VII-14
perfectly" and confided business associate that this was
the machine that would popularize the amusement phonograph. ^1
He then made his move, instructing Tate put the North
American Company into bankruptcy and arranging sell
phonographs directly from the factory, bypassing the local
companies. simple horn was attached the
. The machine
was equiped with the Edison "automatic" reproducer and a
recorder could bought extra. The price of
developing commercial machine had been high, and the payments
from the North American company had not covered the cost of
p p
years experiments West Orange.
Based the mechanism, was battery powered and came with
a horn. The phonograph was powered
by spring motor and the distinctive governor assembly the
old models was replaced with simple belt drive. The second new model was machine designed solely to
play back Edison cylinder records. Edison now made sure he
would reap all the returns his labors for kept all
profits from the National Company. The National Phonograph Company was formed manage
the nationwide system phonograph dealers and only the
Columbia, New York, and New England Companies survived from the
original North American Company franchisees. Edison committed his
company the policy compatibility between old and new
technologies and made sure that the new machine could play all
existing Edison records.
The first was improved nickel-in-the-slot machine. Once gained control of
the business, two new Edison phonographs were announced
