Mystery Machine - Help Please!

[JerryVan]

I only know of an attachment; The World Record Controller.

Description from the British Library:

The World Record Controller was invented by Noel Pemberton-Billing and had a brief existence from 1922 to 1925. It was an accessory for a gramophone which essentially comprised a governor, driven by a friction wheel running against the turntable rim. It was intended to provide constant linear speed by applying drag to the disc surface at the start of the record where the governor spins fastest. This was intended to provide better quality and longer playing time. Thus the record starts at about 33rpm, and speeds up towards the centre. Only records recorded specifically for the Controller can be played , though it can be easily removed.

Wow. A solution in search of a problem.

[jamiegramo]

Jerry, thank you so much for posting this fascinating machine. Thanks to JerryVans comment I looked for the other thread and read through all the replies. The pictures shown by Babillard are excellent and I think may give the best answer for a maker.

My best impression of this machine is that the idea was to sell it with its own blank wax discs. Special pre-recorded records may or may not have been considered necessary. The customer would make their own recordings which would benefit from linear tracking and potentially longer play than the 7 inch records available at that time. The clip located between the reproducer and carriage could have been used to stow either the recorder or reproducer when not in use.

So how to make your own wax discs... Has anyone tried melting an old brown wax cylinder? Do they actually melt or just burn?

Just my suggestion but can you clean it up and restore it to a more working order? I’m surprised that none of the previous owners have done this. By doing this you will see clearly what it does and what it may do. If the lever from the carriage is not an automatic brake and the turntable will only go counter clockwise then I can not see how you can play any regular record, lateral or vertical cut. But maybe you were supposed to make your own. I know! It’s all time. Anonymous reproducers and recorders do turn up on ebay.fr and would be more suitable than something marked ‘Pathé’. This is an historically interesting machine and is worth it. I assume that the turntable doesn’t unclip and there is nowhere for a mandrel to be fitted. An experiment in just discs.

Remember the turntable may well have had felt applied and therefore the record does not have to be as thick as you think. A cardboard disc applied to the turntable of the right thickness could be used to raise the record above the large spindle to prevent having to alter it and is a way to experiment with regular records although that is probably not possible.

[GeorgeDixon]

The machine has some of the hallmarks of an Ideal machine, but there are significant variances as well.
It may very well be an early Lamaziere prototype, or an attempt by a competitor to make a similar version of Lamaziere's mixte.
Given your location it is likely that it did originate from Pecourt's collection.

[GeorgeDixon]

Another Ideal Mixte version.

[Jerry B.]

Thanks for the replies. It feels like I'm a bit closer to a solution.

Jerry B.