Lever Wind Berliner 1897 (Ratchet Berliner)

[melvind]

Last August I had the chance to purchase a Lever Wind Berliner at the APS August Expo in Los Angeles. It is a very nice example and is all original with no missing or reproduction parts. The exception to that statement is that it now has a new fiber gear because the original had a section of the gear that was stripped. The machine also had a crack on the top that went right through the screw hole for the brake. All that was repaired and the reproducer was rebuilt and now i have the best machine of my collection.

 

This now working machine means a lot to me. I hope you enjoy it as well. I tried to use an actual Berliner record to make this video. But, the surface noise was so intense that my phone’s microphone captured largely the noise and little of the music. So, I recorded a 1916 7 inch Emerson record which sounds and demonstrates the machine much better.

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by melvind

[phonogfp]

Dan,

 

That's a machine I'd be proud to have in my own collection.  Congratulations on its acquisition and restoration!

 

George P.

[RodPickett]

Dan,

 

Thanks for posting and a brief comment about your picture-in-picture mechanical cut-away.

 

The Hoosier Antique Phonograph is grateful for the invite to participate in “Demo Day” at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana, as a part of an every-other-year offering, of a course titled “History of Music”.

 

These students are academically-excelled and the admission threshold quite high.

 

Rose-Hulman is ranked among the top Engineering schools in the U.S.

 

It is always fascinating to watch their reaction when we make a phonograph “naked”, as they are enthralled with the concept of spring-driven mechanical technology, whose energy is managed by a governor.

 

Today’s young-adults have no awareness of Sony Walkman technology, let alone the mechanical reproduction of sound.

[melvind]

Rod,

 

What a great program, and I can imagine their fascination. Most of today's young people have not experienced much in the way of mechanical appliances and machines. I work part time at a bookstore that has an older landline telephone that rings with a bell like the phones I grew up with. Because of mobile phones they don't even know what a dial tone is. When you explain a dial tone and mechanical bell ringer that are almost in disbelief. Then when you tell them about an actual dial being used to make a phone call they sometimes can't imagine it was ever that way. A program like the one you described is really a terrific way to bringing all this to life. Really, only one phone in the house connected to the wall with a wire and perhaps even a party line?

[Mlund]

Great video of an awesome machine. The ratchet wind Berliner is one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing!!

[melvind]

You're most welcome!