allen hough

[Cincograhams]

We have an Allen Hough wind up phonograph - crank in front and is fair to good condition
We picked it up this weekend at a garage sale
I cannot find a model number or photos of it anywhere to find out how old it is
any suggestions??

[Cincograhams]

It also has a picture of a chief inside the lid on the record holder - has 10 new needles with it in a compartment

[Tinkerbell]

Without seeing any actual pictures, it's hard to tell if it is similar to others that have been for sale on places like Ebay. There is certainly not much information on the internet other than the fact that Allen Hough manufacturing purchased a Milwaukee-based phonograph company named Carryola in early 1929.

Here is a listing from Ebay of an Allen Hough phonograph... perhaps you can see if it is somewhat similar to your own. Sorry I couldn't track down more information, but perhaps some of the other more seasoned phono vets may be able to help you out.

eBay Item #320566684860

[Cincograhams]

That one is very similar but it also has no real date.
I am just trying to track down more info on Allen Hough and the internet does not have much more than what you posted.

[gregbogantz]

I continuously find it amusing when people searching for information on something can't find it within a few mouseclicks away on the internet. Followed by the statement: "Little is known about thus and so". Said response usually coming from a Gen X or Gen Y'er. What did people do before the internet? They read books and went to libraries. Anybody remember books? Newspapers?

I am constantly reminded that the internet is a fine source of information on just about anything that has a history spanning the previous 30 years or so. But go further back than that, and you run into a lot of dead-ends. Unless some individual is interested enough in a topic to bother to upload information on a particular subject, it's not on the internet. Try finding out about any number of relatively large companies that thrived during the 1930s thru the 1960s. Admiral Corporation (Continental Radio and TV) in Chicago, makers of their own brand products as well as a HUGE OEM manufacturer to other brand names. Crescent Industries (makers of the ubiquitous RCA RP-190 45rpm record changer of the 1950s). You'll be disappointed to see very little about them on the internet. Another example: as important as RCA was to the city of Indianapolis during this time frame (vacuum tube plant, record plants, consumer electronics design and manufacture, SelectaVision videodisc), almost nothing is on the internet about RCA in Indy outside of the typical general boilerplate information, much of which is poorly detailed and/or incorrect.

I am familiar with the Allen-Hough brand and I agree that little is available on the internet about it. Particularly the fact that Allen-Hough made one of the first drop-type consumer record changers sold to the public in around 1929. It was used in the Columbia models 990 and 991 as well as in the Zenith model 75 radio/phono. I think it may be the first such design, predating the Capehart 10-12 model. But nobody has ever heard of it. Nothing about Allen-Hough appears in any of my service manuals or typical phono reference books, which probably means that these models weren't manufactured for very long or used in more than a few products. I'd like to find out more about the company, but it's now clear that some digging will be in order and the best way to do so would be to travel to Milwaukee, WI, where the company was and search the stacks in the library for old newspaper articles about the company. That's how people used to do it. But I live too far away to entertain this notion. Maybe some readers in the Milwaukee area can do the legwork in their spare time and fill us in

[OrthoFan]

The ultimate goal, of course, is to put EVERYTHING from every library on the internet, but I have a feeling I'll have reincarnated a couple of times before that happens. (I'll probably be a pencil or toenail clipper by that time!)

As noted, just bits and pieces on the internet so far. I did find the names of the principals in the firm, along with a start-up date, which I guess could lead to more searches:



FROM PRESTO TIMES -- JAN. 26, 1929:

From a payroll of 12 employees to 100 indicates the growth of the Allen-Hough Manufacturing Co., which started in business in Racine a year ago last October. The concern manufactures portable phonographs. Its business has increased so that its daily output is now 500. The concern recently filed an amendment to its articles of incorporation showing its capital stock is increased from 1,000 shares to 2,000 shares of common stock without par value. Don T. Allen is president of the company and George P. Hough is secretary.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=w ... 2bvz0I6_VA

I've spotted numerous references concerning litigation involving "Allen-Hough Carryola Co." (The post merger name after Carryola was acquired by Allen-Hough?)

Since Tinkerbell lives in Wisconsin, we'll have to send her to the local library, I guess.....

[Tinkerbell]

Since Tinkerbell lives in Wisconsin, we'll have to send her to the local library, I guess.....

Well, we don't have anything here locally in our library (I know because I had to use the interlibrary loan program just to get the "Look for the Dog" book sent to me from IL), and the libraries that likely would are on the opposite side of the state!

Are there any Chicagoans on this forum? They would probably have the best chance of locating materials in their libraries.

[Guest]

I believe that Don Allen assigned his work (record changer) to RCA in the early 1930s.

Allen
http://www.phonobooks.com

[pmg24]

I just found an Allen hough mfg caP for something. It apPears to be silver any ideas? It is about 2-½ inches in diameter.