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all record players used cylinders until about 1910 , Edison had a surprisingly large catalog of recordings mostly classical vocals although there was a huge demand for voice recordings, often of well-known comedians of the time. one can be heard on youtube, it's a laugh a minute, thankfully only 2 minutes, which was the max time for an Edison at that time. Performers often rushed through the piece to make it fit into 2 mins, the recording on youtube is a classic example of this.
One thing people don't realize is that there was no way to mass-produce the "records" and performers sometimes had to continuously perform the same piece to produce a stack of recordings that could be used to produce a few duplicates each by re-recording, an expensive process, not until the 1900's and the invention of the hard wax cylinder could they be mass-produced

oneswitch500 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:04 am I wonder where that Automatic Chime Bells machine would have been operated. At a fun-fair? In a pub/bar?

Yes, as the advert says, "wherever electric lights are used", like a saloon bar, club or hotel. Of course, amusement arcades didn't really exist in 1899.*

There's a short video about the Palais Royale Saloon wax cylinder phonograph in See it Operate! - Music Machines.

*Another hard to answer question - where/when was the first amusement arcade?

Not the funniest thing I've ever heard @coppinpr ... but I can imagine the wonder of people hearing a machine speak. I remember thinking talking pinball machines were incredible.

*Another hard to answer question - where/when was the first amusement arcade?

I wonder.... This is an amazing collection of photos https://penny-arcade.info/amusement-arc ... m-the-past, but would an array of machines on a pier constitute an amusement arcade? If not, would it be the 1920s? Surely earlier?