At the turn of the twentieth century, the phonograph was still a relatively novel device with crude sound quality and cumbersome mechanics. In the days of pre-electrical sound, metal horns were typically used to amplify the sound acoustically, and could be found with many unique design variations, ranging from sleek and simple to elaborately ornate.
One rather novel approach employed two such horns arranged side-by-side to seemingly offer “twice the sound,” or at least that was the attempt. With just such a model, the Duplex Phonograph Company made a very brief yet significant impact on the commercial sound recording industry and helped to bring notoriety to the city with its now famous dual-horn phonograph, manufactured and marketed right here in Kalamazoo.
The Duplex two horn phonograph was the brainchild of Charles E. Hill, a self proclaimed “talking machine” expert from Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska, it seems, played a prominent role in the early days of the phonograph. Leon Douglass, a co-founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company who once displayed an early coin-operated phonograph at the 1893 World's Fair, and Erastus Benson, president of the Nebraska Phonograph Company and an affiliate of Thomas Edison, both had their roots in Nebraska. While it's unclear if Hill was ever involved with either man, he was certainly in the right place.
From about 1896, Hill worked for phonograph manufacturers and distributors in and around Kansas City, Missouri, and reportedly oversaw the opening of several highly successful phonograph stores. It was during this time that Hill developed a design for a dual-horn system, which attempted to gather and amplify the sound vibrations from both sides of a transducer’s diaphragm. Hill obtained a patent (#773,740) for his device on 1st November 1904, and began marketing his invention as the Duplexophone throughout the Midwest. The Duplexophone concept soon evolved into a full blown prototype for the Duplex phonograph.
The first Duplexophones were made in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1905. By November of that year, manufacturing arrangements had been made with Michigan Novelty Works (later Kalamazoo Novelty Co.) in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to manufacture the mechanical components for the Duplex machines.
Michigan Novelty was a small but growing specialty manufacturer located at 208-212 North Rose Street (now 214 N. Rose) in Kalamazoo. Since 1902, MNW had specialized in patent and model development, custom manufactured mechanisms for slot machines and toys, and specialty equipment for other manufacturing firms, such as C. W. Post.
With mechanical components made in Kalamazoo and furniture-grade cabinets made in Grand Rapids (“Furniture City”), the Duplex Company relocated its operations in Kalamazoo where the phonographs were to be assembled and shipped directly to customers by mail order. Duplex machines went on sale in late 1905 at the advertised price of $29.85. “We save you in price exactly $70.15,” the ads stated. Duplex attempted to position their products as equal in value to their competitors’ $100 machines, but at a “factory direct” price under $30. The Duplex/MNW operation then employed some sixty workers with initial output of roughly twenty five finished machines per day.
By early 1906, Duplex had grown substantially. With much of its operation now devoted to the new phonograph machines, Kalamazoo Novelty Company struggled to meet the sharply rising demand in its Rose Street facility.
On 17 May 1906, Duplex company secretary and general manager Frank D. Eager announced that 2.5 acres of land had been purchased at the northeast corner of Walbridge and Patterson in Kalamazoo where a new manufacturing facility would be built for Duplex.
The new building, located near the CK&S Railroad line on East Patterson, was a 60’ x 120’ two-story brick structure built by A. D. Longhead of Kalamazoo at a cost of $16,000. The facility included an additional 30’ x 40’ one-story building to the north, plus a second 40’ x 100’ two-story corrugated iron structure for storage.
Kalamazoo
Duplex operated in three primary locations; Lincoln, Nebraska, Chicago and Kalamazoo. Advertisements after September 1906 generally list the factory and general offices in Kalamazoo, however, the exact address varies considerably. More than a dozen different addresses are known to have been used, perhaps as a means of advertiser identification. These include...
- 104 Patterson St. (Everybody's Magazine, July 1906)
- 106 Patterson St. (The Theater Magazine, October 1906)
- 107 Patterson St. (Cosmopolitan Magazine, June 1907)
- 110 Patterson St. (The Delineator, December 1906)
- 127 Patterson St. (unidentified magazine ad)
- 147 Patterson St. (unidentified magazine ad)
- 149 Patterson St. (unidentified magazine ad, 1907)
- 172 Patterson St. (The Theater Magazine, June 1907)
- 178 Patterson St. (The Michigan Alumnus, October 1906)
- 187 Patterson St. (The National Magazine, September 1906)
- 197 Patterson St. (The Boston Cooking School Magazine, December 1906)
- 359 Patterson St. (The Philistine, 1907)
- 372 Patterson St. (The Literary Digest, August 31, 1907)
- 412 Patterson St. (Sunset Magazine, 1907)
- 702 River St. (unidentified magazine ad, 1907)
- 709 River St. (unidentified magazine ad, 1907)
- 722 River St. (McCall's Magazine, January 1908)
- 988 Wall St., C.Q. DeFrance, Mgr. (FRA Magazine, March 1909)
Chicago
Chicago offices are also frequently mentioned, including the following...
- 1226 Powers Building (Everybody's Magazine, date unknown)
- 1227 Powers Building (unidentified magazine ad)
- 1228 Powers Building (The World To-Day, April 1906)
- 1241 Powers Building (Watson's Magazine, September 1906)
- 1287 Powers Building (The National Magazine, September 1906)
- 154 Wabash (Duplex letterhead, dated February 1907)
- 156 Wabash (Duplex company literature, undated)
Lincoln, NE
Advertisements occasionally mention a “Western Office” in Lincoln, Nebraska.
- 1241 O. St., Lincoln, Neb. (Watson's Magazine, September 1906)
On 7 September 1906, a grand ball was given to celebrate the completion of the new Duplex Phonograph Company building. Some 1,200 associates and local dignitaries gathered in the still-vacant upper level of the new factory for the gala grand-opening event.
Immediately following the grand opening festivities, Duplex reportedly moved all existing KNC manufacturing equipment into its new quarters, and added an additional $15,000 worth of new machinery. (Kalamazoo Novelty Company evidently ceased operation completely at this time, as no further entries for that company appear in city directories after 1906.) Allan T. Dusenbury, treasurer and manager of the Kalamazoo Novelty Company, was named the new Duplex company vice president.
Production work began in the new Patterson Street facility on 16 September 1906 with 150 employees and daily output of 150 machines—nearly six times that of the previous facility. Though no accurate sales records exist, it is conceivable that several thousand Duplex machines could have been on the market by the end of 1906.
Advertisements for the new Duplex Phonograph first appeared locally in the Kalamazoo Telegraph Press on Friday, 7 December 1906, and the following day in the Kalamazoo Gazette. Less than two months later, ads also began to appear nationally in many prominent publications, including The Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, The Theater Magazine, Literary Digest, and others.
A Duplex showroom and demonstration center for the new machines was set up at the Ihling-Cone Furniture Co., 223-225 East Main, where local customers could stop, listen, and compare the Duplex against other brands. While display in a furniture store might seem unusual by today’s standards, “talking machines” were then viewed more as novelty items than serious musical instruments. It is interesting to note, however, that Grinnell Brothers, a very prominent piano, musical instrument, and Victor/Victrola retailer was located right next door to Ihling-Cone. The Victor Company would later play a key role in the demise of Duplex.
In addition to its phonograph machines, the Duplex Phonograph Company also issued a significant number of 78 rpm recordings under the “Kalamazoo” and “Duplex” labels, perhaps releasing upwards of 2,000 titles. It remains unclear whether Duplex records were sold commercially, or intended as promotional giveaways with their machines. Either way, it’s clear that few if any of their records were unique recordings. In a statement to the press on 6 February 1907, Frank Eager indicated that Duplex did not manufacture its own recordings, but instead held contracts with Victor, Columbia, the International Record Company (IRC) and the American Record Company (ARC). Newspaper ads offered “three 10-inch records given free w/ purchase” and also “6 free seven inch records.”
Labels
Kalamazoo records were produced in variations of at least three separate series (Sutton):
Artists
According to the ads, available artists included Paderewski, d'Albert, Raoul Pugno, and Jan Kubelik (musicians), Patti, Melba, Calve, Caruso, and Tamagno (vocalists), plus novelty recordings like Joe Jefferson reciting lines from “Rip Van Winkle.”
Operations in the new factory had barely gotten underway when legal problems with Victor began to arise. On 6 February 1907, a Kalamazoo Gazette article stated that preliminary injunction papers had been filed in circuit court by the Victor Talking Machine Company claiming a patent infringement against Duplex (Berliner, #534,543). Duplex company officials, with attorneys Samuel Edmonds and Dallas Boudeman, countered by stating that their own patents were properly registered, no infringement had occurred and the company had no fear of an injunction.
An injunction was indeed issued, however, on 21 March 1907, and the Kalamazoo plant was forced to cease manufacturing operations (although shipments of existing product apparently continued). This injunction was later denied by a federal court judge in May and the plant was allowed to reopen. Duplex officials stated that Victor had been simply trying to block the company’s tremendous growth and that the Duplex Phonograph Company was now free to expand.
Although Duplex continued limited production for the next few months, a second suit was filed by Victor in January 1909 citing additional patent violations (Charles G. Conn, #624,301). Finally, in May 1909, a Grand Rapids judge granted a second injunction against Duplex on behalf of the Victor Talking Machine Company. By all indications, Duplex went out of the phonograph manufacturing business shortly thereafter. According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, company property went up for auction in March 1910.
Records indicate that Charles Q. DeFrance continued to operate a phonograph repair shop (still called Duplex Phonograph Company) in a third floor office at 112 South Burdick until about 1912. A former circulation manager for Watson's Magazine in New York, directories list DeFrance first as advertising manager for Duplex in 1908, then company president and general manager thereafter. Listings for both DeFrance and Duplex cease after 1912.
A century later, Duplex phonographs are highly prized for their unique appearance and extreme scarcity. What few machines exist often change hands at prices well into the thousands of dollars. In addition, “Kalamazoo” and “Duplex” records are also exceedingly rare and highly prized by collectors, as well.
Continuing Research
This essay is by no means a definitive study, rather it is very much a work-in-progress. If you have new information, corrections, or items to share, please contact the author or the Local History Room.
Written by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library Staff, 2009.