The Empress Dowager Cixi who played the phonograph once used the world's earliest cabinet gramophone.
In 1904, it was the 70th birthday of the Empress Dowager Cixi. Many officials tried every means to collect gifts. Among them, there was a cabinet-type phonograph produced by the American company Victor (Victrola) that was deeply appreciated by Cixi. The world's earliest cabinet-type phonograph (sample machine).
Victor is the world's largest phonograph manufacturer. From the time it registered its trademark in 1901 until it was acquired by RCA at the end of 1929, during these 29 years, It has designed and manufactured more than 280 models of phonographs, with a production volume of tens of millions. It can be said that the occasion was unprecedented and no one dared to compare. During this period, he had a great influence on the design and manufacture of phonographs in the entire industry and was a leader in progress.
The early gramophones produced by Victor were mainly small speakers and large speakers. However, later customers discovered some problems during the use of the project. One of the reasons was sanitary issues. Dust can easily accumulate on the speakers. It affects the appearance; secondly, it is just a bare machine at home, which cannot be harmonious with the home furnishings. These suggestions laid the foundation for Victor to produce cabinet-type floor-standing phonographs (hereinafter referred to as cabinet machines) in the future.
The design sketch of the cabinet phonograph had begun as early as 1903. In 1904, Victor designed and trial-produced a very rare batch of cabinet phonograph samples, but many people had not seen them, including the United States. A phonograph expert, because many improved or higher-grade phonographs were launched in batches in 1906. This batch of sample machines was eliminated until they disappeared. And this cabinet phonograph was fortunate enough to be a gift to the Empress Dowager Cixi for her 70th birthday in 1904. It is precisely because of this that the world's earliest cabinet phonograph can be preserved. This machine is the first generation cabinet gramophone sample that Victor has not recorded. Later cabinet phonographs were built on it and modified again and again, and later models appeared one after another. This is the maintenance of the cabinet phonograph. The originator of the Victor cabinet phonograph. Now this cabinet gramophone has become Victor's rarest machine. It is currently the only one in the world. It is an orphan and it can be said to have created an era.
The advantages of the cabinet gramophone include: the elegant and beautiful cabinet adds to the machine's elegance. There are graceful curves on both sides of the front and sides of the cabinet, as well as exquisite carvings. The top cover protects the delicate cartridge and singing head. Arms, compartments to store records, and space for pins and accessories make cleaning dust easier than a trumpet phonograph.
The cabinet is equipped with a lock. Obviously, if the door is locked, children cannot operate the expensive phonograph. It can be seen that cabinet phonographs were very expensive at that time. Some phonographs produced later also had locks on the door. Lock installed.
1904 was a very unfortunate year for Victor Company, and it was also a year with a major turning point. Two major fires occurred in this year, and this cabinet-type It was between these two fires that the phonograph was launched. On April 24, a fire destroyed the four-story red brick factory in Victor. At this time, they no longer had the ability (equipment) to produce the main components of the cabinets. For example, the cabinets were made by the Philadelphia Pulley Furniture Company (this process has been Lasting until 1907, the movement ordered top-level large movements from Switzerland, and the tone arm was a masterpiece of Columbia Company. Speaking of which, it is not difficult to understand that Victor used this tone arm on some machines in the 1920s. By this time, there were no patents to speak of, and the market was in chaos.
Victor’s diary simply recorded the first batch of cabinet machines that had not yet been launched on the market? Because. They are extremely rare and have not been seen by many people, including American phonograph experts, because the only one that survived came to China in 1904 and lay dormant for more than a hundred years. Then a more serious fire occurred in 1904. In the autumn of this year, Victor's factory was razed to the ground, and the information on the phonograph was also reduced to ashes. In the following more than a year, Victor had to rebuild their factory until 1906. In May of this year, the pneumatically powered AUXETOPHONE cabinet phonograph was launched, and on August 9, the first home-use VV-XVI cabinet machine was launched.
The cabinet compartment of this unit is used to store records. The purpose of the semicircular opening is to facilitate the access and placement of records. So how big should the opening be? The opening of this machine is very small, making it inconvenient to hold and play records. In fact, it is very unscientific. Because it is an initial design and lack of experience (it was already very advanced for the time), even cabinet machines produced after 1906 have been improved. The grids are semicircular with large openings. After 1906, I have never seen a gramophone with small openings on the grids. This is a characteristic of the era.
The picture below (on the left) shows the future improvement of the semicircular grid with a large opening. Compared with this machine (on the right), it is much more convenient to pick up and play records. This is an improvement.
Everyone knows that Swiss watchmaking civilization is famous all over the world, and of course the manufacture of phonograph movements is not an issue. The movement is the power heart of the cabinet machine, so how to match it is crucial. When a fire destroyed Victor's factory, it was common sense and wise to order a Swiss movement for this cabinet machine. Although it has been used for hundreds of years, the movement is still intact, running extremely smoothly and making very little noise. Looking at the gears up close, there is very little wear, unlike other movements that are shaky after decades of use. This is enough to show Switzerland's superb technology and excellent materials. It can be seen that Victor carefully considered the choice of movement.
This movement uses the Swiss THORENS top double-spring large movement, which can play 4 records at one time. THORENS began manufacturing music boxes in 1883. Due to its early start, the movements it produced were very sophisticated. Many phonograph manufacturers around the world purchased THORENS main units or movements and accessories to assemble phonographs. During this period of time, the market for phonographs was stable, and it could be said that supply exceeded demand. It was not until the eve of World War I, when some of the patents of Victor, Edison, and Columbia companies expired, which meant that other companies could use them without By paying expensive patent fees, you can produce phonographs in their format. Many phonograph manufacturers have appeared around the world. They used to make furniture and pianos. At this time, they have started manufacturing phonographs.
Especially in the United States, there were 263 phonograph manufacturers from 1916 to 1923, not including Victor, Edison and Columbia. Gramophones quickly entered the era of price competition. So many phonographs were launched on the market at once, and the market became saturated, thus forming price competition. Especially in the early 1920s, overproduction and the Great Depression made the phonograph market even worse. , many companies were forced to suspend production and close down. Even Victor Company was greatly affected. The machines could not be sold and could only be sold at reduced prices. Subsequently, Victor Company continued to launch new products and high-end machines to attract high-end customers, and achieved good results.
And THORENS had to introduce low-cost movements to make up for the demand of the low-end market. This is why we later saw a large number of box-type phonographs produced in Switzerland or assembled in China. In the 1920s, many foreign companies in my country bought back the movements and accessories of Swiss gramophones, made wooden boxes and painted them domestically, assembled them and put them on the market. This was also a sight in China at that time.
The picture on the right shows the location of the crank handle jack of this gramophone. After hundreds of years of use, it has become rusty, leaving traces of history. Since this phonograph appeared in a specific historical period, it embodies some unconventional rules, and these rules exactly reflect the difficult environment in which Victor launched the world's earliest invention. A cabinet-type gramophone. From these aspects, this machine is already quite precious.
The feet are carved with exquisite patterns. They originally had four metal wheels, but they are now gone. They were thrown into the furnace during the steelmaking during the Cultural Revolution. While sacrificing themselves, they also made small things. Small contribution.
From 1903 to early 1908, Liang Cheng traveled to the United States, Peru, Cuba and other countries as a third-rank minister of the Qing Dynasty, traveling to many countries for the sake of the Qing Dynasty. Liang Cheng, a native of Guangzhou, was educated in Western culture in his early years and was deeply influenced by Western culture. He also liked phonographs. While in the United States, he did many major things that were beneficial to the country. In 1904, Victor launched the first batch of cabinet phonograph samples. Since they were not commercial machines, only some high-level government officials in the United States had the opportunity to use such high-end phonographs. At that time, American officials gave the phonograph to Liang Cheng, who in turn gave the phonograph to Lafayette and the Empress Dowager Cixi as a gift for the Empress Dowager Cixi's 70th birthday.
According to British Queen Elizabeth once said: "Cixi is much better than me. I am just a person who is neither great nor small." In 1904, the Empress Dowager Cixi, who once regarded foreigners as beasts, became obsessed with Western circus, waltz and photography. During this time, the maids often heard melodious waltz music coming from Cixi's palace, which was the sound of her huge foreign gramophone. Once, the Empress Dowager Cixi specifically asked the two princesses De Ling and Rongling to dance a waltz during lunch. She squinted her eyes and watched intently. When they finished dancing, Cixi said happily that it was a beautiful dance. Don't you feel dizzy when you turn in circles repeatedly like this?
According to the "Memoirs of Princess De Ling", the Empress Dowager Cixi said to us, "You can dance while I am eating!" We flipped through the entire music score before we found a waltz, which was The music suits us, while the others are mostly Chinese ditties.