Is this a HMV school ( Horn) model ?

[Steve]

Well done, Martin. With the valiant effort you're putting in to this you've inspired me to dig out my School Model and carry on with the restoration I started 11 years ago!

With that said I bet you'll have finished your machine before I've finished mine.

[nostalgia]

Shane...Steve, thanks for all comments. I for sure will upload photos when I have got the machine, and I will also ask for advice how to restore it. I no doubt will need both help and guidance on what to do and not to do, to preserve it for the future.

And Steve, if you ever feel like it, it could be interesting to see your school model project on photos here, as we now have a HMV school model thread. It could be a scholar thread for HMV school models.

[Garret]

Well done, Martin. With the valiant effort you're putting in to this you've inspired me to dig out my School Model and carry on with the restoration I started 11 years ago!

With that said I bet you'll have finished your machine before I've finished mine.

You should finish it. Unfinished projects don't usually age well.

[nostalgia]

I was eventually extremely lucky with the issue of how to collect this gramophone. Some days after buying it, I made a call to the sellers, and...they were extremely kind and helpful. They told me the story of the gramophone, that it had lived its life in an old school in their area in the middle of Norway, and that it 30-40 years ago was removed from the school, when the school was demolished. The seller, being a carpenter with big interest in antiques and preserving history, had been part of the team demolishing the old school, and he took pity of the gramophone, and have stored it in his house for decades. Now, they were moving into an apartment, and wanted to find someone who could take care of it. He had personally glued the gramophone together, maybe it in the past had been sawed apart to fit on a table, who knows, but this machine for sure would have ended on the landfill if it wasn't for this man.

I upload many photos. We can see a home made winding handle has been made during the years, but it has been well made, and has not at all ruined the inner threads of the tube holding the winding handle in the motor. It has been excellently glued together too. There are no rotten parts, no water damage, but some tear on the front side, something I really have no intention about doing something about. I feel this machine should wear its history with pride.

There is this missing panel in the front, I have taken photos both inside the cabinet and outside showing the small wooden handle that originally loosened this removable panel. This panel is something I would like to re create, it should not be too difficult. If I can't make it myself, I know a furniture carpenter who can help me. I will spend time finding wood that matches the original.

We can see it has a HMV 32 motor, according to the HMG book, this motor should not be found inside this machine, BUT myself I believe it is original to the machine, there are no redundant holes, and there are no signs that the speed control and indicator has been added later on. If someone thinks differently about this, you are of course welcome to state it. This is all about failing, and learning, and documenting.


The cabinet is very light weighted, plain..as is said in the HMG book, and much veneer is used. I like it a lot, it is easy to understand how interesting it must have been to have this gramophone in a school back then. Around 20 records followed the machine, the oldest one being from around 1915.

I borrowed the horn from my HMV Model 25 so we can see how it originally looked. I only have one Morning Glory horn of this size. I have a smaller DGAG Morning Glory horn, but have no elbow for this horn, and don't really remember if it existed adapters from HMV to fit a smaller Morning Glory horn to machines that originally was equipped with bigger horns.

I also borrowed the winding handle from my HMV 163, this cabinet is very narrow, so I don't really know if a specially made winding handle was made for this cabinet or not, or if a handle for a HMV 109 table grand (32 motor) maybe would fit better. I have not really dived too much into this yet, but wanted to show some photos here now, as promised.

[Phono48]

What a great find, and good that you have rescued it and will give it the loving care it deserves! With regards to the No. 32 motor, as the lubrication chart shows the same motor, I have no doubts whatsoever that it is original.

Barry

[Sidewinder]

Certainly the ugliest machine HMV made. 32 motor is correct.

[JerryVan]

Congratulations! It looks far better than the first photos of it suggested. Great save!

[nostalgia]

Thanks for comments and congratulations. Yes, it looks far better than on the first photos received. The Model 27 School Horn Model for sure is a plain model, but since I am a teacher myself it is now in the best hands ! I actually also love the story behind it, and that someone saved it from being thrown away. It is a part of history just as much as the 163 that is in my sitting room. Actually, it has probably had a much more interesting and important history than the 163. This machine has entertained hundreds ( even thousands) of children, and created an interest in music in many of them.

The fact that HMV made this machine so plain simple and affordable, so schools could afford to buy them, also receive a "high five" from me

If someone can give some feedback on that winding key that would be correct for this machine, it would be great. I have now tested both the handle for the 163 and a 103 ( table grand), which I believe are the C and D winding keys on page 262 in the HMG book, but they are both too long really and makes it difficult to wind the machine. Maybe it has a winding key that is not listed in the book, I don't know, but I am sure somebody else know it if that is so.

[Sidewinder]

I'll make some measurements for you.

As you see the decal on mine is on the back of the lid, it probably moved to where yours is as the back of the arm support caused damage to the decal?

[nostalgia]

You have the same machine, Mike? Vow, that is great:))
Yes, I agree the decal most probably was moved since the back side of the tone arm support easily makes scratches inside the lid, I can also see small scratches behind the tonearm on my machine. It will be great if you can take some measurements of the handle, and if someone know what other models which used the same handle.