The identical identification tag on the two phonographs shown below identifies a mail-order wholesale or retail company, The Orchestrelle Co., Box 213, West Toronto, Ontario. The tag also provides patent information: Patented June 28, 1921, No. 212-261, and trademark information: Trade Mark Reg'd Feb. 28, 1920, Folio 110, No. 25910. The manufacturer of the phonographs remains unknown.
A search of the Canadian Patent Database identifies Patent No. 212261, Sound Reproducing Machine (Cabinet de Phonographe), which was filed in Montreal, Quebec, on March 3, 1920, and issued on June 28, 1921. The inventor and patent owner are identified as Joseph Wilfrid Raoul Côté, about whom no further information has been found.
The patent documents describe the invention as a rectangular, upright phonograph cabinet in which the lower half accommodates the mechanism (motor, turntable, tone arm, and reproducer), while the upper half houses the internal horn. This is the reverse of the more usual arrangement, in which the horn is positioned below the mechanism. The drawing also shows record storage above the turntable, in front of the horn bracket, with additional storage space in the bottom of the cabinet beneath the motor.
Canadian Patent No. 212261, Pages 1-9, issued June 28, 1921.
A phonograph tagged Sold by the Orchestrelle Co. listed in Victoria, B.C. in 2023. The cabinet design is very similar to Canadian Patent No. 212261.
A traditional-style cabinet phonograph tagged Sold by the Orchestrelle Co. listed in Ottawa, Ontario in 2025.
