[78-L] Approximating 78s age by physical characteristics

[David Lennick]

I have seen a re-coated laminated Columbia. Huh? Yes, coated with lacquer. 
Somebody must have had the bright idea of taking old records, possibly during 
the shortage of shellac, aluminum and other materials, and coating them with 
lacquer for use on disc cutters. The one I saw had begun to flake, showing the 
1915 "Notes" label underneath.

dl

On 3/4/2013 8:23 AM, Michael Shoshani wrote:
> There are a lot of patents on the laminated record idea, including a
> couple filed by Herbert Berliner in 1908. But here's one out of many
> that caught my attention some time ago.
>
> This patent was filed in 1906 and granted in 1912. It was filed by
> Thomas A. MacDonald of American Graphophone, to whom the patent was
> assigned. It's a patent for RECYCLING old record stock!!!
>
> Basically, MacDonald notes that (in 1906) American Graphophone records
> were manufactured using two parts; an inferior part containing lots of
> binders but little to no shellac, and a superior surface containing
> mostly shellac with few binders. Then he describes a process by which
> the old record is resurfaced with a new coating of the shellac topping,
> and after heating it again to become pliable, the newly-recoated record
> is repressed with a brand new sound groove.
>
> This process also calls for adding more of the binder ingredients to the
> back surface of the record as well; MacDonald asserts that any excess
> material would run out of the press, leaving a record of standard thickness.
>
> http://www.google.com/patents/US1022100
>
> I'm presuming that by the time this patent was actually granted in 1912
> it would not have been put to use, because Columbia had converted to
> double-sided production in 1908. I would imagine that trying to
> resurface and repress both sides of a record would be awkward.
>
> Michael Shoshani
> Chicago
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