Hymnophon 35 Restoration

Discussions on Talking Machines of British or European Manufacture
Post Reply
chrissydretro
Victor Jr
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:37 am
Location: Sydney Australia

Hymnophon 35 Restoration

Post by chrissydretro »

Just finished restoring my first horn phonograph. It's a beautiful machine with double spring motor marked Hymnophon 35. I'm not sure about wether this was a German manufacture unit or something else as the internet search info for this unit is quite limited. Any information on the production year and any advertisements, pictures etc would be very much appreciated.

Please see pics attached for reference.

Thanks again,
Chris
Attachments
IMG_6288.jpeg
IMG_6276.jpeg
IMG_6285.jpeg
IMG_6347.jpeg
IMG_6278.jpeg

User avatar
Curt A
Victor Monarch Special
Posts: 6435
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2010 8:32 pm
Personal Text: Needle Tins are Addictive
Location: Belmont, North Carolina

Re: Hymnophon 35 Restoration

Post by Curt A »

That's a really nice looking machine...
"The phonograph† is not of any commercial value."
Thomas Alva Edison - Comment to his assistant, Samuel Insull.

"No one needs a Victrola XX, a Perfected Graphophone Type G, or whatever you call those noisy things."
My Wife

User avatar
nostalgia
Victor IV
Posts: 1408
Joined: Thu Jun 13, 2019 1:58 am
Personal Text: Keep winding up
Location: My gramophone repair room

Re: Hymnophon 35 Restoration

Post by nostalgia »

That is for sure an interesting, rare, and nice horn gramophone, Chris.
As you say yourself it is not too easy to find much information about Hymnophon online, but I was able to dig out a bit for you/us. For those of us not reading German language, we can run this link in Google translate: https://mfm.uni-leipzig.de/hsm/detail.php?id=40
it will tell quite a lot about the company behind the Hymnophon, which started their business as far back as 1872 and was not ending their business until 1939 (the outbreak of WW2).

It is a German company named, Ernst Holzweisig Nachf., from Leipzig, and they started their business making impressive self playing instruments before heading on to gramophones from 1904 and later on also radios, as I understand it from the link given.

It is a fascinating gramophone you have there, and thank you for also posting photos of the motor. Myself, I love to see photos of also the motors, and watch differences from motors from other manucaturers.

And... I hope we also later on can have a look at the horn:)
Attachments
Hymnophon 2.jpg
Hymnophon 2.jpg (73 KiB) Viewed 1028 times
Hymnophon.jpg

CarlosV
Victor IV
Posts: 1845
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:18 am
Location: Luxembourg

Re: Hymnophon 35 Restoration

Post by CarlosV »

That's a very nice machine! I am familiar with portable and cabinet Hymnophons, but it is the first external horn of this brand I have ever seen.

chrissydretro
Victor Jr
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:37 am
Location: Sydney Australia

Re: Hymnophon 35 Restoration

Post by chrissydretro »

Thank you all for your comments and info. Again it’s much appreciated. The owner was very happy to have the phonograph working again. Unfortunately the horn is brass and she is getting it polished so I wasn’t able to post any pics.

Thanks again,
Chris

Post Reply