Featured Phonograph № 56

[gramophone78]

I thought it was time to heat things up around here. Put the spark back into that old horn phonograph.
This is a circa 1910 Swiss made Paillard Maestrophone #206 Gramophone that is powered by a Stirling "Hot-Air" engine. How many were made is still anyone's guess. It is thought that they were made as ordered and the customer was able to choose many components themselves. When I first found this machine it had a standard tone arm for lateral records only. I was able to locate the other "duplex" arm that allows me the switch from lateral to vertical with the attachment on the front of the arm.
To date this is the only #206 known. There are a small number of the other model #205's out there. The difference is in the case design and the type of wood they used.
Not only was this a complicated machine to run SAFELY but, was also very expensive at the time.
I think it is a very cool....I mean hot machine to see running. I made a "You-Tube" video when it still had the standard arm in place. As well as a different horn. It now has a early horn that is shown in the catalogue.
Here is a link to the video. I hope you all enjoy seeing this.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssp3XxPESGo[/youtube]

[Valecnik]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting. Do you have some literature you could add to the posting? I really wonder why ANYBODY would buy wone of these things new when by 1910 there were very good high quality spring motors readily available??? Great find.

[Brad]

.... I really wonder why ANYBODY would buy wone of these things new when by 1910 there were very good high quality spring motors readily available??? ...

Bruce,

Probably for the same reason some people still by Tube Amplifiers today

(valve amp for our friends across the pond )

[gramophone78]

Well,I think it was something you could buy to just say you could afford it or to do what I'm doing now and "show off" to thier friends .Here are some cuts from a UK catalog where these were sold under the "Apollo" name.I have two catalog's.Paillard sold them under the "Maestrophone" name.The funny thing is that both catalog's use the same cut drawing.Only the name and model number change.The horns on the Apollo are different than the horns that Paillard offered.My brass horn is Apollo and the flower horn is Maestrophone.This machine was found in Mexico.So,a rich family was in Europe and bought it.I'm just happy it survived down there.The man I bought it from,found it in the mid 60's just outside of Mexico City.

[gramophone78]

Here are pages out of the Paillard catalog.

[melvind]

What a terrific machine and a very nice video. Being an Opera lover I also like the La Traviata excerpt too!

Dan

[JohnM]

It should be noted that in the UK catalog, the code name 'Hephaestus' is significant in that Hephaestus was the Greek god of fire (equivalent to the Roman god Vulcan). I knew those four years of Latin and Classics in high school would come in handy some day!

[Starkton]

Very nice machine and catalogues! Thank you for showing.

Hot air motors for driving phonographs were not entirely new in 1910. See Albert Költzow's hot air motor phonograph of 1894, manufactured in Berlin, Germany:

[gramophone78]

The "Stirling Engine" was first out in use in the 1830's as a well water pump.Therefore,it was almost 100 years old when Paillard decided to use it in a Phonograph.As far as we know there are no "Hot-Air" powered cylinder machines that have survived.Was the German machine even made or was it just a concept??.

[Starkton]

Was the German machine even made or was it just a concept??.

It was made and sold to travelling exhibitors who were constantly annoyed by cumbersome batteries used with Edison Class M's.
Költzow tested the Amet spring motor, but found it too expensive and of little use, as it pulled through only one cylinder per winding. Therefore he developed another transport concept.