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History of the manufacturer  

General Phonograph Co., Heineman Phonograph Supply Co., Inc. (Okeh); New York, NY

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Name: General Phonograph Co., Heineman Phonograph Supply Co., Inc. (Okeh); New York, NY    (USA)  
Abbreviation: heineman
Products: Model types
Summary:

Otto Heineman Phonograph Supply Co. Inc.
25 West 45th Street, New York, NY (1916)

General Phonograph Corporation, Inc.

General Phonograph Mfg. Corp.

Factories:
Elyria, OH (from 1916)
Newark, NJ (ex Meisselbach, 1917)
Putnam, CT (1918)
Springfield, MA (ex International Insulation Corp, 1918)
Kitchener, Ontario (ex Pollock, 1919)

Makers of Heineman and Meisselbach phonograph motors. (1917)

Heinemann is also the founder of record label Okeh.

Founded: 1915
History:

Otto K. E. Heinemann was, from 1906 on, a partner of the German Carl Lindström AG, which from 1911 also owned the Odeon brand. He was the manager of their New York office at 45 Broadway between 1914 and 1915.

The Otto Heineman Phonograph Supply Co. was formed end of 1915 to handle the Heineman and Lindström products. Effective Jan 1916, Heinemann resigned as managing director of Lindström, as well as their companies Fonotipia, Odeon, Favorite, Dacapo and Lyrophone. [1]

In 1917, A.F. Meisselbach & Bro., manufacturer of tone arms, sound boxes and motors, was acquired. The company continued the manufacture of Meisselbach motors in the Newark plant, and Meisselbach was appointed vice-president of the Heineman organization.

In 1918, Heineman announced their own label OkeH Records.

In March 1919, a controlling interest in the Garford Mfg. Co. of Elyria was acquired. Garford had manufactured the Heineman motors for the previous 4 years under contract.

On 24 Sept. 1919 the name was changed to General Phonograph Corporation, Inc.

In November that same year, the company acquired the Pollock Mfg. Co. of Kitchener, Canada, leaving A.B. Pollock in the function of managing director.

In 1922 the subsidiary General Wireless Corp. was organized to "manufacture and import the wireless products of the C. Lorenz AG, Berlin, Germany."[4]

The Okeh-Odeon record division was split from General Phonograph in October 1926, with Columbia Phonograph Co. taking this business over. To this end, the Okeh Phonograph Corp. (25 West 45th St, New York) was formed on 1 Nov. 1926. The products of General Phonograph and General Industries were then marketed exclusively by the new company.

On 1 April 1927, the General Phonograph Mfg. Corp. was chartered to take over as an operating company from General Phonograph Corp., which continued as holding company, owning all of the stock of the Mfg. Corp and basically all stock of General Industries Co. in Elyria.[2]

Some time in early 1927, the General Phonograph Mfg. Co. in Elyria renamed to The General Industries Co.[3]

[2] and [3] are somewhat disagreeing on the facts. It seems the press release in [2] was not entirely accurate, or [3] gave "commercial" information that hadn't been legally registered yet.

[1] The Music Trade Review, 11 Dec 1915, p.38
[2] The Talking Machine World, March 1927, p.6
[3] Berg AT&S Co. advertisement in The Talking Machine World, 15 Feb 1927
[4] The Music Trade Review, 10 June 1922

This manufacturer was suggested by Mark Hippenstiel.


Some models:
Country Year Name 1st Tube Notes
USA  18 Heineman Phonograph Motor No. 77    
USA  18 Meisselbach Phonograph Motor No. 16    
USA  23 Table Phonograph E   Mechanical turntable. Plays all makes of records. 

[rmxhdet-en]
  

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