GENERAL INTEREST
GRAMOPHONES
by Nick Fletcher
Today , downloading or streaming These days there is strong music to smart phones and tablets demand these days most old is commonplace but a little over a gramophones but for many years century ago recorded sound was still now , demand has outstripped in its infancy and to play a record , supply and consequently many you had to use a hand-cranked of the ones seen around the machine which had a large external antiques trade are either replicas , horn to amplify the sound . or hybrid examples , the sum of many parts !
In the 1870s Thomas Edison invented a way to record sound onto wax cylinders – he called it the phonograph - and initially saw its potential only as an office dictating machine . But it quickly caught on for entertainment purposes and popular songs were recorded , many from the Victorian music hall stars .
An all-original horn gramophone normally costs at least £ 300 , and that ’ s if it ’ s by an anonymous maker , as many were . If it has a makers name on it , such as His Masters Voice , or Columbia then the value can double in some instances , depending on specific model and degree of originality and condition .
gramophones , just a few inches across , were spring-driven and keywound like a clock . Sound quality wasn ’ t brilliant , but it was good enough to amuse children . Today these little toy gramophones , which were designed to play miniature records , are very sought after , and prices can be surprisingly high for examples which have survived in good condition . Prices start at around £ 150 and rare examples can fetch two or three times as much .
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Although the photograph was manufactured until after the first world war , its popularity was always waning because soon after , in the 1880s , a man called Emile Berliner devised a flat disc machine the first real record player - which was able to give much greater sound clarity than the phonograph .
Early gramophones featured a large external horn to amplify the sound , but by the First World War , portable models with an internal horn and looking rather like a small suitcase were already being made , and were very popular to help cheer up soldiers fighting in the trenches . In the 1930s electric power began to take over as the means by which the gramophone operated , though hand-wound spring-driven models were still made until as late as the 1950s .
Reproduction models can be priced from about £ 75 or so , though I have seen some priced at two or three times this amount , so be sure to check authenticity before handing over the cash ! Most horn gramophones had metal painted horns , but luxury horns made of brass , or nickel plated , or sometimes made of oak or mahogany were optional extras and machines with these horns do command higher prices . The machines could play just one record at a time , and there was no form of volume control . To muffle the sound on a loud record , people would often stuff an old sock down into the base of the horn . Yes , you ’ ve guessed . That really is how the expression ‘ putting a sock in it ’ originated !
While the gramophone was aimed at the adult market , within a few years examples were being made for children , and records were issued featuring popular songs and nursery rhymes to appeal to the junior market . The real boom in gramophones for children came in the 1920-1940 period , and most of them were made of tin-plate , and decorated with scenes of children or animals or just pretty patterns printed onto the metal surface . These small
Among the most popular models were the Kiddyphone , the Peter Pan , the Mikiphone , the Pygmyphone , and several by a firm called Nirona .
These small , attractive but rather vulnerable toys provided delight and entertainment for children for several decades , but after the second world war , tinplate was quickly replaced by plastic and then batteries took over from clockwork .
Later of course came the cassette tape , then the CD – and now its music streaming !