FEBRUARY 2 ISSUE ANSWERS (photo to right): Come to the Romeo Historical Society House Museum on Church Street to hear the ambience that the 1915 Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph creates. Listen to some popular tunes of the day such as: “Hail, Hail the Gangs All Here,” “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles,” and “The Peacock Strut.” The player is free from the need of electricity and is simply cranked up, winding a spring that slowly releases its power to make the turn table move at 80 r.p.m.s (revolutions per minute). That is, until it slowly comes to a halt, begging to be cranked again. Other inventors like Berliner and Victrola beginning in 1889 first used cylinders to record their sounds. The early phonographs were in arcades, taverns and owned only by the wealthy, later finally finding their way into homes in middle class settings. But around 1908, Thomas Edison marketed and perfected the phonograph by increasing the number of grooves per record, (150 to 450 per inch), putting recordings on two sides of the disc, giving a five minute song on both sides, and putting the permanent, conical, diamond stylus on his Edison player called “Eddie.” Previous players needed temporary steel needles that needed to be replaced very frequently, almost after every song. The lampblack colored discs had a compressed wood core or later china clay core, with a thin coating of phenolic resin (identical to bakelite) and covered with a rabbit-hide binder. All were about 10 inches in diameter and weighing approximately one pound. The melodic sounds, even though a hint scratchy, still drifts through the handsome, wooden, chest high box today. Watch out! It may make you feel like dancing. An acquisition recently donated by Lori and Tom Bruebaker- Thank you. Joan Emily Beringer, Romeo Historical Society staff