The oldest machine has a diaphragm mended long before it reached the collection.
The patches differ in age and material — two of mica, two of thin paper. That means the machine was mended at least twice, with a long gap between.
Koval did not remove them and fit a new diaphragm. She says a new one would give a cleaner sound but would erase the only trace that the machine was used for a long time and looked after.
