A few questions on HMV 162

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Phono48
Victor IV
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Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 2:38 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Re: A few questions on HMV 162

Post by Phono48 »

bulleid_pacific wrote:Pretty dangerous to have two male plugs on an AC lead. I don't think even in the late 20's a commercial organisation like EMI would have done that..... Looks loke a home conversion to me.
I'm not so sure! I have two beautiful portable gramophones, one a Pathé "Olotonal", and the other a Paillard, both of which use motors that can be driven by either electricity or spring. They both use leads that have a male plug on both ends.

epigramophone
Victor Monarch Special
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Personal Text: An analogue relic trapped in a digital world.
Location: The Somerset Levels, UK.

Re: A few questions on HMV 162

Post by epigramophone »

I also have a dual powered Paillard portable, which my good friend the late Philip Knighton described as "lethal". In the interests of self preservation he rewired it for me, unobtrusively, to modern safety standards. I do not use it very often, as the brake mechanism operates abruptly and I worry about breaking the governor springs.

As a general observation I would not use any machine which still retained pre-war wiring, as my Expert Minor did when I acquired it. I had it professionally rewired, as I consider a non original plug and lead preferable to a visit from the Fire Brigade.

bulleid_pacific
Victor Jr
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Location: Somerset, United Kingdom

Re: A few questions on HMV 162

Post by bulleid_pacific »

I'm happy to be corrected about male-to-male AC leads. Just shows how much in its infancy household electricity was at the time, I suppose. I certainly agree that it would be foolish to continue to use such a system now. Even if the instrument end plug was permanently bonded into its socket, it is likely that the internal insulation in the cable will have perished by now, with a severe risk of fire attached.... Even so, the quality of workmanship shown in the photos does not convince me that the electric motor is factory original.

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