[78-L] Help Identifying a 78

[Chris Zwarg]

At 23:01 01.11.2008, you wrote:
>In a message dated 11/1/2008 4:40:58 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
>doctordisc at truesoundtransfers.de writes:
>
>>The  'Synchrodiscs' used by Messter/Duskes were 24" in diameter. Have  those 
>been found and used in any  restorations?
>>
>>Allen
>
>-----------------------
>
>   >> Where have you got that bit of wisdom from?  (serious question!) <<
> 
> -----------------
>  In poring over some related notes for these 2 men, I  see, among others 
>(for synchronized projection & sound records), a Swiss  patent 43649 and 2 
>British patents, 8496 (1908) and 22566 (1903), but there is  no detail cited there 
>(in Duskes or  Oskar Messter) for the 24" disc  of 1908. The device may have 
>been called the Kosmograph, but until I  can find a specific reference to the 
>large diameter in a printed source  (not in Jules Greenbaum's patents either), 
>it is probably better to be  skeptical. Nor do I see the size mentioned in 
>Geduld's book.... will keep  looking.

Thanks. Maybe such huge discs were indeed patented and/or demonstrated, but they were (as I said earlier) definitely not the norm judging from surviving artefacts. Numerous Messter and Duskes discs recorded up to 1913 exist in collections and archives, and they are all 10- or 12-inch. In fact, several titles that were originally recorded by the Gramophone Co. especially for Messter were later included in their regular catalogue (and vice versa, Messter using commercial G&T issues as soundtracks).

>  Alfred Duskes eventually moved from Berlin to NYC, 

Interesting! He might have been Jewish and thus have every reason to leave Germany in 1933 - at least, he used the studio and pressing facilities of a Jewish-owned Berlin record factory (Homophonwerke Hermann Eisner) for his synchro discs. BTW, these are remarkable as being the first 12-inch discs that company ever recorded (in 1907 and 1908), commercial Homophon/Homocord issues in that size don't start until 1911. 

Chris Zwarg