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Hi All
I am hoping someone can help with my question. I have a Pathé ‘Coq’ phonograph with an intermediate mandrel addition. A time ago I bought 2 Pathé cylinders which I have tried on the mandrel, but they do not fit all the way. Am I correct in thinking they are the right cylinders for the mandrel. Are these wax cylinders likely to ‘shrink’ over time? I am hoping that I can ‘ream’ them out to fit. Has anyone any help.
Thanks Brian

I have a dozen or two of these wider cylinders, but never faced this issue as far as I remember. These cylinders are not prone to shrinking, so I believe the cause of your problem is probably an inadequately made adapter. You can buy such adapters on the French ebay, they are frequently listed there.

Hi Brian,
Yes, you do have the right mandrel for this Salon (or Inter) cylinder. I live in France and I have a lot of Pathé cylinders as well as mandrels; so, I tried to mount several Salon cylinders on several mandrels. Most of the time, I have the same problem... as they have been shrinking with age.
However, using a floating horn machine, they do play until the end.
These hard wax cylinders break very, very easily. You may compare them to 4 mn green Amberols. So, I do prefer to leave them as is. (don't try to push forward the cylinder on the mandrel as it will break).
If you ever decide to try a reamer, do it with an already damaged cylinder.
Jeff
PS: if you find a Verité system for your Pathé Coq machine, you could then use a floating horn.

I've encountered a similar problem with the Salon-size cylinders and I suspect it is because they have shrunk slightly over the years. The other alternative is that the slip-on mandrel has expanded slightly - does it still fit over the standard size mandrel OK? Fortunately, I've still been able to play my Salons and haven't had to ream or shave the inside so I can't give any advice on the best way to do this.
Does anyone know if a similar problem occurs with Concert-size cylinders?

Regards

Tim W-W

phonodesbois wrote:Hi Brian,
Yes, you do have the right mandrel for this Salon (or Inter) cylinder. I live in France and I have a lot of Pathé cylinders as well as mandrels; so, I tried to mount several Salon cylinders on several mandrels. Most of the time, I have the same problem... as they have been shrinking with age.
However, using a floating horn machine, they do play until the end.

As I mentioned, I never had this problem. It may be that my adapter has a slightly shorter diameter than the average. I am not sure about the shrinkage, though. If this was the case we would observe the same effect on the standard-sized Pathé cylinders, and on other brands of wax cylinders. Blue Amberols are different birds, they are made of celluloid and shrink due to their hydrophilic chalk liner. It could be a variation in the production of these adapters, but as I only have one I cannot test the hypothesis.

I have such an adapter for my Pathé Modele 0. I only have one Pathé Salon cylinder for display purposes, but it also does not fit onto the adapter. Since my display cylinder has been badly damaged by mold anyway I decided to try and ream it. I glued a few stripes of sandpaper onto the adapter, making it the reamer. Very carefully I took a little bit of material off and now it fits perfectly. You have to make sure not to ream it until it slides on completely, because that would be too much after the sandpaper comes off. Like every reaming it is a messy job for outside.

Could it be that these adapters were made from pot metal and thus have expanded a bit? Mine also barely fits onto the mandrel. But would not the nickel plating have cracks if it expanded? Just thinking out loud.

Thanks
Andreas

Thank you all for posting your comments and help. I will probably take Jeff’s comments on board and try a floating horn idea first before trying to ream them to fit.
Regards Brian

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