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The Deagan 200 Series Dinner Chime

These still sound beautiful but do have age appropriate wear and are in need of TLC. I haven't touched them. Wanted to share some info on the story of these amazing chimes...If it sounds similiar to another listing, that's because it is...can't vary to much on the description of the creation of these! Selling as pictured..ask any questions before bidding as all sales are final!! Thank You

The 200 Series consisted of four steel chime plates, tuned in ascending order to the notes G, C, E, and G. The two G notes were an octave apart, and the C was one octave above Middle C. This is the chime heard on the earliest recordings of the NBC chimes, the seven and five note sequences from 1929 through 1931. (Mention of a four note sequence occurs in NBC timelines, but no recordings of that sequence have ever been made public.) This chime was also the one adopted by WSB in 1922, by General Manager Lambdin Kay at the suggestion of singer Nell Pendley, who gave him the set that is now on display in WSB's museum.

The 200 Series dinner chime was sold in quite an array of colors in its early years, later tapering off until by the end of production it was only available with brushed gold chime plates above ivory resonators.

The J. C. Deagan Dinner Chimes

Today the idea of using dinner chimes seems a quaint curiosity, but it fits perfectly with the ideals of the 1920s. Dinner chimes were a soft-toned melodic way for families to be called to dinner, or even for household servants to be summoned. Railroads and cruise ships used dinner chimes to call their passengers to the dining car when meals were served, and theaters and concert halls used dinner chimes to signal the start and stop of intermissions. For an era when radio programs were delivered by talent wearing evening dress, the idea of using dinner chimes as a switching cue that was pleasing to the ear of the listener does not seem far-fetched, especially given the theater/concert hall connection.

The largest manufacturer of dinner chimes in the United States was the J. C. Deagan Company of Chicago. John Calhoun Deagan patented the dinner chime in the early years of the 20th century, and Deagan was the preeminent name in the field. An Antique Wireless Association magazine article on the development of the NBC Chimes written by retired NBC engineer Robert Morris (who assisted in the development of the Rangertone chimes) specifically mentions four-tone Deagan chimes throughout his article.