The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I started a thread earlier about an auction I attended today and thought I would start one for a question I have. I picked up an "Operaphone" for one dollar and don't know anything about it at all. It's an interesting machine as it is massively wide. It's almost twice the width of other uprights that I have, but it isn't very deep at all. Does anyone have any info on this machine, or better yet, know where I could find a tonearm and reproducer to complete it? Thanks for the help!

Interesting. Operaphone was a record label, too, and a very interesting one at that.

http://www.mainspringpress.com/lom1100.html

What is the horn made from?

Funny you mentioned the records. There were several at the auction but I didn't pick them up as I didn't know anything about them and wasn't planning on buying the "Operaphone" phonograph. I wish I would have known!

I will have to go look at the horn again. It appeared to be some sort of plaster. At first it felt almost like paper mache, but if I remember correctly it was a type of plaster. I will take some more pictures of the horn and post them. Is this a rare machine? If so, I would bet I wouldn't have much of a chance in finding the tonearm and reproducer huh?

There's an excellent chance the tone arm and reproducer were generic off-the-shelf items, so any arm that fits properly and plays both lateral and vertical discs would be appropriate.

Thanks for the advice! I probably have a few from yesterday's auction alone. I will see if one fits and am planning on cleaning it up this coming week. In the meantime, is there any way to find out more about this phonograph? Someone has to know something about it!

That case looks remarkably like a Pathé Actuelle

Hmmm...aside from a couple minute differences, it is exactly the same. I'm pretty sure mine has the same color turntable too. I'm going to take a few more pictures of it and maybe someone can help figure this out. Did Pathé have a furniture company they would buy their cabinets from? If not, then I would think this is a "homemade" Operaphone since I can't find anything proving that they exist. Hmmm...

It's quite possible that when the Actuelle failed to be a big seller Pathé cancelled orders or got rid of unused cabinets- Edison did the same thing which is why some Diamond Disc cabinets have turned up with Brunswick and other mechanisms installed. Does your machine have any sign that there was ever a small door on the left side?

I want my dollar back!! This isn't an Operaphone...It IS a Pathé Actuelle!

Thanks to Estott, I think we are on the right track. So I went to take a few more pictures and think I have some good indicators that this was, at some point anyway, a Pathé. I would have to make that judgment based on this...



Oops! How embarrassing! It was such a long day yesterday that I didn't even pay attention to that last night. Anyway, so I removed the motor board and horn and sure enough, there were the marks left by the original Actuelle frame.



Then I removed the frame and there was the door for volume on the side. After taking everything off I was left with this:




So, what do you think happened here? The horn definitely looks homemade, as does the frame that was built. Even the original crank hole was poorly filled with a dowel and not hidden well at all. So that makes me think that this was just a case where someone's paper horn broke beyond repair and they decided to build their own. But there is still a lingering question...was there ever an Operaphone phonograph?



Here are some pictures of the motor. Maybe that will help identify how this phonograph came to be...




Either way, it was interesting to figure it out. I should have picked up the other one there that interested me but had no more room. It was called a Waddell Music Cabinet and was made by the Music Table Co. It was interesting in that when you closed the lid, the front doors would open like a garage automatically, then when the lid was opened, the front would close. It too sold for a dollar. I will probably kick myself for that one later. Anyway, can anyone identify the motor or give me advice on what to do from here?