The full story of the connection between Arthur B. Pollock, Hermann Schröder and the early history of the Phonola Company of Canada is documented in an article titled "Made in Canada: The Pollock-Schröder Connection 1907-1909 published in the Summer 2026 issue of Antique Phonograph News. The article is also available at https://www.capsnews.org/apn2026-3.htm. Previous research on these companies was published in Antique Phonograph News in January, 2015 which is online at https://www.capsnews.org/apn2015-1.htm. Also, much of what is known about the early days of the Phonola Company derives from a 1997 book by Raymond Stanton, "Visionary Thinking: The Story of Canada’s Electrohome."
In 1907, Arthur B. Pollock established the Pollock Manufacturing Company, formally incorporated on April 21, 1909, in Berlin, Ontario. An agreement was concluded between the Schröder Hornless Phonograph Manufacturing Company, New York, USA and the Pollock Manufacturing Company licensing Pollock to manufacture and sell the Schröder hornless phonograph in Canada under Canadian patent no. 105,611 which was issued to Hermann Schröder on June 4, 1907.
The following year, in 1908, a further agreement was reached between Hermann Schröder and Arthur Pollock, under which the Canadian patent rights were assigned to Pollock in exchange for the payment of royalties on each hornless phonograph produced or sold.
From early 1908 through late 1909 Pollock manufactured and marketed the same hornless phonographs under two different brand names—at times as a Schröder, and at others as a Pollock. In December 1909 the name of the instrument was formally changed to "Phonola" and in 1917 the company formally adopted the name The Phonola Company of Canada and acquired a woodworking plant in Elmira, Ontario, to manufacture its phonograph cabinets.
See also Pulwel portable phonograph page.
Berlin, Ontario, King Street, 1908.
Schröder American Patent No. 864,758 for the hornless phonograph. The illustrations in Schröder Canadian Patent No. 105,611, issued June 4, 1907, are identical.
Berlin Daily Telegraph, March 25, 1908, p. 6. First ad for the Hornless Phonograph.
Berlin News Record, July 13, 1908, p. 6. Second ad for the Hornless Phonograph.
Left: Calgary Herald, March 13, 1909. Right: Edmonton Saturday News, March 13, 1909. Identical machine, Pollock "Princess" model, advertised as both a Schröder phonograph and a Pollock phonograph.
Edmonton Saturday News, April 3, 1909, p. 5.
Manitoba Morning Free Press, July 10, 1909, p. 9. Ad for the Hornless "Crown Prince" model.
Berlin News Record, December 1, 1909, p. 8. Ad for the Pollock Hornless "Duke" Model.
1909 ad for Pollock Cabinet Talking Machines. Four models: King, Crown Prince, Princess and Duke.
Pollock tabletop model phonograph. Catalogue Number 2007.031.049. Courtesy of the Region of Waterloo Museums & Archives.
The same model Pollock Hornless Phonograph illustrated in Raymond Stanton's 1997 book "Visionary Thinking: The Story of Canada’s Electrohome."
