Dear Harry,
The British Library National Sound Archive (from which I have just
retired) was asked to transfer a collection of about 200 such cylinders. The
NSA cylinder player had to be modified with a new "mandrel" to allow for the
extra length (about two inches more than usual), and because it was an
"amateur" format (in the sense that they weren't meant to be compatible with
Edison commercial cylinders), the speeds varied widely, between 70 and 200
rpm as I recall. Also the groove pitch was tighter, about 150 turns per
inch. The BL cylinder player could cope with both those considerations, but
I know no other reproducer which can. Our cylinders were labelled
"Dictaphone". It seems this format was taken over by another American
company when Edison's cylinder business failed during the slump of 1929.
Peter Copeland
-----Original Message-----
From: Harry Rice [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 20 January 2003 14:14
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Ediphone Cylinder Recordings
I would appreciate information regarding the "Ediphone Master Wax" cylinder
recording system generally and playback possibilities in particular. I have
only the cylinders which are about 6 3/16" long by 2 3/8" outside diameter.
Harry Rice
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