Vitaphone phonograph

There are two separate, unrelated incarnations of the Vitaphone.

The first, which dates to around 1900, is a quite scarce early disc talking machine, begun by Albert Armstrong.

The second, which dates to around 1914, was begun by H.R.Repp, who had been a salesman for the earlier Vitaphone company. Manufactured in Plainfield, New Jersey, these Vitaphones employed a method of reproduction unique in the annals of phonographic history. A solid wood tone arm vibrated along with the stylus, and communicated the sound to a diaphram kept under constant tension by a string attached to a coil spring under the motor board. The Vitaphone could be set to play either vertically or laterally cut records by slipping the string over a hook on one of the pillars that supported the reproducer.

There was a whole series of Vitaphones, including an external horn model and models in upright Victrola type cases. Unlike most other horn-in-lid machines the Vitaphone will play whether the lid is up and down, as the sound was communicated to the horn by a complex series of joints.

The early Vitaphone.

Motor of the early Vitaphone

The Vitaphone model 50

Later Vitaphone with vibrating tone arm. Examples have appeared with a small red petaled horn, as well as the wooden horn. Larger image

Tensioner on the string was necessary to amplify the volume.

Lynn Bilton
Box 435
Randolph,OH 44265
330 325-7866

We buy, sell, and repair antique phonographs and music boxes.

Pick-up and delivery possible in many parts of the midwest, south, and northeast.