linguaphone gramophone 1925??

[tinovanderzwan]

I have a problem on my hands I recently bought a Linguaphone portable it is equipped with both a repeater (of sorts) system although I would rather call it a word indicator since you could place the arm and reproducer in the general area of a certain word on a record by moving the attachments on a rod above the tonearm
my problem with this Linguaphone gramophone is that I can't find any documentation on it
as far as I could deduce from local collectors it is extremely rare and the internet seems to confirm this as only 5 or so were sold in the last 10 years
I don't care about value but if there's any documentation I would like to know about it
it also had a solo phone attachment which was a listening tube system to better understand certain words
the value would only be a warm tap on the shoulder as I bought it for only 40 euro's

if you have more info please share it

tino

[rgordon939]

Here is an advertisement for it.

Rich Gordon

[epigramophone]

The Winter 2005 edition of "For the Record", the quarterly magazine of the CLPGS, includes a history of Linguaphone which runs to almost 14 pages. It includes period advertisement images for the Waveola portable gramophone, the Linguaphone adjustable repeater, the Solophone attachment and Linguaphone's own gramophones and records.

Even if copyright rules allowed, the images are too small and indistinct to copy and reproduce here, but if you are a CLPGS member you might be able to obtain a back number of this magazine.

www.clpgs.org.uk

[tinovanderzwan]

no, I'm not a member
also as far as copyright on ads from this period they are older than 80 years so very much public domain

thank you for reacting it's very much appreciated (it's the truth!)

so I need more I'm at this point, not an inch further than in the beginning so I hope some more will come

tino

[epigramophone]

Yes the period advertisements pictured in the article are out of copyright, but as I said they are of poor resolution and will not reproduce.
Copyright in the article itself is the property of the author.
I have written many articles for the CLPGS magazine "For the Record", but not this one.

[tinovanderzwan]

update
i have some hearsay news about the early linguaphones
its being said that the lingua's where all scraped in and around 1940 since these machines where on a rental basis only, it would mean nearly all of them!,... exept the ones that where illigaly kept or stolen, left in trains, busses and other..

it would explain the rarety of this machine although we can't prove this story it does sound likely

tino

[epigramophone]

Linguaphone machines were definitely available to purchase. I have seen advertisements for portable and table models, and in 1936 Linguaphone produced their own radiogram priced at 25 guineas, later reduced to 22 guineas.

Linguaphone Ltd went into liquidation in about about 1940, but was immediately acquired by The Linguaphone Institute Ltd which continued in business well into the post-war era.

Your machine is based on the Waveola portable, which Linguaphone offered as a suitable machine for their language courses.

[Gramtastic]

Here's my Linguaphone portable complete with "earphones" so you don't disturb anyone while learning a language ! This came with a set of French and a set of German language records though I would have thought that learning German in Britain in the 30's would not have been considered very good form !! The case is very similar to an HMV with the corner needle tray. Any idea what is missing from the attachment on the front corner ? I assume it may have had some sort of repeating device ??

[epigramophone]

Linguaphone did market a repeating device, which would have been helpful to the listener when practising phrases.

As an aside, some UK collectors say that Linguaphone record carrying cases were the strongest ever made.

[tinovanderzwan]

Linguaphone machines were definitely available to purchase. I have seen advertisements for portable and table models, and in 1936 Linguaphone produced their own radiogram priced at 25 guineas, later reduced to 22 guineas.

Linguaphone Ltd went into liquidation in about about 1940, but was immediately acquired by The Linguaphone Institute Ltd which continued in business well into the post-war era.

Your machine is based on the Waveola portable, which Linguaphone offered as a suitable machine for their language courses.

the linguaphone history is rather sketchy at best that gramophones where for sale without you having to obt for an expensive course to go with it is something i did not know so thanks for that!
still.. the only machines that are regulars on the market are of the hmv 101 style made by garrard or in rarer cases by paillard not the waveola/dulcetto style
speaking of waveola that's a near match!

then again,.. there where more brands that had this type of picknic gramophone i would have to see a photograph to be really sure
also o would love to see the advertisements especially the radiogram!

thanks for sharing this is a real good step in the right direction

tino