Columbia Multiplex restoration

[PedroFono]

Hi all,

 

As some already know, I'm currently working on the restoration of the 1900 Columbia Multiplex prototype. I've been asked to reproduce his famous 3 reproducer carriage for recording and reproducing and to cast 30 cylinders for it.

 

Its current owner sent me the carriage of the 2 reproducer prototype, the single reproducer carriage ofm the 1900 version and the frame of the carriage of the 1904 version to study them and make blueprints.

 

So far, what I've discovered is way beyond my expectations. These carriages hide multitude of details that prove that Columbia engineers just didn't made a 3 reproducer gramophone but something much more sophisticated in terms of sound.

 

The challenge will be to decipher all those hints and fill the gaps where the information is missing. 

 

I'm planning to write a detailed article of the restoration process, cast of the cylinders and test of the beast but, until then, you will have to content yourselves just watching the pictures of the process. Feel free to ask questions. I will gladly answer them.

 

Hi all,

As some of you already know, I’m currently working on the restoration of the 1900 Columbia Multiplex prototype. I’ve been commissioned to reproduce its famous three-reproducer carriage, designed for both recording and reproducing, as well as to cast 30 cylinders for it.

 

The current owner sent me the carriage from the two-reproducer prototype, the single-reproducer carriage from the 1900 version, and the carriage frame from the 1904 version, so that I can study them and produce detailed drawings.

 

So far, what I’ve discovered has gone far beyond my expectations.

 

These carriages are full of fascinating details that suggest that Columbia’s engineers were not simply trying to build a gramophone with three reproducers. They were developing something far more sophisticated, particularly when it comes to the way the sound was intended to be reproduced.

 

The real challenge now will be to decipher all these clues and fill in the gaps where information is missing.

 

I’m planning to write a detailed article about the entire restoration process, the casting of the cylinders, and, of course, the final testing of this beast but until then, you’ll have to content yourselves with watching the pictures of the process!

Feel free to ask any questions. I’ll be very happy to answer them.

 

[phonogfp]

Pedro,

This is one of the most significant restorations undertaken in our field.  Since no complete Multiplex Grand is known to have survived into the 21st century, you're essentially reconstructing this groundbreaking apparatus based on the relatively few clues available.  Much like completing a puzzle missing many of its pieces.

 

Your progress thus far looks impressive.  Best of luck as you continue to bring the Multiplex Grand back to life.

 

George P.

[RodPickett]

Out of curiosity, are your reproducers 10 cm apart to accommodate a 14 inch long cylinder?

 

And

 

What are the dimensions of the cylinders you are reproducing?

[Tinfoilphono]

What a phenomenal project! I eagerly look forward to updates, and certainly the eventual completion. That will be epic.

[PedroFono]

9 hours ago, RodPickett said:

Out of curiosity, are your reproducers 10 cm apart to accommodate a 14 inch long cylinder?

 

And

 

What are the dimensions of the cylinders you are reproducing?

The 1900 version has the reproducers 3 inches appart (76,2mm) and uses 10 inches cylinders. This is the one I'm making.

 

The 1904 version has the reproducers 4,5 inches appart and uses the 14 inches cylinders.

 

And the 2 reproducer prototype has the reproducers 2 inches appart.

 

I'm reproducing the 10 inches cylinder. (And making plans for the 14 inches in the near future:-) )

[Valecnik]

What a once-in-a-lifetime project. It couldn't have been entrusted to a better restorer. I, along with many others, will be following the progress with great interest and admiration every step of the way.

[RodPickett]

2 hours ago, PedroFono said:

 

I'm reproducing the 10 inches cylinder. (And making plans for the 14 inches in the near future:-) )

 

 

Thank you for the clarity.  Like others, I will be interested in your progress.  One could only hope that the example still exists in Teheran, but the chances that it would ever appear are less than zero.

 

Following is text from a conversation I had with Allen K. several months ago about this topic:

 

"(65).  711,706        Multiple Graphophone (Thomas Macdonald)

Filed June 11, 1898              Issued Oct 21, 1902

Methods of increasing volume from brown wax cylinders were in vogue in the late 1890s, but Thomas Macdonald wished to obtain “the effects of concerted music.” In this first attempt at single-record stereo recording, Claim #14 proposed “a plurality of simultaneously‑operative diaphragms, each of which, by its construction, material or proportions, [is] adapted to respond to sounds of a given pitch or quality different from the others,...” He may have known C. F. Dussaud’s early-1898 Macrophonograph involving separate records and machines. When Macdonald’s device appeared as the Columbia Multiplex Grand for the Paris Exposition of June 1900, and subsequently custom-made, it simultaneously recorded three separately-spaced tracks and played them on a cylinder about 7” in diameter (14” long) through three 56-inch-long all-brass horns. The complete unit, with six mainsprings and twelve pre-recorded cylinders, was advertised for sale at $1000, and claimed, “An intensity of volume and a sweetness and richness of tone almost beyond belief.” The Paris model was seen by the visiting Shah of Persia (Muzaffa-ad-Din) on July 29th, ordered by him and shipped from Bridge­port on March 21, 1901 (along with 32 barrels of cylinders), and then transported to Teheran on the backs of camels. Columbia thought for several years afterwards that they were dealing with his father Nasir (who had been assassinated in 1896). Only the three-reproducer carriage, adapted for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair (Columbia Exhibit,) survives, in the author’s collection; none of the records (long-play single-track or triple‑track stereo) have been found. The March 1898 Phonoscope credited this invention to Leon Douglass, who later did apply for a tandem‑reproducer, 5” machine in May 1899 (630,869); however, this citation is either fortune‑telling of a high order or more likely a misattribution. The later (brown wax 1900/moulded 1905) 8.3O-long Pathé Céleste cylinders (using the Columbia three-spring motor) were all monaural, as were their over-size (12O-long) master cylinders; cf. J. Hajek=s 1,308,065. Anthony Pollok, one of the attorneys who handled this application, originally worked for A. G. Bell and died at sea with his wife when the elegant French liner La Bourgogne sank in a scandalous north-Atlantic collision on July 4, 1898, leaving Philip Mauro, at the age of 39, the chief patent attorney for the American Graphophone Co.  Edison and his wife had sailed on the same ship for the 8-day journey to the Paris Exposition on Aug. 3, 1889."