E. Paillard & Co.'s hot air machines

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stirlingfan
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E. Paillard & Co.'s hot air machines

Post by stirlingfan »

Most of you are familiar with Paillard's Swiss phonographs including their hot air engine-powered machine which has been described elsewhere in this forum. But did you know that Paillard also made stirling engine and clockwork-powered ventilating fans? Their hot air fan was patented in 1907 just prior to the phonograph patent in 1908; both patents were obtained by the same individual. The hot air fans and phonographs share many features including a patented wick regulating mechanism for alcohol burners, ball bearings, riveted strap metal connecting rods, etc. Some of the fans share the same perforated steel "firebox" that was used on one of the hot air phono models. Please find below a photo of my fans together with video links.

Hot air fan video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iBhap0TqSw&t=213s

Clockwork fan video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DudAEiP6lKU
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fan & phono.jpg
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Marco Gilardetti
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Re: E. Paillard & Co.'s hot air machines

Post by Marco Gilardetti »

Amusing! :D

As a side note, this is not the first time that I see a lot of technology and expensive craftmanship deployed in order to perform a task that is basically superfluous, and could be very well achieved just by keeping a window open or alike.

stirlingfan
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Re: E. Paillard & Co.'s hot air machines

Post by stirlingfan »

Marco,
I respectfully disagree. These machines were intended for export to tropical countries. As someone who has worked for many years in those climates, opening a window doesn't help in the hot season when the temps are high, humidity is 100% and there is no breeze. Tens of thousands of the larger Jost hot air fans (see my other videos) were sold in India and Asia and no one would have paid the very high prices for a superfluous product.

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Marco Gilardetti
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Re: E. Paillard & Co.'s hot air machines

Post by Marco Gilardetti »

I appreciate your point, but I still believe that a Stirling engine just to activate a fan is really overkilling. And I mean bombing a mosquito with a Stratofortress.

In my humble opinion, these objects were mostly status symbols. I figure that back then in most colonies you could have a local kid manually ventilate all day for a fraction of the cost of a Stirling-powered fan. (And perhaps even today, but a digression on caste-based societies would lead us too far).

stirlingfan
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Re: E. Paillard & Co.'s hot air machines

Post by stirlingfan »

Everyone's entitled to their own opinions, but don't knock it 'til you've tried it. Many of the old Jost ads refer to the obviously colonial mentality of not having to deal with the "sleepy and unreliable punkah wallahs". Here's one we used during the frequent power outages while working in Myanmar; it was wonderful when nothing else was available:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Ak98KahZc

gramophone78
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Re: E. Paillard & Co.'s hot air machines

Post by gramophone78 »

As a Stirling owner myself, I would have to concur with Stirlingfan.

However, Paillard did not manufacture the Stirling motor for their Gramophones/fans. They were manufactured by a company in Liege Belgium and shipped to Paillard where the cases, etc... were made and assembled.


This factory in Belgium was destroyed during the great war and never started up production again.

Attached is the last page from a Paillard catalog showing a fan offered by them just not manufactured by them
Hot Air Fan.jpg
Hot Air Fan.jpg (56.99 KiB) Viewed 1866 times

stirlingfan
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Re: E. Paillard & Co.'s hot air machines

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Bruce
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Re: E. Paillard & Co.'s hot air machines

Post by Bruce »

Thanks for sharing, your machines are very "cool"

There is a little irony that you had to use heat to cool off on a hot summers day.

Bruce

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jamiegramo
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Re: E. Paillard & Co.'s hot air machines

Post by jamiegramo »

Yes these hot air machines are fascinating. Recently a hot air gramophone sold with auctioneer Peter Wilson after a stint with another auctioneer that went into liquidation. They described this as early 20th century, but I wonder? That said I would love to have owned it! I've never seen a hot air engine or machine but I compared the pictures of the one being sold with pictures of the motors of Paillard hot air gramophones and came to the opinion it was likely a copy probably made by an enthusiast. But was I right? It sold for £3000 hammer price a total of around £3780. This seems a lot for a copy. Someone like 'stirlingfan' who has some originals can perhaps tell me for certain.

Thanks, Jamie
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gramophone78
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Re: E. Paillard & Co.'s hot air machines

Post by gramophone78 »

As mentioned on the Melba thread....this hot-air is just a fantasy piece and very little (if anything) is original to a Paillard hot-air model.

To realize a 3000 Pounds ($3751 USD) price plus 25% fee is truly a shame for someone.
Last edited by gramophone78 on Sat Sep 14, 2019 3:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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