Interesting Victor Rear Mount Elbow

[Jerry B.]

I recently came into possession of an unusual Victor rear mount elbow. It has limit pins so it's a fairly early elbow and it's nickel plated. It is substantially heavier than an ordinary elbow. When you look on the inside it has what appears to be a cast reinforcement piece that starts at the clip & screw small end and continues around the bend in the elbow, The cast piece ends 2&⅛" from the larger opening. Has anyone else seen a similar elbow. It must have been intended for the large horns which accompanied the Victor D and V. I would be interested in any comments.

Thanks, Jerry Blais

[gramophone78]

Your horn elbow is Canadian made for Canadian Berliner/Victor rear mount models. Berliner made his elbows in two parts; the bottom of which is cast and of heavy construction.

Unfortunately, the elbow you show has been filed (you can see the file marks) down at the bracket outer end (hence the nickel completely removed from the edge). The reason for this is simple....Berliner in Canada had his back brackets cast with a larger elbow opening than the US Victor counterpart. Therefore, the Canadian elbows are larger in diameter on the bracket end.
So, in order to fit a US Victor bracket, you have to reduce the diameter slightly. A US Victor made elbow is of one piece brass body with a brass ring construction and will fit little bit loose when placed in a Canadian Berliner bracket.

Also, Canadian made elbows place a horn on a higher angle than the US elbow.

I think I wrote a thread years ago on here discussing this subject in detail....good luck finding it now.. .

[Oedipus]

That's very interesting.

The first Tapered Arm elbows supplied by Victor to G & T were made in two parts (three if you count the flange at the base), soldered together. The joint was not very reliable, as you can see from the attached example, which has endured some not very good repairs over the years. (It is from a very early Monarch Senior, introduced in May 1905, with a a ball-race under the turntable). The taper arm was made in the same way.