-Edison Standard Model D Phonograph-

The Edison Standard Model D was an external horn phonograph that was put into production in October, 1908 at the time when Edison's 4-Minute black wax Amberol records were introduced. The Standard Model D was also known as a "Combination Standard" because it was designed to play 2-Minute and 4-Minute wax cylinder records. The Combination Standard was sold with a Model C reproducer for 2-Minute records and a Model H reproducer for 4-Minute records. These floating, gravity weighted reproducers were actually developed by Edison's competitor Columbia, and Edison manufactured them under a licensing agreement. Production on the Combination Standard ended in November, 1911.

The Edison Combination Standard requires absolutely no electricity to operate. It is purely an acoustical machine, driven by a hand-cranked spring motor. Sound is created when a small jewel stylus tracks along in the record groove and it vibrates a diaphragm in the reproducer. The horn then amplifies the sound. Most listeners today are surprised at how loud and clear this seemingly primitive sound reproduction system is!

A speed changing knob is located on the side of the gearbox on the top of the phonograph to enable it to play either of the two record formats. It was the responsibility of the customer to make sure that the proper reproducer was installed in the phonograph and the speed changing knob was in the correct position before playing a record. Although the Standard Model D was designed to play 2-Minute wax cylinders with a Model C reproducer, it will also satisfactorily play them with the Model H reproducer. This is because the stylii are both made of saphire and the narrow Model H stylus will fit inside of the wide 2-Minute cylinder grooves. However, because the Model H reproducer stylus is much smaller than the Model C, it can wear a notch in the bottom of the groove and damage the record over time. Always use a Model C reproducer to play 2-minute records. It is also worth mentioning that you should never use a Model C reproducer to play any 4-Minute record, including wax Amberols and Blue Amberols. This is because the sapphire stylus is too wide for the narrow 4-Minute grooves.

It's interesting to note that the Model H reproducer will also play Edison's celluloid Blue Amberol cylinders which were first introduced in 1912. Because the Model H was designed to play molded 4-Minute wax cylinders, it's floating weight is not sufficient to contend with Blue Amberol cylinders that are excessively out-of-round due to swelling or improper reaming of the plaster core. If the Blue Amberol cylinder is badly out-of-round and worn, the Model H has a tendency to skip and flutter as the record plays. Blue Amberol cylinders are best played with a larger and heavier Diamond B reproducer specially fitted in an external horn phonograph or the Diamond B or Diamond C reproducer in an Edison Amberola phonograph.

The phonograph cabinet was manufactured to accept a horn crane bracket and foot. The morning glory horn hangs from the horn crane by a chain and it is attached to the reproducer with a short rubber hose. As such, the horn can freely swing as the reproducer tracks along the cylinder record. The 31-inch, 11-panel morning glory horn on my Standard was not manufactured by Edison. Although its origin is uncertain, it was probably made by an aftermarket manufacturer specifically for earlier Edison phonograph models. Although large morning glory horns were becoming popular with customers because of superior sound amplification, Edison was slow to include them with his phonographs and other manufacturers were quick to exploit the market. Some of Edison's distributors (jobbers) actually included these aftermarket horns with phonographs sold to dealers and customers. Edison finally began including the larger horns with his phonographs in 1907.

A woman proudly displays her early model Edison Standard phonograph in her lavishly decorated turn of the century home. This machine has an attractive brass horn with an interesting horn crane. The crane appears to have a weight on the bottom to provide support without attaching to the phonograph. Early Edison phonographs were designed to use small witch's hat horns, so it was difficult to attach a horn crane to the phonograph cabinet.

Today, most people prefer external horn phonographs with large morning glory horns because they look charming. By the end of the first decade of the 20th Century, phonograph owners felt otherwise, particularly after the introduction of the Victrola internal horn disk phonographs by Victor Talking Machine Company. The main problem with morning glory horns was that they stuck out into the room where people could bump into them. This could damage the horn, reproducer, and feed screw on the phonograph. If you bumped into the horn hard enough, you could tip the whole machine off of the table. Even if you kept your phonograph in a low traffic area, the horns collected dust and they were difficult to keep clean. Edison developed a new line of internal horn cylinder phonographs called "Amberolas", hard plastic Blue Amberol cylinder records, and heavier diamond stylus reproducers. These new developments yielded superior sound reproduction and Edison was able to discontinue production of external horn phonographs like the Standard.

The Combination Standard was sold with a 30-inch, 10-panel morning glory horn, the two reproducers, and a wooden lid for a total of $30. This seems like an incredible bargain, but you must consider that in 1908, most people were working for only a few hundred dollars per year! If you bought an Edison cylinder phonograph and records, then you were probably a person of means.