Victor 6

[JerryVan]

Here is the correct finish for the gold plating. (Yes, my turntable is gold plated too. I didn't know any better at the time )

[Inigo]

That will be the right things to do.
But apart from it all, if that were mine, I would get the horn elbow gold plated to match the rest as is, and leave the machine alone. It looks marvelous! It's the easiest way, I know, but...

[Jerry B.]

If you decide to have things gold plated I'd suggest taking a nice original gold tone arm from a Victrola to serve as an example for the plater.

Jerry B.

[Django]

Are you 100% certain you don't have the holes from bumpers??? Zooming in on these spots kind of shows holes to me. The holes that we're referring to are tiny nail holes, made by small tacks that stick out of the backside of the bumpers. They would be easy to miss, and maybe easy to have been filled in during a refinish. Look very closely.

Screenshot 2022-12-11 144921.png

Jerry might be onto something regarding the holes, the bumpers and the yielding turntable. In this image, there appears to be a small hole to the left of the speed control and in line with the motor mounting screw. That would be the correct location for a rubber bumper. If there are four of those holes equally spaced around the motor board, then the machine probably had bumpers. Maybe “look for the Dog” made an error in stating that the yielding turntable wasn’t used on a Victor 6 until 1908.

I did a patent search for the yielding turntable and the ball bearing turntable, and it seems that they are both embodiments of the same invention. Maybe someone out there has some better information regarding the origin of the yielding turntable. The ball bearing supported turntable and the yielding turntable patent was applied for in 1903 and granted in 1904, but the ball bearing type may have been either too expensive to produce and assemble or maybe it did not work very well. I suppose that the ball bearing support system may have only been used for a shorter time than previously thought, (that would be good news in this situation). It’s funny that after all these years, there are still mysteries regarding these machines.

I found it interesting that the patent calls the ball bearing support system a “yielding turntable”, which means that both types are actually yielding turntables. Claim 20 appears to be the only Claim that would protect the flange type Yielding Turntable that was more widely used.

I would think that the ball bearings would be a little noisy. Does anyone have experience with that setup?

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis ... 765462.pdf

[Josh_boro20]

He is correct, thank you for pointing that out. Upon further inspection, there are 4 holes at 12,3 , 6 and 9 o’clock. I ordered new bumpers to install.

[Django]

I really hate to throw this into the mix, but I was able to find a separate patent for the later type “yielding turn table”. Unfortunately, this patent for that yielding turntable, the one on both of these Victor 6 machines was not applied for until 1907. I know that under current US patent law, you have only one year after first public disclosure of an invention to file for a patent, meaning that if that was the case back then, that Victor wouldn’t have been using that type of “yielding turntable” prior to 1906. I also know that all or the early Pooley VTLAs that were built in 1906 had the later type yielding turntable. It may be possible that these two Victor 6 machines were built in 1906. It may also possible that since the ball bearing turntable tilted just as the later type did, that there would have been bumpers used with that setup as well.

Just guessing, based on your serial number, (about ⅓ of the way through an 11 year run from 1904 until 1915), that your machine was probably build in 1906, and very well may have the original and correct motor. I think that there may be a small error in “Look for the Dog” where they say that the “yielding Turntable” didn’t appear on a Victor 6 until 1908. We know things to be true, until we find that they were not. I apologize for all of the confusion, it seems that the “known” history may be a little flawed,

Either way, I would just enjoy these fine machines and not worry about that lone feature. It may very well be correct.

Oddly, the turntable that we commonly refer to as the yielding turntable was patented as a “tilting turn table”, and the ball bearing type was described in it’s patent as yielding.
https://patentimages.storage.googleapis ... 880369.pdf

[Josh_boro20]

My motor board support rests on 1 screw, is this correct or is it missing a metal part? I do not see any screw holes for a prior part.

[JerryVan]

My motor board support rests on 1 screw, is this correct or is it missing a metal part? I do not see any screw holes for a prior part.

That's correct.

[Josh_boro20]

Thank you for verifying that!

[Django]

How is the Victor 6 progressing?