Featured Phonograph № 82: Pathéphone №29

[alang]

Make: Pathé
Model: Pathéphone №29
Serial # N/A
Year(s) Made: around 1914?
Original Cost: ?
Case/Cabinet Size: 14"x14"x7"
Turntable/Mandrel: 9 ⅝" pressed steel Turntable
Reproducer/Sound-Box: 3" Pathé Concert (not original to this machine)
Motor: single spring
Horn Dimensions: internal horn
Reproduction Parts: governor springs, base board
Current Value: ???
Interesting Facts: When I got this machine it had already been "tried to fix" some time in the past, it was not assembled correctly, the base board had been replaced and the governor springs were made from soda cans which made the governor weights hit the spindle when running. The tonearm base had to be fixed and I also needed to find a reproducer and sapphire needle to complete it. Since I couldn't find any information about this machine anywhere I had to rely on guesswork, trial and error, and pictures of other Pathé machines on the internet. I found pictures of two other Pathephones which look fairly close, but not exactly the same. One is in the book "A World Of Antique talking Machines", the other one is a Pathéphone Model №28 in the 1914 french Pathé catalog. Actually, the №28 seems to be exactly the same as mine, except that it does not have the sound door in front of the horn. Based on that picture my machine is probably missing the tonearm rest.

By now the motor is still a bit noisy, but it plays nicely and even has enough power to complete a 14" center start Pathé disc. I think it's probably going to stay a work in progress with more fixes as more information becomes available.

I would appreciate any additional information about this machine. It seems strange that the top and bottom appear to be mahogany while the middle is some lighter wood color. Also, I would be interested if anyone has a Pathé tonearm rest for sale or can provide me with a closeup picture of one.

Favorite Characteristics: I love the quirkyness of the Pathé machines and can't believe they were able to make any money with all these different machines and reproducers they threw on the market. Edison and Columbia may have built superior quality phonographs, but Columbia and especially Pathé were more open to experiments and interesting designs.


Andreas

[FloridaClay]

Thanks for sharing this interesting machine. I hadn't seen one before.

Clay

[brianu]

that machine looks vaguely familiar...

but wow, it really came out great. nice work.

[alang]

that machine looks vaguely familiar...

but wow, it really came out great. nice work.

Thanks Brian. Yes, I thought you'd remember it. I'm pretty happy how it turned out.

[briankeith]

I love any machine made by Pathé. Brian Keith

[VintageTechnologies]

I love any machine made by Pathé. Brian Keith

So do I. I wonder if any two models ever used the same motor?

[alang]

Actually, the french 1914 catalogue lists parts for 3 different motors at the end: Mouvement T, F, and G, where T seems to be the smallest, F medium and G the largest or most advanced. Even though, just from looking at the parts it seems that my motor uses parts from both T and F...
BTW: here is a link to the 1914 catalogue: http://www.archeophone.org/catalogues/Pathé/index.php
Of course, the US motors may have been slightly different, assuming my machine is of US production. Does anyone have a Pathé catalog which shows my Pathéphone №29? That would be interesting if it was of French, US, or even UK origin.
Andreas

[briankeith]

Even though I stated this in a previous post - I own two Pathé machines,,, and they are louder and clearer than any Edison, Victor, Brunswick, Sonora, or what have you. Very very loud units. I wonder what their secret was to create such load playing internal horn machines?

[wjw]

Even though I stated this in a previous post - I own two Pathé machines,,, and they are louder and clearer than any Edison, Victor, Brunswick, Sonora, or what have you. Very very loud units. I wonder what their secret was to create such load playing internal horn machines?

The Pathé discs can be very loud. I've read that they were mechanically dubbed from a large recording cylinder and they could adjust the transfer linkage to increase the amplitude of the cut on the disc.

[Andersun]

I just finished repairing a Pathéphone #1. I was amazed at it's sound quality. Your machine looks to be very close to that design other than inside horn. Nice one!