Home Entertainment Before the Phonograph

 

QUESTION: I have a Gem Roller Organ that has been in my family for some time.  It spent the last few years in the attic.  The bellows seem to be working and the keys respond to the pins, but it has stopped playing.  What can you tell me about it? Also, can it be repaired?

ANSWER: You’ve got one of the original Gem Roller Organs produced by the Autophone Company of Ithaca, New York.  Since it’s intact and in relatively good condition, it most likely needs cleaning, which you should have done by a professional who works on music boxes and gramophones.

In 1884, the Autophone Company developed a hand-cranked roller reed organ which operated by forcing air out through reeds under pressure with exposed bellows. The musical notes were traditionally represented by wire bridges or staples, which were formed by hand according to the length of each note and inserted at the correct location around the circumference of the barrel. As the barrel was turned, the projections operated a valve mechanism to admit air into the musical pipes or reeds.

The company named its most common and least expensive one, a vacuum-operated model, “The Gem Roller Organ.” It was basically a 20-note suction-operated reed organ in a light wooden table-top case measuring 14.5 inches wide, 12 inches deep, and 8 inches high, and weighing 6.5 pounds.

The roller consisted of a solid wood cylinder measuring a little over 6 inches long and nearly 2 inches in diameter. It had a mounting hole with a metal bushing at each end, and an offset drive hole at the left-hand end. Tiny pins, standing .05 inches above the surface of the roller, resulted in 110 pins per revolution. 

The roller made three complete turns per tune, with the pins arranged on a spiral path of .10 inch pitch. The physical length of each tune equaled 16.5 inches or 330 pins, creating a playing time of about 40 seconds, giving an effective "roll speed" of only 2 feet per minute and a time resolution of 8 pins per second. The mechanical alignment needed to be precise at this speed, as timing errors from bent pins or pallets were very noticeable.

The company produced over 1,000 different rollers, containing a broad selection of religious, military, operatic, and music-hall tunes that were popular from the 1880s through the 1890s.

Autophone mounted the roller, drive mechanism, and pallet valves on cast-iron brackets on the top front section of the case. Workers mounted the brass reeds on the inside of the sloping panel, directly behind the pallets. They mounted the pumping bellows or feeders in the lower section of the case, with the reservoir at the top rear. Black rubberized “bellows cloth” covered the rear section of the reservoir which moved up and down as the instrument plays

The roller organ had an ingenious drive mechanism that was both simple and effective. Two short horizontal shafts held the roller between them and an arm drove it at its left-hand end. The springs on the support shafts pushed the roller towards the left, allowing it to travel .30 of an inch to the right as the tune progressed 

After two more turns, the flattened pin attached to the roller shaft reached the tab on the forked arm, just as the tune came to its end. With another turn of the crank, the pin pressed downwards on the arm, which in turn pushed the roller frame forward clearing  the keys. The forked arm then pulls the roller frame rearward and engages the driving worm, ready to start again. Multiple verses of a song or hymn can be played continuously just by continuing to crank.

The lower ends of the keys were bent upwards to engage with the pins on the rollers. The pins pushed the keys about .040 of an inch, amplified by the lever arms into a  movement at the pallets. The keys oscillated slightly as a succession of pins passed, giving a tremolo effect to the longer notes.

A set of 20 brass reeds, mounted in a wooden block attached to the inside face of the sloping front panel, immediately behind the pallet valves, produced the music. Air entered through the slots in the front face when the pallets were lifted, passing through the reeds into the reservoir, and out through the feeder bellows underneath.

The reed block, machined from a solid block of wood, measured 1.75 inches high by 7 inches long. The roller organ had no soundboard. The sound radiated directly from the reeds and through the pallet openings. The music box had no way to control the volume.

The roller organ’s design placed the lower notes in the upper section of the block, so that the greater leverage of the longer keys would give a greater opening distance and a less-restricted air flow.

The Gem Roller Organ used conventional American organ reeds which had flat tongues and produced a strong sound. These produced a musical scale of 20 selected notes over 3 octaves. All instruments using the same-size rollers used the same scale, but the actual key and pitch often varied.

Because of its relative simplicity, the company was able to keep the cost of its roller organ affordable. Sears & Roebuck, in their 1902 Catalog, offered the Gem Roller Organ for as low as $3.25, including three rollers. Contracting with Autophone to produce large quantities of these devices enabled Sears to sell in volume and keep its price low.

The Gem Roller Organ, available in either a painted black or walnut-like finish with gold stenciled applied designs, used teeth or pins embedded into a 20-note wooden roller, similar to the cylinders used in Swiss music boxes. Pins operated on valve keys while a gear turned the roller. The mass-produced 20-note rollers, priced as low as 18 cents each—and according to the Sears Catalog, less than the price of a traditional sheet of music—played a wide range of tunes, from classical to sacred to ethnic and popular tunes. The 1902 Sears Catalog listed 220 different rollers of the over 1,200 different titles then available. 

The tone of a roller organ was similar to a cabinet parlor organ of the time. At 16 inches long, 14 inches wide and 9 inches high, the Gem Roller Organ was small and light enough to place on a parlor table. 

Since Autophone usually printed the manufacturing date on the bottom of the case, it’s relatively easy to date the device, itself. All rollers show a copyright date of July 14, 1885, even though the Autophone sold them from the late 1880's through the late 1920's—an amazing lifespan for a single basic design. Their success may be attributed to the full, rich sound and pleasing music arrangements offered on the rollers.

Unfortunately, roller organs quickly fell out of favor after the introduction of the phonograph around the turn of the 20th century even though they cost much less than disk or cylinder music boxes manufactured during the same period. Considered the common-mans form of entertainment since music boxes and other instruments were much more expensive, roller organs could be found in many middle class homes. Most eventually ended up in the attic, in the barn, or simply thrown away. Today, roller organs sell for anywhere from $350 to over $800, depending on the condition and the number of rollers included. The rollers, themselves, sell for about $20 each.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Sporting Life" in the 2025 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Dorflinger Glass Was Brilliant

 

QUESTION: My mother liked to collect antique glassware. Her favorite was cut crystal. She often purchased items from a particular dealer in town. One of these objects was a tall vase with a concaved shape that was cut with a variety of intricate designs. I now have her collection and would like to begin identifying the pieces. She collected what she liked and didn’t really care to know what the pieces were. To begin, I’d like to know which factory made this magnificent vase. And also how to identify other pieces in this collection.

ANSWER: Based on the cut designs in the vase, it seems that it may have been made or at least cut by artisans at the Dorflinger Glass Company in White Hills, Pennsylvania.

The Victorians learned a lot about people’s manners and status from their tableware. The type and pattern of crystal indicated a person of a higher economic status. In the United States, this type of crystal became known as American Brilliant, an art form that with intricate designs and patterns and an unmatched quality. One of the leading producers of American Brilliant was the Dorflinger Glass Company which developed a weightier glass in the 1880s. 

Born in Rosteig in Alsace, France, in 1828, Dorflinger began an eight-year apprenticeship with an uncle at the Cristalleries de Saint-Louis in Lorraine to learn the glassmaking craft. In 1846, after completing his apprenticeship, Dorflinger persuaded his recently-widowed mother to emigrate from France to America in search of better opportunities. Dorflinger, along with his mother, brother Edward, and sisters Catharine, Madeline, Josephine, and Marie, arrived in New York aboard the Shakespeare on September 26, 1846. The family went west for a time where Charlotte and her daughters settled with friends in Oldenberg, Indiana. Christian and his brother Edward returned east to find work in the glass industry.

Dorflinger and his brother found employment at the Excelsior Flint Glass Company in Camden, New Jersey. Excelsior produced pharmacy glassware and also advertised “Rich Cut Glass.” During visits to New York City, Dorflinger became acquainted with Captain Aaron Flower, a former North River pilot and the proprietor of the Pacific Hotel. When Captain Flower and a group of associates formed the Long Island Flint Glass Works to make lamp chimney and lamps for burning coal oil or kerosene in 1852, they asked Dorflinger to head up the new firm. That same year, he married Elizabeth Hagen. 

By 1856, Dorflinger had added a cutting shop with 35 cutting frames and had begun producing rich cut glass tableware in addition to the company’s commercial products, making the Long Island Flint Glass Works a leading manufacturer of cut glass tableware in New York.

In 1860, Dorflinger built a larger glass factory, the Greenpoint Flint Glass Works, on Commercial Street at Newtown Creek on the northern edge of Brooklyn. Dorflinger, in partnership with Nathaniel Bailey, a vice president at the Greenpoint Savings Bank, formed C. Dorflinger & Co. to own and operate the new glass works. The Greenpoint works included a blowing shop to produce blanks for cutting, a cutting shop, wharf facilities, and housing for the factory’s workers. In less than a decade, Dorflinger had become the premier manufacture of cut glass in New York, operating the newest and most advanced glass factories in the city.

By 1861, the Greenpoint Flint Glass Works had received an order for a set of rich cut and engraved glassware from the Lincoln White House. The pattern, character of English and Trish glass during that period, was very light and intense, with no deep cutting. The Great Seal of 'the United States was on each of the 600 pieces. The eagle was facing away from the arrows because there was no war threatening in 1860, when the order had been placed. The state glass service went on to be used for the next 30 years. 

The following year, Dorflinger began experiencing health problems and decided to take a leave of absence and move to the country. In September 1862, Dorflinger purchased a 600-acre farm in Wayne County, Pennsylvania  from his friend Captain Flower. Dorflinger also purchased an additional 350 acres in White Mills, which later became the location of his Wayne County Glass Works. 

In 1863, Dorflinger moved to Wayne County. He sold the Long Island Flint Glass Works, but retained his ownership interest in the Greenpoint Flint Glass Works. White Mills offered all of the elements needed to build and operate a large, modern glass factory. The adjacent Delaware & Hudson Canal delivered coal from nearby Carbondale, Pennsylvania, to fuel the factory’s furnaces, brought in the raw materials needed to make the fine lead crystal glass, and delivered Dorflinger’s finished goods to market.

Dorflinger’s newest glass factory included a five-pot furnace close to the Lackawaxen River in White Mills. He also constructed a cutting shop and seven cottages for the skilled glassblowers he brought over from France. By 1869, the firm employed 182 workers. That same year, Dorflinger opened the St. Charles Hotel to house his visiting business associates, tradespeople, and friends, as well as a company store. In 1875, he added a decorating shop, and in 1883, a new cutting shop and a glassblowing shop.

The Dorflinger Glass Company exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and received a certificate of award for its glass table wares. The heavily cut glassware exhibited at the Centennial Exposition began what is now known as the “Brilliant Period” of cut glassmaking in America, which continued until about 1917.

In 1891, Dorflinger produced a new state table service for President Benjamin Harrison, replacing the Lincoln state service with a more modern design cut in the Russian pattern with the U.S. Coat of Arms engraved on a shield.

 two sons, Charles and Louis, joined the business, and the firm's name changed to C. Dorflinger and Sons, based in Wayne County, Pennsylvania.

Blowing, cutting and engraving were part of the manufacturing process fur more than 60 years. The recipe for glassmaking materials included pure Berkshire sand, imported German potash, lead oxide and cutlet.

Every morning, workers skimmed the glass mixture for impurities. Dorflinger produced pure crystal and colored glass with a high lead content, giving it brilliance and making it easier to cut.

The Dorflinger factory also supplied blanks in hundreds of shapes to a number of cutting shops  for almost 70 years. One such shop was Thomas Gibbons Hawkes, based in Corning, N.Y. During President Grover Cleveland's administration in 1885, Hawkes was asked to supply the White House with 336 pieces of tableware cut in the Russian pattern. Hawkes received 28 dozen blanks manufactured at White Mills, ready for cutting and engraving.

 incorporated several basic motifs into many heavy cut brilliant glass items. Among these were Renaissance, Buzz Star, aka pinwheel, 48-point flash star, a stone engraved rose design, Old Colony, Hobstar (diamond) and a Russian design.

A catastrophic fire of suspicious origin in 1892 heavily damaged some buildings and destroyed others. Dorflinger immediately rebuilt the factory. Five years later, he introduced new lines of tableware that were graceful and light, refined in style and cut in a new intaglio pattern. Buyers could order glass with various degrees of cutting. In 1910, the firm began producing a line of etched glass-ware and lightly cut tableware that was less expensive.    

In 1897, Dorflinger hired an Englishman, Walter Graham, to head the engraving department. Graham introduced stone engraving from his native country to the White Mills factory, creating the modern lighter floral designs known as “Rock Crystal.” In 1901, Dorflinger added a new subsidiary named the Honesdale Decorating Company managed by Austrian Carl F. Prosch. Honesdale Decorating produced a line of gold decorated table ware and a new line of cameo glass in the Art Nouveau style. This new art glass style used color cased glass and acid cutting with gold decoration. 

 introduced a second art glass line in 1907. The Kalana art glass line used acid etching to etch intricate floral designs on colorless glass. Some pieces were also cut and/or engraved. World War I interrupted Dorflinger’s supply of German potash, an essential ingredient used to make the company’s fine lead crystal glass. 

In response, in 1914, Dorflinger developed a third art glass line known as “Reproductions Venetian.” Made in solid pastel colors, this blown glass without decoration hid the imperfections resulting from the lack of potash. Finally, from 1919 to 1921, Dorflinger produced an art glass line known as “Opal Glass” for its opaque, opalescent appearance. These new glassware lines were attempts by the company to appeal to changing tastes as the demand for heavy cut glass began to decline.

Building on his success, he added a third blowing shop in 1902, and a coal gasification plant to produce natural gas for the newest furnace in 1905. At the peak of its operations in the early 20th century, the Dorflinger Glass Factory employed 650 people and was one of the largest enterprises of its kind in the country. The factory employed women as well as men. Women worked in the factory office and in the washing and packing department, but there were also some women cutters.

Christian Dorflinger died in 1915. His sons, Charles and Louis, continued to operate the firm. By the end of World War I, the heavy cut glass of the American Brilliant Period which had been the mainstay of the firm’s output had gone out of favor. The interruption in the supply of German potash during the war years had limited the company’s ability to produce fine lead crystal table ware, and Prohibition further reduced demand for the company’s table and bar ware. Faced with these challenges, the family decided to close the factory in 1921.

 glass is noted for the consistent clarity and brilliance of its lead crystal, the elegance of its designs, and its excellent cutting and engraving. Color cased pieces, in which workers laid colored glass over clear glass, then artisans cut the pattern through the color layer to the clear glass underneath, are among the most prized examples of the company’s work. Collectors also highly value pieces with silver ornamentation, known as silver mounts.

To identify Dorilinger glass, it’s necessary to compare a piece with others in pattern books. The company marked its glass with a small, round paper label depicting three items—a wine goblet, a cordial glass, and a bottom-heavy wine decanter----over which the name DORFLINGER was printed.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Sporting Life" in the 2025 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.