There are several stories that go with your inquiry. First, 33 1/3 RPM discs began with the Vitaphone discs pressed by Victor, and used for the sound in "The Jazz Singer" in 1927.
In 1932, RCA launched a new Long Playing record that was cut at approximately the same pitch as the regular 78 RPM discs. These records played ay 33 1/3 RPM, ands were pressed in both 10 inch and 12 inch sizes, though I've never seen any 12 inch ones. I have a (very) few of the 10 inch discs. There was a special stylus that was intended for playing them, as you've already observed, and I've never seen one. I have no idea what the grind of the stylus was. I do know that if played with a regular 3 mil stylus, the sound from them is most inferior. It sounds blasty. Many articles tell that the discs were pressed from a material named "Victrolac", whatever that was, but I have a 1932 RCA dealer's fact book thet tells thay they were pressed from Vinylite. Figure that one out. These "Program Transcriptions" disappeared from the Victor catalogues about 1934. Now, on the changer. Victor had sold two model changers before RCA took them over. The first was full of pot metal parts that swelled, and fell apart, but if they were replaced, the changer worked rather well. The second generation Victor changer was a fiasco, and they had to recall them and rework them to the best of their ability. The changer was introduced before it was ready for production, so it is told. Fenimore Johnson had tried to hold it for final refinements thay might have made it more reliable, but was forced to release it. It was an intermix changer, meaning that it could chnage and play mixed sizes of records in its magazine (before it destroyed them!). The third changer to come out of Victor (now, RCA Victor) was in the model sets with a "RAE" model number. There were five models made in this series. It would change only 10 inch records. The records were held in a cast iron drum-like thing that swung over the turntable, and crudely dragged the bottom disc onto the turntable, after having the preciously played disc lifted and dropped into the swinging magazine. It did work, but unreliably. Records being pulled from the bottom of the stack might not center properly on the turntable, and end up caught in the mechanism as the magazine swung back out of the way. There was a "safety" clutch in the changer drive, but it worked best if the records were made of steel. In the 1931-32 period, mysteriously, RCA made a phnon combination that was their Radiola 82, with a Capehart model 1012 changer, which WOULD change both 10 and 12 inch records. Interesting that RCA's top line "RAE" sets could not change 12 inch records, from RCA Victor, the major producer of classical music, and it was almost all on 12 inch discs! As far as 10 inch-only changers, RCA did another one in the 1938 model line, with their "junior" changer that changed only 10 inch records. You took a changer post off to play 12 inch discs manually, if you wished. In my collection,I do have examples of exch of the changers mentioned above, so I speak from experience. I've serviced a lot of changers in the last 55 years or so. Many have said that RCA never made a good record changer. I'm inclined to agree. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Wright" <[email protected]> To: "Antique Phonograph List" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 5:16 AM Subject: [Phono-L] RCA microgroove LP demo disc from ca. 1932 - any info?? > Many of you know my area of interest is technical oddities -- odd sized > discs, puzzle records, failed experiments with format, > inside-out/vertical/universal cut, and especially early attempts at long > play discs. > > I have a question I intend to ask Kurt Nauck, but I wanted to ask you > folks > first. I'm repeatedly amazed by the depth and range of the knowledge of > this list's members. > > I bought an RCA Victor demo record on eBay based on the description in its > rather elaborate sleeve. It's red/orange flexible cardboard with gold > print > on the front, "RCA VICTOR DEMONSTRATION ALBUM" in bold, fat letters -- > very > 1930's art deco, typical of much RCA Victor design of that era. Inside is > a > blurb printed on a page of record sleeve material, "The Music You Want - > When You Want It". It's loaded with typical stuff about how only Victor > records give you the full degree of pleasure, years of experience, skilled > craftsmen, yadda yadda, with the obligatory plug for the new line of RCA > Victor instruments, the rhetoric aimed boldly at consumers (YOUR new > Victor > phonograph, YOUR home, YOUR new records, etc.). > > This sheet mentions the differences between Chromium needles (green > shank), > Tungstone needles, regular needles, and 'red shank home recording needle' > as > well as 'orange shank long playing needle'. This dates it around the time > of RCA's takeover of Victor in 1929 and the hard push for sales they made > in > the years after with home recording, 33rpm program transcriptions, and > picture discs. > > Here's where it gets bizarre. It mentions the brand new Automatic Record > Changing Device and its ability to play up to 10 records automatically, > but > making it clear that only 10" discs could be used "(either long playing or > standard)". I've never seen a changer that only changed 10" discs. In > the > earlier paragraph about various types of needles, it mentions standard > records being played with the "speed shift lever at position 1." > > Under the blurb page is a record sleeve, hole-less, with another blurb. > This is the stranger of the two. "This is a NEW KIND of Record!" calls > from > the top of the page. Then: "Here is a disc that will play several times > as > long as any record of similar size you have ever heard! Twenty minutes of > delightful entertainment have been recorded in its super-fine grooves, and > instead of the usual few minutes of a single selection, the two sides of > this disc will give you a complete musical sketch, with songs and pleasant > talk by Frank Crumit; two inimitable numbers by the famous Revelers with > Frank Black; a piano duet by Victor Arden and Phil Ohman; a brilliant > orchestral selection by Nathaniel Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra, and > finally, a suite of four famous compositions by Wagner, Dvorak, > Rimsky-Korsakow and Tchaikowsky. It is the new RCA Victor Long Playing > Record. Imagine this wealth of entertainment within the confines of a > single 10-inch disc!" > > Yeah, no kidding! Even the 12" Program Transcriptions were only 12-15 > minutes per side (the ones I own, anyway - if they're even that long). > And > PT's were certainly not microgroove! Heartbreakingly, the record that > should've come in this folder had been replaced by a crummy old Victor > Radio > Tone Demonstration record, a scroll label VE Orthophonic with Milton Cross > announcing. It does sound positively fabulous, but it's not the record I > was trying to buy. There were, however, a number of shards of what was > left > of the original demo disc way down in the sleeve, and in addition to > clearly > being shellac, they were plainly microgrooves, without question -- not > quite > as fine as an Edison DD, but certainly as fine as Columbia's 1949 > microgrooves. > > All these years we've understood the 33 microgroove disc to be Columbia's > doing. Folks, please help me if you can: exactly what failed RCA > experiment do I have evidence of here? > > > Thanks in advance, > Robert > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > [email protected] > > Phono-L Archive > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org/archive/ > > Support Phono-L > http://www.cafepress.com/oldcrank >
