The Edison Voicewriter "dictaphones" had soft enough wax on the surface that you could take a terrycloth towel and erase the previous recordings by smearing out the wax into a smooth layer. I did this many times when I encountered one at the Hobart (Indiana) Historical Society, where I volunteered from age 12-16. I now own 4 Edison Voicewriters, with no particular reason to keep them.
If anyone has a real hankering to give a good home to one, send me a PM. Actually, I think they belong to my wife, but I'm entitled to speak on her behalf. We don't NEED 4 of them. I think 2 are acoustic, 2 are electric amplified, and I know one has a recording problem.
The thread pitch is finer than the consumer cylinders, so in order to play Edison pre-recorded cylinders, they need a new master "tracking"
head feed shaft, which I must think is available somewhere, or could be made on a lathe. I haven't gotten around to getting this done in 15 years. If you think you can, you can give a good home to one. We're not throwing them away, but they are worth something.
Take a challenge on an ancient technology. They are VERY solidly built.
I have a "proper" Edison Cylinder player, but nothing for Pathe 78's unless I do R-L wiring for a stereo cartrdige on a dedicated turntable....
I don't think the job for me in Radio exists. I am too idealistic, and think too much like the engineer/DJ/PM that could exist at one time,
in the same way that sole proprietor businesses once had a fighting chance, and didn't have to fight off gigantic corporations who could afford to lose a little more in order to take control over any particular area.
I'd be chief engineer, in my dreams, of a 50kw AM here in Chicago. But them jobs are scarce as hen's teeth, and I was too late
for the 1st ticket. And 3 of the biggest still run iboc at nght...what if I'd ended up having run iboc....no, I'm better off.
In a bad economy last spring I walked into a new job after 3 months off, based on respect and reputation in my field.
The security I've earned in printing is also based in another field I respect greatly, and my first paycheck was from the Hobart Gazette
for processing and printing photos, and I became a free-lance for a few years.
If I get rich selling fishing meters, I will be buying a station one day... until then I don't think there's a job in radio for me.
No matter how much I'd have always since I could walk wished I could get a job in radio, I appreciate the stability
that came with staying out. And thanks to R Cloid Patton and D Eugene Wiggins for the wisdom in telling the guys who'd
really like to go into radio that they were too late, and to do something else.
That was in 1980.
Best of luck to those who try!
