The 1943 flick "Calling Dr Death" shows a nurse operating a disk cuttter in her Dr's office.

The obviously portable suitcase-housed device had a transverse tonearm with the stubby cutter head lowered down onto the vinyl blank. Now I know why the 3" or so center blank in disks, that's where the spume collects during the record cutting! The disk blank would have been a 78, but the platten looked like it could hold a not-yet invented LP.

On a shelf just below was an amp, not clear if integral to the recording side but necessary for playback. She switched it on, then lowered a conventional tonearm onto the disk and immediately played back what was just recorded.

Cool! I want one!

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement