Clare Briggs / Comics

Fixing the Phonograph

by Clare Briggs · January 11, 2022

Tags: Handy Man Around The House

Clare Briggs

Clare Briggs is a famous cartoonist who lived from 1875 to 1930. Poems by Wilbur Nesbitt.

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Michael Cain says:

January 12, 2022 at 9:03 am

I’ve worked on spring-driven fencing floor reels with springs of about the size shown in this strip. They are indeed a pain in the butt when they get loose. And messy, since they won’t work well without a thin film of light-weight grease.

Some years back I inherited my grandmother’s non-functioning music box, about the size of the phonograph shown, but with a much heftier spring. I found the mechanical music makers mailing list and asked a couple of simple questions about the difficulties of restoration. The next morning, the list was full of e-mails telling me, “DON’T OPEN THE SPRING CASE!!” When springs of that type got loose, they tended to take off fingers. Or worse.Report
North says:

January 12, 2022 at 12:57 pm

It is truly fascinating to look at this cartoon. I had always mentally thought of a phonograph as a rather cut and dry, bloodless instrument much like a wind up clock. The idea of the internals being oily or high strung was something I hadn’t considered but that, in hindsight, seems obvious.Report
- Michael Cain in reply to North says:
  
  January 12, 2022 at 1:23 pm
  
  There’s a reason the widespread application of electricity and electric motors in particular is called “the second industrial revolution.”Report
  - North in reply to Michael Cain says:
    
    January 12, 2022 at 2:36 pm
    
    I’ve read items that persuasively make the case that the advent of recorded media was a singularity event.
    And, yeah, my appreciation of electricity and electrical components never wanes.Report