Advertising Shipping Crate for Columbia Phonograph Company
a "Columbia Records Grafonola Upright
Phonograph Packing Crate" Complete with
the Columbia Famous "Magic Notes" Logo,
Hand Written Customers Address,
Purchased from Gimbel Bros. Milwaukee WI
with a COD amount due of 57.50
A Grafonola was an internal horn phonograph made by the Columbia Phonograph Company that played 78rpm records. A Graphophone was a phonograph made by the Columbia Phonograph Company, Graphophones played both cylinder and 78rpm records. The Grafonola, was introduced in 1907, around a year after Victor introduced the first Victrola. There are the early Grafonolas such as the Symphony Upright and Symphony Grand, which resembled a Chinese pagoda and a small, upright piano, respectively. There was a series of expensive Grafonola art case or period machines, in the styles of Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Adam and others. There was the Viva-Tonal, Columbia's equivalent to the Orthophonic Credenza, the apex of the development of acoustic reproduction. According to many collectors the Viva-Tonal surpassed the Victor Orthophonic in acoustic fidelity. There was a series of Grafonolas in which the Grafonola was disguised as an article of household furniture, such as a desk or an end-table.
A Brief History of the Early Phonograph
Alexander Graham Bell - Volta Prize
In 1880 Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the Volta Prize, $20,000, from the government of France. Bell used the funds to set up a research laboratory in Washington, D.C, headed by his cousin Chichester Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter, a distinguished scientist and instrument maker. Bell and Tainter had set out to do sound reproduction experiments involving the telephone, but their attention soon shifted to the phonograph, whose development had languished while Edison busied himself with other projects such as the electric light.
Edison's phonograph had employed a strip of tin foil, indented by a needle. Bell and Tainter employed a cardboard cylinder coated with ozocerite, a type of wax, incised by a needle. Of such a fine semantic distinction, indented versus incised, was over a decade of litigation to be born. Bell and Tainter patented some of their inventions and then went to Edison with a proposal to merge their forces. Edison turned them down flat.
The Bell-Tainter patents came under the control of the Volta Graphophone Company, later the American Graphophone Company. These companies were controlled by a group of men primarily in the Washington area, most prominent among them Edward Easton, a lawyer and Supreme Court reporter, who was to become the president of Columbia.
Edison's phonograph had employed a strip of tin foil, indented by a needle. Bell and Tainter employed a cardboard cylinder coated with ozocerite, a type of wax, incised by a needle. Of such a fine semantic distinction, indented versus incised, was over a decade of litigation to be born. Bell and Tainter patented some of their inventions and then went to Edison with a proposal to merge their forces. Edison turned them down flat.
The Bell-Tainter patents came under the control of the Volta Graphophone Company, later the American Graphophone Company. These companies were controlled by a group of men primarily in the Washington area, most prominent among them Edward Easton, a lawyer and Supreme Court reporter, who was to become the president of Columbia.
North American Phonograph Company
the Consolidated Period
In 1888 Jessee Lippincott, a Pittsburgh businessman who had made a lot of money in the glass business, sought to create a monopoly of the phonographic trade by analogy to the telephone system. Regional territories were to be created and rights sold. Lippincott bought out Edison and Columbia, although Columbia cut him a much harder deal. Columbia was also established as a regional territory of Lippincott's North American Phonograph Company. This era is known to phonograph collectors as the Consolidated Period.By 1894 Lippincott was dead and the North American Phonograph Company was a failure, as it had become evident that the telephone system was not the proper business model for the phonograph. Edison was forced to throw the North American Phonograph Company into bankruptcy in order to reclaim his patents, and because of this for legal reasons there was around a two year span during which Edison could not manufacture many phonographs. This allowed Columbia to jump into the market. Philip Mauro, the brilliant attorney of the Graphophone Company, attacked Edison with litigation and tried to sow doubt about the validity of the Edison patents. The end result of this was a cross-licensing of patents.
the CYLINDER IS OUT - the FLAT RECORD IS IN
Flat Disc Were Louder and More Lifelike
By 1902 it was becomming apparent to insiders in the phonograph trade that the long term prognosis of the cylinder phonograph was not healthy. Berliner's Gramophone, which had evolved into the Victor Talking Machine, was stealing sales from the cylinder machines as the flat disc records became louder and more lifelike, a development particularly irksome to Columbia in urban areas where it was dominant with cylinders. Columbia had tested the waters with a Toy Graphophone in 1899 using a center-start record for patent armor, but it wasn't until sometime in 1902 that they jumped into the market in a major way. They acquired some patents originally belonging to Joseph Jones, a former Berliner employee, and these patents and the reputation of Columbia's legal department were sufficient to eventually intimidate Victor into a cross-licensing agreement. The first Disc Graphophones, the AH and AK, were introduced in 1902 and 1903.The Grafonola, an internal horn disc Graphophone, was introduced in 1907, around a year after Victor introduced the first Victrola. There are the early Grafonalas such as the Symphony Upright and Symphony Grand, which resembled a Chinese pagoda and a small, upright piano, respectively. There was a series of expensive Grafonola art case or period machines, in the styles of Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Adam and others. There was the Viva-Tonal, Columbia's equivalent to the Orthophonic Credenza, the apex of the development of acoustic reproduction. According to many collectors the Viva-Tonal surpassed the Victor Orthophonic in acoustic fidelity. There was a series of Grafonolas in which the Grafonola was disguised as antable
78 r.p.m. Record Materials
Some of the first sound recordings
78rpm Record Materials:
1. Some of the first sound recordings were made on Acetate. The base of the disc was made from aluminum, glass or cardboard, which was then coated with lacquer and plasticized with castor oil. Shrinkage of the lacquer coating due to loss of the castor oil plasticizer is the primary source of destruction of these discs. Excess moisture and heat will accelerate plasticizer loss also. Acetate is very susceptible to fungus growth.
2. Another material used to make some of the first sound recordings was Shellac. Some were made from organic shellac and some were made from commercial resins. It is difficult to discern which is which, but most recordings after WWII were made with resins such as Vinsol, Valtie and Vinyl chloride acetate. Many different fillers were used to make the cores of the earliest records-therefore there is no consistent behavior in the degenerative behavior of these records. The shellac itself is resistant to fungus attack, but the wide variety of materials used for the cores, may not be. High humidity levels accelerate the embrittlement of shellac discs.
3. The Edison Diamond discs were the first synthetic discs. They were made from a material called Phenol (also used in the manufacture of Bakelite). This material is generally very stable, but can be affected by moisture and severe humidity changes. It is not however prone to bacteria, fungi or insect attack.
1. Some of the first sound recordings were made on Acetate. The base of the disc was made from aluminum, glass or cardboard, which was then coated with lacquer and plasticized with castor oil. Shrinkage of the lacquer coating due to loss of the castor oil plasticizer is the primary source of destruction of these discs. Excess moisture and heat will accelerate plasticizer loss also. Acetate is very susceptible to fungus growth.
2. Another material used to make some of the first sound recordings was Shellac. Some were made from organic shellac and some were made from commercial resins. It is difficult to discern which is which, but most recordings after WWII were made with resins such as Vinsol, Valtie and Vinyl chloride acetate. Many different fillers were used to make the cores of the earliest records-therefore there is no consistent behavior in the degenerative behavior of these records. The shellac itself is resistant to fungus attack, but the wide variety of materials used for the cores, may not be. High humidity levels accelerate the embrittlement of shellac discs.
3. The Edison Diamond discs were the first synthetic discs. They were made from a material called Phenol (also used in the manufacture of Bakelite). This material is generally very stable, but can be affected by moisture and severe humidity changes. It is not however prone to bacteria, fungi or insect attack.
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- Andrew Andrew Dec 15, 2009 @ 9:47 pm
- I recently bought a 1920s grafanola made in england. The sound is a bit scratchy even for its age so I'm assuming it could use a replacement reproducer. However, i know very little about these types so i was wondering if anyone could help me out and give me some information. the patent reads Columbia Patented 212137 215285 made in England.
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- maryellen maryellen Sep 23, 2009 @ 4:08 pm
- I have a collection of records and wanted to know something about finding dates for them. The records have different center 'stickers' and all the records are numbered. Can anyone help please?
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- marsha32 marsha32 Oct 5, 2008 @ 8:44 pm
- Pretty interesting stuff here.
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- Billco Billco Feb 12, 2008 @ 6:27 pm
- Great lense. Learned a lot!
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- thekid93 thekid93 Jan 9, 2008 @ 7:21 am
- Great Lens!!
I collect advertising crates
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