Hi Rich and thank you for checking in. I find the formative years of development of the Edison Disc technology to be very compelling, and I'm learning that there doesn't seem to be much known about it. Since the A-250 was derived from the Amberola cabinet that first appeared in 1909, it is the forerunner to all of the Edison Disc phonograph line. I just found a date at the bottom of form 632, the paper slip pasted to the back door of my early A-250; of 11-20-12. Thus, I can now narrow down the date that my early A-250 was made, from approximately December 1912 (the month following the paper form date) to roughly April 1913 (the month after the last patent date on the ID plate of my later A-250, assuming that not more than a few weeks went by before the ID plates were re-tooled to reflect the newest patents). If there were any documentation, or in lieu of documentation, if there are some others like you, with these machines who would be willing to compare details and furnish serial numbers, I could assemble a database that shows by serial number how late into the production certain details of these earliest D.D. machines were seen. I documented several differences I noted between my two A-250 machines in postings to this forum earlier this week, and this evening Peter Fraser will be posting three (I hope) images I emailed him showing a few of these differences. If there's interest, I can prepare a brief yes/no questionnaire that will enable us to document these differences in an organized way. This way we can all learn more about what we have. The hope is that at some point the information collected can convey the variety of different details, and help us narrow down the date of manufacture of these special, first generation, non-standardized examples. Best, Andy Baron On Jun 22, 2007, at 12:31 PM, Rich wrote: > I have an A-250 and would be interested in seeing what you are > talking about. > > Rich > > > On Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:33:44 -0600, Andrew Baron wrote: > >> Hi George and thanks for taking the time to reply. I realize that >> there isn't much information documented, and this is what I'm running >> up against as much as anything else. > >> Neither of my two machines have paper notices on the cabinet bottoms, >> but the later one has a data plate with the newest patent date of >> Mar-11-13, wihle the earlier machine has the newest patent date of >> 8-26-11. The 6 in 26 is hard to make out, and might be a 3, 8 or 9. > >> Do you have a sense of how soon the patent dates on these model / >> serial number plates were updated, once a new patent was issued? > >> Peter Fraser has graciously offered to post photos of the early >> levers, so I've prepared some composited images of the differing >> details of both of my A-250's. My hope is that some of the Edison >> enthusiasts out there are familiar with this start / stop lever >> arrangement. If someone else has a machine with these odd levers, >> I'd love to know the serial number, so I can get a sense of how late >> into the production it was used. > >> What piqued my curiosity to begin with was that I had never seen >> these levers before. I don't know if that's because I haven't gotten >> around to the shows and big collections, or because they are >> relatively little known, even by other collectors. I bought my first >> D.D. machine in 1976, and have had many over the years, but this is >> the first I've seen with this odd detail. > >> Best, >> Andy > > > >> On Jun 22, 2007, at 7:55 AM, gpaul2000 at aol.com wrote: > >>> >>> Andy, >>> Unfortunately, without some factory documentation of each model's >>> serial numbers within a given month, exact dating for A-series >>> Edison Disc Phonographs is quite difficult.? I've seen two types of >>> paper license notices glued to the bottoms of these cabinets.? The >>> earlier has no date at the bottom, and the later one has an April >>> 1914 date.? Keep in mind that very few Edison Disc Phonographs were >>> available to the public until Aug/Sept 1913, and the fire of Dec. >>> 1914 put an end to most A-series production.? That gives roughly a >>> 15-month window for most of our A-series machines.? Given the two >>> different license notices, I break down the A-series dating to >>> "late 1913/early 1914" and "mid/late 1914."? That's about as >>> precise as I can get, given the limited information available. >>> >>> I'd be interested in seeing a photo of your start/stop mechanism.? >>> It sounds like one I had many years ago, and I'm pretty sure that >>> it's the earliest version.? On page 39 of Frow's "Edison Disc >>> Phonographs...", an "A-150" is shown with what appears to be the >>> conventional start/stop device, and this photo is dated March 2, >>> 1914.? Presuming that all models adopted this newer design at the >>> same time, and your "A-250" carries a pre-April 1914 license >>> notice, I'd date it as "late 1913/early 1914."? Hope this helps, >>> >>> George Paul >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> ____________________________________________________________________ >>> __ >>> __ >>> AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's >>> free from AOL at AOL.com. >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Phono-L mailing list >>> http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > >> _______________________________________________ >> Phono-L mailing list >> http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org