Pathé adapter for Victor phonograph

Discussions on Talking Machines of British or European Manufacture
Meltrope3
Victor O
Posts: 51
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 3:00 am

Pathé adapter for Victor phonograph

Post by Meltrope3 »

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pathé-Adapter-f ... 58c140d2de

Has anyone ever seen one of these little widgets? How did it work? I am guessing it must have been pretty rough on the Pathé discs; there must be some reason such a simple device didn't catch on.

User avatar
Marco Gilardetti
Victor IV
Posts: 1394
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 3:19 am
Personal Text: F. Depero, "Grammofono", 1923.
Location: Italy
Contact:

Re: Pathé adapter for Victor phonograph

Post by Marco Gilardetti »

As usually the entire soundbox is rotated, it took me half an hour only to guess how the gizmo is intended to be used. It is for the needle only, isn't it?

By the tone of your message I think you already figured that it will probably trash both the tracking angle and the offset (supposed the gramophone has acceptable ones, which isn't usually the case with Victor goose necks & tapered arms).

The problem is that I can hardly figure how this thing might work altogether. The best I can figure is that it transforms the vertical oscillations in both vertical and lateral oscillations together, through a mix of linear and twisting forces. Then only the lateral oscillations will be picked up and revealed by the soundbox, the rest going in heat and wear. If so, I expect the sound to be shallow and poor.

Meltrope3
Victor O
Posts: 51
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 3:00 am

Re: Pathé adapter for Victor phonograph

Post by Meltrope3 »

Thank you, Marco, for figuring this out! Your explanation makes a great deal of sense to me.

With all that wasted kinetic energy and all that groove wear (to say nothing of tracking error), as you say this device must have provided a pretty unsatisfactory listening experience.

Louis

brianu
Victor V
Posts: 2165
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:35 pm
Personal Text: on instagram as "oncedeadsound"
Location: just outside Philadelphia, PA

Re: Pathé adapter for Victor phonograph

Post by brianu »

Meltrope3 wrote:Thank you, Marco, for figuring this out! Your explanation makes a great deal of sense to me.

With all that wasted kinetic energy and all that groove wear (to say nothing of tracking error), as you say this device must have provided a pretty unsatisfactory listening experience.

Louis

why don't you post a photo from the listing? otherwise once it expires and the link dies, this thread will be useless.

User avatar
emgcr
Victor IV
Posts: 1087
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2012 9:57 am
Location: Hampshire, England.
Contact:

Re: Pathé adapter for Victor phonograph

Post by emgcr »

Hope these are helpful ?
Attachments
$_35.jpg
$_35.jpg (7.88 KiB) Viewed 2881 times
$_35.jpg1.jpg
$_35.jpg1.jpg (7.99 KiB) Viewed 2881 times
$_35.jpg2.jpg
$_35.jpg2.jpg (10.66 KiB) Viewed 2881 times

User avatar
barnettrp21122
Victor IV
Posts: 1600
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:19 pm
Personal Text: "Did you ever stop to think that pleasure is a duty?" (Victor sales pamphlet)

Re: Pathé adapter for Victor phonograph

Post by barnettrp21122 »

I noticed your device has "Reflexograph" impressed on it, and thought it looked a lot like an accessory for for the "Magic Mirror" phonograph toy made in the 1950-60's in the USA. Here's the piece I'm talking about:
magic mirror needle extension holder 1.jpg
magic mirror needle extension holder 1.jpg (56.31 KiB) Viewed 2868 times
redravenmagic2.jpg
This accessory was used if the child's phonograph had an acoustic soundbox. This piece was needed to offset the soundbox so that it wouldn't come in contact with the mirrored centerpiece. Maybe your device was for a similar setup.

Bob
"Comparison is the thief of joy" Theodore Roosevelt

His Master's Voice Automatic 1A Exponential Gramophone Demonstration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi70G1Rzqpo

brianu
Victor V
Posts: 2165
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:35 pm
Personal Text: on instagram as "oncedeadsound"
Location: just outside Philadelphia, PA

Re: Pathé adapter for Victor phonograph

Post by brianu »

emgcr wrote:Hope these are helpful ?


definitely. and that's similar to another such adapter - recently available on ebay and, from a different seller, in the trader section here - except that one had a fixed saphire needle and no thumbscrew. I never realized that using these would result in extra record wear. is that really true?

User avatar
Mr Grumpy
Victor III
Posts: 831
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2012 5:59 pm
Location: Ontario Canada

Re: Pathé adapter for Victor phonograph

Post by Mr Grumpy »

I think this might be the link to the item Brian's referring to.
(Which he may or may not now own?)

--> http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =9&t=20891
Vince
Youtube

brianu
Victor V
Posts: 2165
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:35 pm
Personal Text: on instagram as "oncedeadsound"
Location: just outside Philadelphia, PA

Re: Pathé adapter for Victor phonograph

Post by brianu »

Mr Grumpy wrote:I think this might be the link to the item Brian's referring to.
(Which he may or may not now own?)

--> http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =9&t=20891

Yes, that's the one. I have a couple other Pathé and edison adapters for victor machines and thought that one was pretty different but someone else apparently beat me to it. The one on eBay I think was just really overpriced, he wanted much much more.

User avatar
Mr Grumpy
Victor III
Posts: 831
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2012 5:59 pm
Location: Ontario Canada

Re: Pathé adapter for Victor phonograph

Post by Mr Grumpy »

I liked it as well but it was gone before I even saw it.
It looks purpose built, while the one on ebay is probably exactly
what Bob has described as an offset device.
Vince
Youtube

Post Reply