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Phonograph moved the reproducer across the record at the required rate, relieving the groove of that work and thus reducing record wear. This design was in response to the patent held by the Victor
Talking Machine Company that states that the groove of the record itself is what propelled the reproducer across the surface of the record via the needle. The playing speed for Diamond Discs was specified at exactly 80 revolutions per minute, at a time when other makers' recording speeds had not been standardized and could be as slow as 70 rpm or even faster than 80 rpm, but were typically somewhere around 76 rpm, leaving users who cared about correct pitch to adjust the playback speed for each record until it sounded right. Above all, there was, and still is, general agreement that the Diamond Disc system produced the clearest, most 'present' sound of any non-electronic disc recording technology.
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side) and 40 minutes per 12-inch disc (these were the only 12-inch
Diamond Discs ever sold to the public). A special reproducer and modified feed screw mechanism were required to play them. There were problems with skipping, groove wall breakdown, overall low volume (about 40% of that of the regular Diamond Discs), and a failure to exploit the format by releasing a limited number of discs. Only 14 different Edison Long Play discs were issued before they were discontinued.
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the Edison
Diamond Disc Reproducer, and we decline responsibility for any damage that may occur to it if this warning is ignored." The very good reason for such discouragement was that Diamond Disc grooves were too narrow and fragile to propel a soundbox across a record surface, as lateral machines did; Edison's precise mechanical feed system on the Disc Phonograph for its weighted "floating" reproducer replaced that stress on its records.
245:'s Victrolas and similar record players could not play Diamond Discs (at best, only very faint sound would be heard, while the crude steel needle seriously damaged the groove) and Edison Diamond Disc Phonographs could not play Victor or other lateral-cut discs, third-party suppliers came up with adapters, such as the Kent adapter, to defeat this incompatibility, but typically with less than optimal sound quality. The
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183:-in-the-slot phonographs in arcades, taverns, and other public places. Soon, some affluent individuals who could afford expensive toys were customers, too. By the late 1890s, relatively inexpensive spring-motor-driven phonographs were available and becoming a fixture in middle-class homes. The record industry boomed. At the same time, the
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been redirected to introducing a new line of Edison lateral or so-called Needle Type thin shellac records, compatible with ordinary record players, but although their audio quality was excellent this concession to commercial reality came too late to prevent the demise of the Edison
Phonograph and Records Division just one day before the
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among the factors contributing to their downfall was Thomas Edison's insistence on imposing his own musical tastes on the catalog. As an elderly man who favored old-fashioned "heart" songs and had various idiosyncratic preferences about performance practices, he was increasingly out of touch with most of the record-buying public as the
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had converted from acoustical recording. Sales continued to drop, however, and although Edison
Diamond Discs were available from dealers until the company left the record business in late October 1929, the last vertically cut direct masters were recorded in the early summer of that year. Priority had
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In 1926, an attempt at reviving interest in Edison records was made by introducing a long-playing
Diamond Disc which still rotated at 80 rpm but tripled the standard groove pitch to 450 threads per inch by using an ultra-fine groove, achieving a playing time of 24 minutes per 10-inch disc (12 on each
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Diamond Discs enjoyed their greatest commercial success from the mid-1910s to the early 1920s, with sales peaking in 1920. Although they arguably had better audio fidelity, they were more expensive than, and incompatible with, other makers' products and ultimately failed in the marketplace. Not least
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sapphire ball stylus hill-and-dale format that used a vertical groove that was U-shaped in cross-section. Edison discouraged all such alternatives by cautioning on some of the record sleeves: "This Re-Creation should not be played on any instrument except the Edison
Diamond Disc Phonograph and with
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Among their advantages over the competition, they were played with a permanent conical diamond stylus, while lateral-cut records were played with a ten-for-a-penny steel needle that quickly wore to fit the groove contour and was meant to be replaced after one use. A feed screw mechanism inside the
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label from 1912 to 1929. They were named
Diamond Discs because the matching Edison Disc Phonograph was fitted with a permanent conical diamond stylus for playing them. Diamond Discs were incompatible with lateral-groove disc record players, e.g. the Victor Victrola, the disposable steel needles of
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Company was marketing the first crude disc records, which were simpler and cheaper to manufacture, less bulky to store, much less fragile, and could play louder than contemporary wax cylinders, although they were of markedly inferior sound quality. Their quality was soon greatly improved, and by
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Recent comparisons of late popular-series
Diamond Discs with the few released "Needle Type" lateral-cut versions of the same titles indicate that Edison had been splitting their electrical signal during recording to both vertical and lateral lathes since early 1929, as the performances time out
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220:, lampblack for color, all in a rabbit-hide glue binder. With very rare exceptions, all were about ten inches in diameter, but they used a finer groove pitch (150 threads per inch, or "TPI") and could play longer than lateral ten-inch records—up to
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identically - the last
Diamond Discs are an average of over a minute shorter than 1927-28 releases, fitting the recording time capacity of the ten-inch diameter lateral issues - and have near-identical frequency ranges.
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In the late summer and early fall of 1929 Edison also briefly produced a high-quality series of thin electrically recorded lateral-cut "Needle Type" disc records for use on standard record players.
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Like cylinder records, the sound in a Diamond Disc's groove was recorded by the vertical method, as variations in the depth of the groove cut. At that time, with the notable exception of
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of the reproducer being parallel to the surface of the record. The diaphragm of a reproducer used for playing lateral records is at a right angle to the surface.
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were the only non-Edison machines that came from the factory equipped to play Diamond Discs as well as Victor and other 'needle-type' records, along with
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179:-powered, electric-motor-driven machines were needed to play them, and the customer base consisted solely of entrepreneurs with money-making
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disc records (later called 78s because of their typical rotational speed in revolutions per minute) made by competitors such as the
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but decided to add a disc format to the product line because of the increasingly dominant market share of the
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The record industry began in 1889 with some very-small-scale production of professionally recorded wax
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of the 1920s got underway. It was not until mid-decade that he reluctantly ceded control to his sons.
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88:. Victor and most other makers recorded and played sound by a lateral or side-to-side motion of the
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in the record groove, while in the Edison system the motion was vertical or up-and-down, known as
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Early Diamond Disc records, showing the thickness of each record and number stamped into side.
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440:"EDISON DIAMOND DISC MANUFACTURING PROCESSES - By Paul B. Kasakove / THOMAS A. EDISON, INC"
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Ultona, the Sonora, and the expensive "Duo-Vox" phonograph made by the piano manufacturer
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which would damage them while extracting hardly any sound. Uniquely, they are just under
414:"Tim Gracyk's Phonographs, Singers, and Old Records – Brunswick Phonographs and Records"
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351:"Tim Gracyk's Phonographs, Singers, and Old Records – Edison Diamond Discs: 1912–1929"
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began, making Edison the last major record company to adopt it, over two years after
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Type of phonograph record produced by Edison Inc. from 1912 to 1929
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Edison Records "Diamond Disc" label, early 1920s, featuring
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Library of Congress: History of the Cylinder Phonograph
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about 1910 the cylinder was clearly losing this early
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146:on mandolin and Marie Caveny on ukulele.
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442:. Mainspringpress.com. Archived from
34:Edison Records logo from 1910s sleeve
125:Samuel Siegel and Marie Caveny play
328:Unusual types of gramophone records
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167:1915 newspaper ad for the product.
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154:Problems playing this file? See
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390:. Pat.kagi.us. Archived from
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416:. Gracyk.com. Archived from
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487:Products introduced in 1912
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492:Vertical cut record labels
40:Edison Diamond Disc Record
212:on a core of compressed
316:1929 stock market crash
200:Unusual characteristics
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48:Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
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107:Historical background
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446:on 15 September 2015
299:electrical recording
78:phonograph cylinders
420:on 7 September 2011
357:on 20 November 2006
185:Berliner Gramophone
175:. At first, costly
18:Edison Disc Records
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267:the Happiness Boys
234:minutes per side.
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394:on 24 August 2011
311:Brunswick Records
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424:18 September
422:. Retrieved
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192:. In 1912,
476:Categories
334:References
218:china clay
214:wood flour
190:format war
156:media help
247:Brunswick
241:Although
98:diaphragm
50:on their
322:See also
288:Jazz Age
210:Bakelite
177:wet-cell
255:Pathé's
229:⁄
82:shellac
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309:, and
273:, and
243:Victor
181:nickel
90:stylus
452:2014
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