Recording equipment
Category
Technological items
Date
Unknown
Materials
Metal
Measurements
300 x 255 x 210 mm
Order this imageCollection
Chartwell, Kent
NT 1102020
Summary
'Soundscriber' disc player with plastic cover, instructions for playback on top
Full description
SoundScriber Disc was a dictation format introduced in 1945 by The SoundScriber Corp. (New Haven). It recorded sound by "pressing" grooves into soft vinyl discs, and, along with the competing Gray Audograph and DictaBelt, is one of the few examples of a groove-based consumer recording medium. The format remained popular for two decades, due in part to the robustness of the discs and the ease with which they could be mailed. The green discs with their characteristic square center hole came in two sizes, 6 inches (known as "Mail Chute") that played for fifteen minutes, and 4-inch "Memo Discs" with eight minutes of recording time.
Marks and inscriptions
Accompanying card: "To Playback Records on Soundscriber, 1. Plug in mains cable. 2. Put switch marked "Tubes" on, and allow one minute for amplifier to warm. 3. Put disc on turntable, lift playback head from its rest and place on disc. 4. Start turntable by switch alongside "tubes" switch. This switch will also stop when required. 5. Please be sure to switch off "tubes" when not in use, and replace playback head in side rest."