French Aerophone

[walser]

Hi all,

I managed to finish the restoration of the Aerophone and I'm delighted with the final result.

First a general view showing all the mechanism.

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I started by replacing the spring because one of them was broken.

I will let the pictures talk by themselves:

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[walser]

New springs packed with grease:

Then I dismantled all the pieces in order to be able to clean and oil them.

It's 100% French!

I made a new mica diaphragm and installed new gaskets

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And finally I made a leather cover for the tone arm articulation

And here it is! It was the firs time it played a record since I bought it and the speed was a little high.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y_BtLdg-10

After the video I settled the speed correctly and bolted the brake. I've spent all the weekend playing all the records I have. It plays very well and it is LOUD! With such a big diaphragm I was expecting it but it is far more than I imagined.


Thank you all for your support and information.

Best regards,

Pedro

[Papycoup]

Hello!
I'm the actual owner of the Aerophone the pictures were sent by tinovanderzwan... I bought it a year ago, and it was waiting i finished another restoration...

So, when trying to find some information on the net about the tone arm, and the tone arm base (elbow), i have discovered your discussion.
That piece is made of "pot metal", and is inflating during years and wil be completely destroyed at the end.

I have made a shema of that elbow, and have asked a mechanic's builder near my home if he could make it for me.
The building must use big machines and will be expensive...
He proposed an aluminium part. If he succeed, i'll be able to show you that shema.

I'll also make several measurements on the horn for you, if you know somebody able to build it.

Can you tell me the lentgh of the tone arm ? (I think I have a replacement part not Aerophone).

Regards,

Pierre (France).

[walser]

Bonsoir Pierre! (Je parle francais el anglais)

Its really exciting to find somebody that has another aerophone. I was thinking of making the elbow using a 3d printer in wax and them casting it in aluminium. It should be far less expensive. My elbow is still working but it will not last long due to the pot metal desintegrating.

I have on my "to do list" to draw the piece on CAD to ask for the price of printing it on wax.

I will measure the tonearm this night. If you need something specific write me to [email protected]

I will be delighted to have the measurements of the horn.

A bientót!

Pedro

[walser]

Bonjour Pierre,

I was able to measure the arm. In this firts photo, I've measured the distance between the pivot point in the shoulder to the needle. It measures 25 cm. This is with the soundbox attached in the closest position. I havent figured out why there are two holes because the other one is clearly too far away.

The arm itself (only the tube) measures exactly 16,5 cm

The width of the arm at its root is 36,46 mm

The internal diameter at the small end is 20,83 mm

The outside diameter excluding the ring is 23,52 mm

Outside diameter including the ring is 26,65 mm

And on this last picture you can see the two reproducers I have. Im looking for one to reproduce Pathé discs. You can also see the curved arm with its still unexplained second hole.

I would love to see detailed pictures of your arm pieces. As you can see, I have covered the swivel with a piece of leather but Im not sure if this is correct. How is your one?

If you need more pictures just ask.

Best regards,

Pedro

[gramophone78]

The motor you picture appears to be a Swiss Paillard made motor. I had this exact motor in an early Maestrophone #3.

[walser]

Thanks for the information. Its almost the same one. The only difference I spotted is the ratchet mechanism that your one has for preventing unwinding the handle and mine instead has a sort of spring.

On my motor, on the arm to adjust the speed its written "H. BARRAU Succr PARIS" ¿Does your one also has this name? I've been totally unsuccessful finding any info about it.

Best regards,

Pedro Martínez

[gramophone78]

Thanks for the information. Its almost the same one. The only difference I spotted is the ratchet mechanism that your one has for preventing unwinding the handle and mine instead has a sort of spring.

On my motor, on the arm to adjust the speed its written "H. BARRAU Succr PARIS" ¿Does your one also has this name? I've been totally unsuccessful finding any info about it.

Best regards,

Pedro Martínez

Paillard supplied motors to many companies all over the world. Including Sonora in the USA. Your motor appears to be Paillard made. Small changes were made to motors over time.

The name stamped on the pitch control rod seems to be a French dealer or importers name that was either placed on there by Paillard or when arrived to France.

Here is another version of the same motor. This one has a red fiber gear installed and retains the original governor weights.

Note the governor weights on the first motor I posted are later replacements.


Early style motors made by Paillard also have the last two digits of the serial stamped on almost every single part (the motor I owned has"30"). The parts on your motor are stamped "82". I bet there is an "82" stamped on the big gears, main plates and spring barrels. "82" being the last two digits of your serial.

I think Paillard did this as a form of quality control to insure all pieces were adjusted for that one particular motor.

Your serial number is I96,000 series and the one I had is R177,000 series. It is possible Paillard improved the motor by adding the pawl & ratchet..??. Paillard was always improving their motors over the years. Again, this is why you can find them also with a red fiber gear. To make them quieter.

I can also tell you there is a ball bearing race under the turntable around the spindle (see attached Pics). I do not see these parts in your pics. However, I do see the groove in the spindle for the little bearings. Also, is there a dimple in the spindle below where the turntable sits...??. If there is....this was for the set screw that holds the upper cast brass cup of the bearing race. There is a bottom cup for the bearing to race around also. Can you post a pic of the top plate please.

Again, this bearing race may have been added as an improvement..??. However, as mentioned, I see the groove in your spindle and that hints there was a bearing race originally.
You can see this race (just above the top plate) in the cut drawing of this GG motor from a Maestrophone catalog.

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Paillard Bearing Race (1).JPG (170.58 KiB) Viewed 4214 times

Paillard Bearing Race (2).JPG (233.98 KiB) Viewed 4214 times

[gramophone78]

As a point of interest, I thought I would also add that Paillard also stamped the last two digits of the serial on their hot-air engines. So, in this case, every little part has "19" stamped on it.

Hope this helps... .

[walser]

Thank you for all the information. I will die of joy the day I find a hot air gramophone.

My motor is stamped with a 82 in every single piece.

Regarding the bearing in the main shaft, it certainly does not have a top bearing. In the pictures you can see that the top plate has a bump surrounding the shaft and the grove on the shaft is inside this bump (to keep inside some grease I presume). The top the bump is rough so I discard that there was a bearing there at any time. One more thing to reinforce this is that in my case, I have a trust bearing on the bottom plate unlike yours. So, definitely, Paillard improved/modified its motors.

Bump on top plate:

Bottom plate bearing:

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Best regards and thank you again for all the information.

Pedro Martínez