The Edikow and its construction.

[DrZarkov]

If you take a gas like Buthan or Propane instead of air, you can even make a fully mechanical televisor, the surpassing gas controlled by the groove feeding a flame replacing the LEDs. In fact, this has be done, the so called "Flammophon". (for sound, not for TV.) The idea behind it was that a flame expands the surrounding air. So you could modulate the air directly by a flame instead of a membrane. It worked, but was no success. I don't know if any Flammophones survived or burned down with their owners...

[Stephen]

If you take a gas like Buthan or Propane instead of air, you can even make a fully mechanical televisor, the surpassing gas controlled by the groove feeding a flame replacing the LEDs. In fact, this has be done, the so called "Flammophon". (for sound, not for TV.) The idea behind it was that a flame expands the surrounding air. So you could modulate the air directly by a flame instead of a membrane. It worked, but was no success. I don't know if any Flammophones survived or burned down with their owners...

That sounds like an intriguing approach for a fully mechanical reproducer/televisor! There would be no moving armature, so no resonances to adversely impact frequency response linearity up to the resolution limit of the gas jet. One could even share the gas supply with a Stirling engine to drive the machine for totally non-electric operation.

[DrZarkov]

BTW: What had happened to the complete mechanical TV projects? Any news?

[Stephen]

BTW: What had happened to the complete mechanical TV projects? Any news?

I have been waiting for a further report from Roland, who is actively constructing a non-electric system. It has been a while since his last report.

[Stephen]

The idea behind it was that a flame expands the surrounding air. So you could modulate the air directly by a flame instead of a membrane. It worked, but was no success. I don't know if any Flammophones survived or burned down with their owners...

Using a Flammophon-type NBTV phonograph, you could record and play the fire brigade after they arrive at your house. I am sure that they would enjoy seeing a replay of themselves at work!

[Viewmaster]

From time to time on eBay I have noticed Dictating Ediphone wax cylinders for sale in the USA.
Brand new in boxes of 12 and going very much cheaper than blank phonograph wax cylinders because they will not fit the phonograph being longer at just over 6 inches and slightly bigger in diameter too.
They work out at about £3 odd each delivered to UK.

These may well be suitable for an Edikow machine, giving both increased playing time and/or a faster groove speed for the NBTV recording.
On dictaphones they are also shaved and used again and again....
....now all we need is an Edikow shaver!
Albert.

[Stephen]

From time to time on eBay I have noticed Dictating Ediphone wax cylinders for sale in the USA.
Brand new in boxes of 12 and going very much cheaper than blank phonograph wax cylinders because they will not fit the phonograph being longer at just over 6 inches and slightly bigger in diameter too.
They work out at about £3 odd each delivered to UK.

This sounds like a very reasonable option, Albert, particularly since you can re-use the cylinders. I suppose that you could even have a sleeve as an adapter for the phonograph mandrel to accomodate the larger cylinders so that you could record or play either type.

[Viewmaster]

From time to time on eBay I have noticed Dictating Ediphone wax cylinders for sale in the USA.
Brand new in boxes of 12 and going very much cheaper than blank phonograph wax cylinders because they will not fit the phonograph being longer at just over 6 inches and slightly bigger in diameter too.
They work out at about £3 odd each delivered to UK.

This sounds like a very reasonable option, Albert, particularly since you can re-use the cylinders. I suppose that you could even have a sleeve as an adapter for the phonograph mandrel to accomodate the larger cylinders so that you could record or play either type.

Yes, one wouldn't wish to miss out on recording/playing standard phono cylinders. The shaving could be carried out on a lathe although Edison made 3 machines...
A recording dictaphone for the boss to use. Another for his secretary to listen to and the third one, the shaver for the office boy to recut old cylinders for re use..

Albert.

[Viewmaster]

duplicate in error

[Stephen]

I wish I had such a collection of Ediphone equipment! All three machines appear to be in beautiful condition.

My Edison Home 2 minute machine has built-in shaving knife for erasing cylinders. I think that ordinary Dictaphones did too.

[Stephen]

Here is a sketch of the sort of pneumatic reproducer that I suggested. It is very similar to some of the embodiments in the Bell-Tainter patent, but interestingly this is one embodiment that they did not show. The varying back pressure on the nozzle adjacent to the hill-and-dale groove causes the changes the flow through the nozzle adjacent to the mirrored flapper. This causes the mirrored flapper to undulate up and down, therefore changing the amount of light that passes through the aperture from the light source to the photoelectric detector. The mirrored flapper may comprise something as simple as a flap of aluminium foil clamped on one end as shown.

The moving mass would be extremely small, so the frequency response would extend from DC to a frequency only limited by the resolution limit of the nozzles.