Sonora Phonograph with Feedscrew Drive

[@durekatt]

The funny thing about old phonographs: There is always something you never had seen before.. Very interesting Thank you.

[@SuperRecordman]

That's the first linear tracking phonograph I have ever seen! Brilliant!

[@vwestlife]

Amazing technology for the time! The only problem I can see is that the tonal quality might change from start to end of the record due to the horn getting shorter as it goes along. Probably not noticeable on a small tabletop player like this, but maybe on a big console player you'd be able to hear it.

[@The1920sDandy]

Not mentioning the fact that the conduit cannot be made airtight with a telescopic arm like that. But again, it was the early acoustic days, all that didn't really matter yet.

[@TwinMillMC]

Wow! I've never seen this type of phonograph with a linear tracking tone arm! Thanks for posting!

[@recordchangerman]

@APyleOfVinyl The record is Cielito Lindo played by Orquesta Max Dolin. It is Victor record 73193-A.

[@fromthesidelines]

Recorded on December 22, 1921.

[@recordchangerman]

@APyleOfVinyl Victor filed a patent for a linear tracking tone arm in 1910, around the same time as the Sonora was produced. It was granted in 1913 (#1075288).

[@bobbyroy84]

This is AWESOME! A Self Tracking Phonograph Like a Cylinder Player, But for Lateral Cut Record`s! HOW COOL IS THIS!!

[@goldenboy5500]

and we thought linear tracking was something new

[@airborne2876]

linear tracking was the worlds first type of tracking :P

[@jcmolero71]

@@airborne2876 true, the cilynders

[@MichaelBeeny]

This type of tracking must have reduced inner groove distortion quite a bit by accident.

[@kfl611]

I love that pick up. I wonder how your record would sound if it was played on a modern turntable with correct equalization. Thanks so much for sharing. I think this is a pretty unique pickup/tonearm.

[@JR3059]

Wow !!! The worlds first linear tracking turntable. :)

[@Schlipperschlopper]

Tangential high end from the 1910s very good sound too!

[@CoolDudeClem]

I didn't know linear tracking went this far back! I have a question tho, does the tonearm move at a constant speed, or does it sense how fast it should move?

[@gunnarthefeisty]

Constant speed, with enough looseness to the tonearm to prevent the record from being damaged

[@Lucius1958]

@@gunnarthefeisty Which was why Sonora lost the suit: the court decided that the 'looseness' of the tonearm (necessary because of the varying pitch of disc grooves at the time) meant that the needle was still being 'guided' by the record, and therefore infringing the Victor/Columbia patents. Edison apparently took note of this, when designing the Diamond Disc Phonographs, and made sure that tracking was completely controlled by the feedscrew.

[@TMC1877]

Linear tracking was the first

[@JessHull]

I like the song and record what is it?

[@MrJamieMurph4141969]

The Mexican classic "Cielito Lindo," "Beautiful Sky" in Spanish. Wow, I never knew the song went back much less THIS far, to the 1920s, now almost a century ago.

[@jeffmissinne3866]

So what's with the four levers that ring bells?

[@HMV101]

And I thought I'd seen everything in the way acoustic windup record players. Thanks for sharing this. After the initial shock of finding such a mechanism was once marketed, a couple of thoughts come to mind. Horizontal play in the tone arm does not appear very great. Was it enough to cope with the difference in grove pitch employed by different record manufacturers? Also there seems no way of playing vertical cut records , which were relatively common at this time. (Perhaps, an interchangeable vertical reproducer may have been available). Certainly those contemporary Pathé centre-start discs would have been impossible to play using this lead-screw apparatus. I also wonder if the friction of the telescopic tubing would be low enough to allow playing a record with the half-nut disengaged from the lead-screw. If so, I doubt if it would have taken the purchaser of one of these machines long to realise this as a means of avoiding any problem arising from out of range grove pitch. Again thanks for allowing fellow enthusiasts to view this very rare gramophone.

[@gunnarthefeisty]

I believe it had enough give to track just about any disc.

[@videomentaryproductionschannel]

That's amazing could not hear any wow or flutter

[@Westtoledoguy]

what a cool machine

[@Karlfalcon]

Of course, this assumed that all records to be played would have been cut at the same LPI, like Edison discs. I'm sure this would have destroyed any discs not within the same pitch range as the feedscrew.

[@gunnarthefeisty]

Nope- tonearm has a fair amount of give.

[@Lucius1958]

@@gunnarthefeisty That's why they were ruled in violation of the Berliner patent: the needle was judged to be still basically guided by the record groove.

[@elsajara4049]

ay ya ya yay Canta Y no llores .por qué cantando se alegran cielito lindo los corazones .

[@ignaciocuadradob.238]

Cielito lindo en una versión de 78 Rpm

[@radioman5615]

Amazing just amazing.

[@patrickbrandon1420]

So how do you build a wooden phonograph

[@ninjabluewings]

Lovely machine, I have seen one and the song is "LOVELY" 🥰

[@bobskie321]

Wow! A linear tracking turntable. BTW what would happen when it reaches the end of the song in which the groove rapidly pulls the stylus close to the record label and sway it from side to side per revolution.That's the way most 78's end groove are cut.

[@rareblues78daddy]

The "eccentric locking groove" at the end of later acoustic 78s was developed by Victor to trigger the auto-brake they developed in the mid-20s. This machine was made before the existence of the auto brake, so they didn't have to worry about it. All 78s made before the mid-20s had a single locked groove at the end of the disc.

[@Lucius1958]

Pretty decent sound from that tiny horn!

[@rjtwigg1]

I think the speed is too fast, but the quality of the sound is excellent.

[@yonkel]

Beautiful!

[@sumitgenzyme]

Sounds great

[@TheOheim]

Ein Deutsches Lied?. Einmal am Rhein.?

[@fromthesidelines]

SONORA- "Clear As A Bell"

[@Musicradio77Network]

That was the tagline for the line of windup phonographs, and another tagline says “The Instrument of Quality”. I have one which is the tabletop version of the model Barcarolle.

[@TwinMillMC]

And belt driven at that!

[@Modeltnick]

Now I want some Fritos!

[@TwinMillMC]

@TwinMillMC And belt driven at that!

[@danielthomas791]

…..didn't you use to work at NBC..... ???...…...

[@rocketaroo]

Love it!

[@pcallas66]

Now that's cool.

[@elsajara4049]

me encantan las fonolas

[@gaetanperry]

Pourquoi faire simple quand on peut faire compliqué 😂. Très beau modèle sonora, il doit être assez rare. Sonne vraiment bien.

[@grisbot]

I think is Edison patent.

[@ninjamattari9842]

え？リニアトラッキングでござるかあ？？　WOW　Linear tracking torn arm ??

[@tvitaly1]

Surprisingly, you can hardly hear the sound of a collapsing record!

[@robfriedrich2822]

Tagential arm - ok, at this time they had no variable grades...

[@rcyan96]

linear tracking, before it was cool

[@patrickbrandon1420]

Ha ha