Cowey No.3

Oxford1940 · Post by **Oxford1940** » Fri May 01, 2020 1:18 pm

Hello all,

I've owned this Cowey No.3 for some years now, it runs great and I've never had an issue with it. The date written on the inside, I presume the date of manufacture, is 13th Jan 1931.

The issue has come with researching it! I've found photos of the No.1 model on various auction websites but none of the No.2 or No.3 models, or even the company come to that. I found the full name of the company, which is the Cowey Engineering Co. Ltd of London, and that they made early motorcars.

Does anyone know any further information on the gramophone and the company, at all, please?

Thanks,

James

Post by **emgcr** » Fri May 01, 2020 4:42 pm

Hello James and a big welcome to the TMF,

I do not possess a complete Cowey gramophone or know much about the company except that I think it was taken over by Garrard at some stage. I am afraid I cannot now even remember where I discovered that information which might, I suppose, be incorrect.

What I do have is a late nineteen-twenties EMG Mk VIII with a Cowey No.I spring motor showing the address as Kew Gardens, Surrey and Made in England. I do also have a spare which, in view of the rarity, I am grateful to have found. The design of both motors, which are identical, is certainly akin to the Garrard 10B so there may have been an element of licence or plagiarism ?

Hope this is of some help ?

Best wishes, Graham.

Post by **epigramophone** » Sat May 02, 2020 4:09 am

The auction of the Ron Armstrong collection in November 2008, at which I was present, included a Cowey Multigram. It had a 6 spring motor wound from above by a chain and sprocket, and a dial on the motor board showing how many records could be played before rewinding was needed. It's complexity may have frightened the bidders, as it sold for only £90.

Oedipus · Post by **Oedipus** » Sat May 02, 2020 2:50 pm

Re Ron Armstrong's Cowey gramophone, I'd say £90 was a good price, and showed that someone (or rather, two people) were attracted by its extraordinary motor. Without that, it would have been an ordinary cheap cabinet gramophone, worth about £20!

On Cowey motors, I can add that some of them had diecast alloy chassis, which obviously can render them useless in old age. I have seen an advertisement for them in a catalogue which described Cowey as well-known makers of speedometers. Have you ever seen one in a vintage car, Graham?

Post by **emgcr** » Sun May 03, 2020 2:02 pm

No I haven't but did see on the 'net that they made a whole range of automotive related goods so were evidently a reasonably-sized engineering firm.

Oedipus · Post by **Oedipus** » Sun May 03, 2020 2:13 pm

Yes, I did that too, after my last post, and discovered that their speedometers were used mainly, if not only, on motorcycles rather than cars.

Gramtastic · Post by **Gramtastic** » Tue May 05, 2020 12:23 pm

There is a Cowey motorcycle speedometer on Ebay at the moment. The font looks the same as the gramophone.

Oxford1940 · Post by **Oxford1940** » Wed May 06, 2020 9:36 am

Thank you for your replies!

It's bittersweet that I'm not the only person the Cowey gramophone is a mystery to. I do believe the maker of the speedo is the same company - They appear to have started out in the early 1900s making cars.

Thank you for your contributions, I did come across the cabinet gramophone during my searching. It is what lead me to finding out about Cowey's early automotive heritage. It's safe to say they're a bit of a rarity, then? The search goes on...

James

Oxford1940 · Post by **Oxford1940** » Wed May 06, 2020 10:21 am

For anyone interested, here are some of the patent documents of the Cowey motors. Free to view and download!

https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/ ... gramophone

Post by **poodling around** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 8:40 am

epigramophone wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 4:09 am The auction of the Ron Armstrong collection in November 2008, at which I was present, included a Cowey Multigram. It had a 6 spring motor wound from above by a chain and sprocket, and a dial on the motor board showing how many records could be played before rewinding was needed. It's complexity may have frightened the bidders, as it sold for only £90.

I noticed that there is a Cowey No.3 for sale on ebay: (Photograph below):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134797495624 ... R5TznMr7Yg

It seems to me to be very similar to the Cowey No.1. I wonder what the 'selling point' differences were ? Maybe the No. 3 did not have an 'auto-stop' ?

Also I noticed that you mentioned that the Cowey Multigram had a '6 spring motor wound from above by a chain and sprocket'. Do you know if the portable Cowey No.1 and 3 also have such an internal chain and sprocket arrangement ? The portables seem to have similarly placed winding handles, so maybe ? Only one spring though I imagine ?

Thank you for any help you can give as always.

Cowey No.3

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