What are you Seeing? You are seeing Victrolas. Check the blog and have a listen to some old-time music.
The two Victor-Victrola Phonographs on the ship were produced by the Victor Talking Machine Company based out of Camden, New Jersey. (USA) They are both Granada models, also known as VV 4-4. This model was introduced in the fall of 1925 and had a much better sound-quality than any earlier Victor Victrola models. It was priced at $150 (about $2500 today!) A 1926 Granada model Victrola You Tube Video. Click to listen.
The serial numbers of the two phonographs on board the ship contain a “C” suffix. This indicates that both were manufactured for sale in Canada. It is possible that they were even produced at the Berliner Gramophone plant in Montréal, Québec. However, we cannot know for sure where they were physically produced as the records from Victor’s plants are not available.
The phonograph in the ladies saloon was originally purchased in Toronto from Heintzman & Co. Ltd.: a company that was most known for producing high-quality pianos. The phonograph on Deck C was purchased in Calgary, Alberta from one C.B. Clarke. We know this information because the original sellers labeled the machines they sold with their own logos in addition to the Victor-Victrola product label.
History of the Victrola Phonograph: What Makes it so Special?
The problem with early record players was the horn on top of the machine: it took up too much space, was easily damaged, and an eyesore. So, in 1904 the Victor Talking Machine Company began to experiment with the idea of folding down the bulky horn into a cabinet below the turntable. The doors on the cabinet served as volume control: when they were open the music was quite loud, when closed the volume was reduced. The lid on top could also be closed to muffle the sound made by the needle on the record. Storage space was available in the cabinet for other records and accessories. In 1907, the earliest mass produced machine of this type emerged and was labeled “Victrola the Sixteenth”. It sold for $200.00 (about $6000 today!). Despite the cost, it was quite popular.
During the First World War, Victrola’s patents, which made them the leading innovators in the industry, expired. This meant that there were a lot more companies able to produce similar products, often for much lower prices (but also lower quality). This was also around the time that radio was becoming popular. As a result of the increasing competition, the company went nearly bankrupt! They resorted to producing anything they could to stay afloat, including furniture and flooring products. In 1925, as a final attempt to save the company, a new line of phonographs was released. Dubbed the “Orthophonic” line, these phonographs used the latest technology to produce a sound quality superior to all but the best radios. These were immediately successful. Prices ranged from $50-$300 and sales quickly brought the company back to life. The phonographs on board are part of this line.
How Does it Work?
Most of the phonographs of this Era (~1925) were still non-electric: they needed to be wound every so often. The discs for these machines were flat, (earlier records were cylinders rather than discs!) and revolved at 78 RPM (rotations per minute).
Above is a sketch of the complete assembly of a Victor-Victrola Gramophone.
As the needle tracked the grooves in the record, the vibrations were copied onto the machine’s sound-box. Inside the sound box there was a diaphragm that vibrated to transfer the vibrations into the tone arm (similar to how your eardrum works). These vibrations were translated into sound waves, then routed through the tone-arm into the horn, and finally out to the listening environment. As sound production technology evolved over time, phonographs gradually produced better and better sound quality.
The motor used was a hard-wound, spring powered motor. Its main purpose was to provide a continuous speed of rotation so the sound produced was not distorted. This motor was used until around 1928; not only in phonographs but in radios as well. Although, in radios it was powered by a battery.
How is a Record Made?
With the release of the Orthophonic phonographs, the Victor talking company revealed another technological advancement: electrically recorded records! (This technology belonged to Western Electric, who allowed record companies to use their invention, for a price.) The Records for the machines on board would have been some of the first of these. Prior to 1925 all records had been recorded acoustically in a process that was essentially a phonograph operating in reverse. All the records pre-1925 had a characteristic “horn sound” which disappeared on these new electric recordings.
Electric records were recorded by the artist singing or speaking directly into a microphone, and using amplifiers for instruments. This process allowed a wider range of sounds (frequencies) to be recorded. The rest of the process was very similar to acoustic recording. The microphone and amplifiers concentrated the sounds produced into a recording diaphragm (a thin glass disc held in place by rubber gaskets). This diaphragm was linked to a cutting stylus that engraved a groove into the surface of a wax disc. This disc was then used to create a negative metal stamper, which would press the grooves into a shellac-based compound (later a polyvinyl plastic), creating a record.
The first commercial electrical recording was made on February 26, 1925 at Victor’s studios in Camden, New Jersey. It was titled A Miniature Concert and featured eight popular artists of the time: Rudy Wiedoft, Monroe Silver, John Meyer, Frank Croxton, Albert Campbell, Henry Burr, Frank Banta, and Billy Murray. This concert was used as an opportunity to test the abilities of the new recording system. They recorded a few times using both acoustic and electric techniques and the electric recording system was a success!
What Happened to the Victor Talking Machine Company?
In 1929 the Victor Talking Machine Company was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and was renamed RCA Victor, and eventually just RCA records. RCA records is still active today under Sony Music Entertainment.
For more information on Victor-Victrola Phonographs visit this website: http://www.victor-victrola.com/ or one of the other sources listed below.
Sources
Sound clip source: Victor-Victrola Website, example of how a Granada Model sounds: http://www.victor-victrola.com/4-4.htm
If you are interested in learning more about Electrical recording and its impact on the development of sound recordings, and talking films.
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