The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1913)

30 the Talking machine would. THE ARTESTE TONE MAGNIFIER. The New and Remarkable Device Invented by C. Stetson Butler to Perfect the Tone Quality of the Talking Machine Has Now Been Introduced to the Trade — Company Organized with Offices in New York and Cleveland — To Develop This Business. The Arteste Tone Magnifier is a new and most remarkable device that has been invented by C. Stetson Butler after long and continued experiments in an effort to produce a means for the perfection of the tonal qualities of the talking machine and to produce the natural tone of the artist or instrument in a realistic manner and in such a way as to eliminate mechanical effects. The marvelous progress made in the production of talking machines has left the main step for improvement in the reproducing of perfect music in the direction of the development of tonal purity and the natural pitching of the voices or instruments reproduced. The Arteste Tone Magnifier is said to be remarkable for the success it has achieved in this direction. Some of the greatest authorities on tone production were consulted and advised with continually and were themselves astonished with the result. Artists who have heard their voices reproduced with the new magnifier in use have been extremely enthusiastic and have expressed themselves that the reproduction was as perfect as an individual rendition. The Arteste Tone Magnifier is not complicated but on the other hand is quite simple. It very successfully eliminates, however, rhe grating and -rasping noise of the needle and prevents the echoing or fluctuation of tone caused by too violent or continuous vibration of the diaphragm and prevents the blasting of the high notes or tones by offering a flexible cushion to the diaphragm which prevents excessive vibration and consequently true and distinct reproduction. It is designed to truly reproduce in absolutely natural tones the consonants and vowels so frequently emitted from the instrument without being well defined, and also to bring out clearlv the separate voices of instruments in concerted productions and orchestra renditions. This is considered most important because the diaphragm is apt in the transmission of this collection of various tones to vibrate so violently in giving forth one sound that it does not fully recover its normal position in time to send forth the next tone correctly. All of the true natural tone of the voice with the true quality is also given through the use of the magnifier. The manufacture and sale of the Arteste Tone Magnifier was undertaken by The Stetson Mfg. Co., of New York and Cleveland, in April. The officers and directors are: J. L. Miller, NewYork, president; Henry Ureher, Cleveland, vicepresident; George T. Cappei, New York, vicepresident ; J. P. Stetson, New York, secretary ; H. A. Auer, Cleveland, assistant secretary ; C. Stetson Butler, Cleveland, treasurer; Jay Dawley, Cleveland ; Dr. F. S. Clark, Cleveland, and F. A. Hall, of New York. The company has organized u large and efficient sales force, backed by sufficient capital and ability to insure the proper introduction of its product. R. W. Shirring, manager of the Victrola department of the Caldwell Piano Co., of Cleveland, has recently joined the sales force, and has been assigned to Western territory. An announcement from this company appears on page 29 of this issue. SELLING A ROUGH DIAMOND. Some time ago a man who had not been on good terms with his razor, his tailor or his bootblack for several days, entered the Victor department of a certain store in New York City. He asked to see a small Victrola, and the three salesmen (on commission) each waited for the other to demonstrate. Finally the best man of the three took the rather rough looking customer in hand and eventually sold him a $25 machine and, of course, a few records. The salesmen did not think it worth while to show anything but band, instrumental and popular lowpriced numbers. The rugged customer declined to purchase on "time," saying, "No, I guess I'll pay for it. I want to liven things up aboard the boat. 1 want it tomorrow, sure, and if I have it charged I may never get it." The sale amounted to $31. As he left the store the salesmen failed to notice a Masonic emblem of high degree and two diamonds worn by the customer. Three times in two weeks the same customer returned, and each time he was shown only low-priced records. The fourth time, about eleven weeks later, the department manager was at leisure and handled this customer's business. The result, a sale of fifty-six dollars' worth of records. The customer remarked that he had begun to think that the store did not carry the opera records, because he had never been shown any before. During the summer this man purchased over three hundred dollars' worth of records. Most of these were damaged on the boat and in the fall he purchased a style XVI and over two hundred dollars' worth of records for his home. The man was a large property owner, rated several times a millionaire, and the boat was a goodsized yacht. TRADE WITH _S0UTH AMERICA. Exports Shown to Be Increasing Faster Than Imports. (Special to The Talking Machine World.) Washington, D. C, May 10, 1913. Reports from the United States to the five principal countries of South America — Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Peru — increased almost 12 per cent, during the first nine months of the present fiscal year, as compared with the same period last year. Imports from those countries increased only 5 per cent. The exports this year totaled $94,300,000, against $84,400,000 last year; the imports $145,300,000, against $138,500,000. The imports from Brazil in the comparative nine-month period increased from $95,700,000 last year to $104,500,000 this year; Argentina, from $19,000,000 to $22,600,000, and Chile from $13,500,000 to $18,500,000. Exports to Brazil increased from $22,900,000 to $32,000,000, while those to Chile decreased from $12,200,000 to $11,800,000 and those to Argentina from $40,400,000 to $39,900,000. These figures are most interesting. A WELCOME VISITOR. In enclosing a subscription to The Talking Machine World the Johnson Talking Machine Co., Ltd., Liverpool, England, writes : "We are pleased to inform you that business is still keeping good with us at both our Liverpool and Birmingham houses. This last season has been the best of our 15 years' experience in the wholesale talking machine business, and trade has every appearance of keeping brisk with us during the coming summer months. We look forward to your valuable publication every month, as it is very interesting for us to read about dealers and factors in our line of Business in U. S. A., although it is not possible for us to do much business in your country through the high tariff which you have against us. We wish your paper every success." IN THE STILLY NIGHT. Caruso bravely sang the "Grand Old Flag"; "In terra solo" Harry Lauder sang. Pol Plancon warbled "That Italian Rag"; Gus Williams gave the "Prize Song" with a bang. I heard the Sembrich pouring out "Poor John," And Melba, "You Are Just the Man for Me," And Eva Tanguay, with a smile, came on And rang the changes on "Ah! fors' e lui." De Pachmann wrung "Bill Simmons" from the flute, And Elman beat the tomtom with much pride; I heard Fritz Kriesler toying with the lute And Damrosch playing on the ophicleide. Ah, when you go to bed and slumber seek-. This is the sort of dreaming that you do When regularly, seven nights a week, Your friends grind out their phonographs to youl — Nathan M. Levy in Life. AUTOMATIC STOP DEVELOPMENT. Discussed by an Officer of the Condon Autostop Co. — What This Concern Has Accomplished. "The possibility of the development of the auto* matic stop was questioned by a few in the trade when we first marketed the Autostop," stated an official of the Condon Autostop Co., 109 Broad St., N. Y., in a chat with The World, "but it has taken only a year and a half to develop imitators without number. The active commercial plans we formulated and prosecuted after marketing the original Autostop gained a unique position for us, which the efforts of so many of these other people bringing out stops tendered to strengthen and improve. The wide sale enjoyed by the Autostop produced a demand upon us by jobber and dealer, almost without exception, for a stop that would be automatic in every meaning of the word; a stop requiring no setting, no regulation or adjustment. We felt the presence of this great demand and concentrated all our efforts to produce what has heretofore been but a dream. Upon the completion of our first manufacture, the public will be in possession of Noset — tne autostartstop, which is the realization of the dream. "The statements of insistence on the part of the trade have become an ensemble and is to-day a mighty chorus beating in unison all to one effect : 'Give us a stop requiring no setting or adjustment!' The efforts of every one here are combined and our plant is taxed to produce this accomplishment by making the earliest possible delivery of Noset. "Eyesight varies in strength, and ability to make a fine adjustment, when records end at different points, is not possessed by all. Many times in using an adjustable stop it will be found that the record is stopped too soon, or it often happens that the adjustment is made so that the needle gets in the last line of the record and it doesn't stop at all. None of these annoyances happens when Noset is used, for it finds its own last line without any previous setting or adjustment, finding the last line in its own action' which is secondary to the use of the machine. Any other beliefs tending to the idea that people can 'be made to adjust a stop, are untenable because impractical. "From a commercial standpoint alone, it is easy to prove that Noset is the most logical article, for the talking machine store employe is unable in his busy times to take sufficient time to demonstrate and explain to the customer how a stop works and how it may be regulated, be it ever so simple and ever so easy — apparently. The customer will be attracted to, and won by the article that does not have to be explained to him and for the great mass of people using the talking machine — the stop that stops without any setting and works without explanations as to 'how' or 'why' it may work, is the one which will prove its own value on sight. "Before The World is issued, our first run of 20,000, No. 14 Needle Cutters will have been completed, and will relieve in part an order situation which has taxed the patience of every one. The success of our cutter is immense and surpasses our greatest expectations. The splendid cut and many clippings of the needle which one gets — the amount being over twenty instead of fourteen, which was a conservative statement on our part — combined with the popular price of $1.00, has produced an immediate demand for the article from the most prominent members of the trade." COLUMBIA EXPANSION IN HAVANA. A. E. Garmaize, traveling ambassador of the Columbia Co.'s export department, returned to New York recently after an extended Havana trip. Mr. Garmaize states 'that the Columbia Graphophone Co.'s products are doing remarkably well in Havana, and Frank G. Robins & Co., Columbia representatives in that city are steadily increasing their talking machine sales. This company recently constructed a new building, to be devoted exclusively to talking machines, and its success with the Columbia line is most gratifying. Mr. Garmaize reports a steady demand for the high-priced types of machines, with the Columbia "De Luxe" a prime favorite with the Havana people.