I'm on a Roll.

[countryford]

Back in July I found an ad on Craigslist for a Silvertone console with a radio, record player, and wire recorder. The guy who had them for sale had no price listed but said to make offer. It also included some paperwork as well as some wire spools. A total of 25 wire spools were included. What they are, is a thin wire that someone recorded on. There is a little booklet that says what is on each spool. From spool 10 "12-19-1949. The Railroad Hour. 1/2 hour. Rose Marie by Rudolph Friml with Gordon MacRae and Patrice Munsel."

The cabinet and electronics need a good going through. I'm excited about this find.

 

[turquoisedude]

Good heavens.... I've never seen a 'wire recorder' like this before.  What an amazing find!!

 

[mopar65]

Silvertone console

Awesome find!!!

 

[cfz2882]

super cool!!

I have a couple wire recorders too-1 from 1946 the other from 1948,that seems to be the most common era for them though IIRC wire recorders were introduced in the 1920s.Looks like there is a 3 or 4 speed phono on your unit.

 

[countryford]

The current phonograph is a 50's changer. Someone switched out the original at sometime. The original one would have been a 78 unit.

 

[cuffs054]

Now that is just cool. I would love to hear the wire recording. I remember how Superman got the bad guy after hearing a wire. Neat, Neat, Neat!

 

[frigilux]

What a great find! I've never had experience with wire recorders/recordings. Congratulations on this beautiful, unique system.

 

[kimball455]

I have a Silvertone Wire Recorder console. It is in storage and I will post a picture. This technology was used before magnetic tape. This was invented in Bridgeton, NJ by Oberlin Smith ... He invented a lot, kind of a South Jersey Edison. Follow the link for more information.

Harry

http://www.oberlinsmith.org/Magrecord/mag-record.html

 

[travis]

Justin,

 

Great to see another one.  I also have one.  The original changer was 78 only.  I will take you a picture of that.

 

[tolivac]

Wire recorder-forerunner of the tape recorders that came after.At the BBC broadcasting studios in London before tape machines--they used a band recorder-instead of wire the recording was done on a narrow steel band-kinda like a bandsaw blade with no teeth-in rewind,fast forward, those machines were dangerous-sometimes the bands would break!The transport was in a room where it was remote controlled.the machines did well but were dangerous.since they could use a wider track than a wire recorder-the bandwidth and SN were better.