is equally as efficient when recording. It is too cheap to be without. No. 1 fits Triumph. No* 2, Standard and Home. No. 3, Gem. Disk Style IVo. lO For Victor Exhibition Box Price 25 cents PRESERVES THE LIFE OF DISK RECORDS. Automatically cleans the Record Grooves and gives the needle a clean track to run in. Insures a clear Reproduction and prevents Record getting scratchy. Makes the Needle wear better Dust and dirt in the Record grooves wear the Record out quickly and grind the Needle so it cuts the Record. SAVE THE LIFE OF YOUR RECORDS. NOTE.-We are giving JOBBERS and DEALERS a BIG margin of PROFIT. Write lor lull inlormation NOW. Mannfactnred by BLACKMAN TALKING MACHINE COMPANY (•'•^-2^'^") 97 Chambers Street, MEW YORK CITY