With some of the recent posts of antique music boxes, I've realized there were others on the Forum that collected such devices, and decided that I would give a quick tour around the house of various musical devices. They span a century of musical devices. I will try to go from oldest to newest, although several were very close in their years of manufacture, and may even have overlapped.
The first is this organ grinder from the 1850's to 1860's. It plays a paper roll, much like a player piano. Each roll had several songs, and since the paper rolls are now 150 plus years old, I rarely change them. These were actually carried along during the Civil War, and played for the troops.
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This little roller organ plays interchangeable corn-cob songs, and was sold in the Sears & Roebuck 1879 catalogue for $2.50. And, the corn cobs were sold for ten cents apiece. The cob actually shifts after each revolution for a total of four revolutions to play a song.
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Although invented in 1877, this Edison cylinder player was probably made well into the 1920's, thus making it in the same era as the next item.
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Although the first cylinder music box was invented in the late 1700's, I believe most of the ones we find in our collections today were made in the 1880's to early 1900's. This would also put it in the era of the flat disk Regina music box, which I have already photographed in an earlier post. This box plays ten selections, and can be set to repeat one selection over and over, or to automatically go through all ten selections. I spent a lot of time on this particular box with a magnifying glass and a razor blade, straightening hundreds of the thousand or more pins.
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The next two 78 and 80 rpm flat record players were built after the wax cylinder players. The 78 rpm Columbia (outside horn) phonograph probably came first. Edison made his phonograph 80 rpm to avoid copyright issues, but included a speed adjustment knob, so that you could play the other company's 78 rpm records. You had to buy a separate attachment that included a steel needle rather than the diamond needle used by Edison. I believe this attachment also changed the angle of the needle, but I am not an expert in this area.
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And my favorite, among all the music players, is the 45 rpm jukebox. All of the ones in my collection are from the 1950's, making them nearly 70 years old. The 45 rpm record was what I bought at the "Record Store" all through junior high and high school in the 1960's. They are just a great way to both store safely and play my favorite songs from the past.
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I welcome any verification or clarification of my information. Again, I do not claim to be an expert in the fields of many of the things I collect. My main interest in all my various collections is getting to see how these things work!
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