Owner’s Booklet for 9-54 (revised 2nd style changer)

[MarkELynch]

I have a sizeable collection of the Victor Operators booklets including those for the models that contain the 2nd style changer, models 9-54, 9-56, 10-35 and 10-69.

You may have read in Look for the Dog about the massive recall and re-working of these machines.

I have never come across Owner’s Booklets that pertain to the reworked changer, all of the ones in my care show the original variant. The changes were significant and the operation different. The repeat function and the manual play functions were deleted. Has anyone seen revised these Booklets?

Victor DID update the dealer Service Notes and issued no less than four different editions, numbers 24, 24A, 24B and 24C to cover servicing various serial numbers of each machine and variant. These Service Notes are extensive and very detailed. It seems likely that revised Owner’s Booklets would also have been printed.

I’d be happy to purchase the small brown covered Operator’s Booklets that picture the revised changer. They can be identified by the lack of the repeat knob on the front panel.

An original or a copy is fine. This is for research, not reprinting.

Thanks,
Mark

[Skihawx]

I've never seen an updated owners manual. I guess they didn't think it was worth reprinting.

[MarkELynch]

Jeff, thanks for your reply! I’ve never come across revised manuals either in 40 years of collecting so I suspect you are right. There is a theory that the manuals may have has an addendum sheet describing the changes, this sheet could easily become lost if it ever existed. Another possibility is that Victor never bothered to revise the manuals because the well-heeled buyers of these expensive machines would have received the white-glove treatment. The operation would have been properly explained during the delivery and installation by the dealer. The dealer would have explained why their expensive machine was missing features described in the manual.

In researching the 2nd Victor changer I did uncover several mentions in the 1929 Victor meeting notes that now reside in the Hagley Museum in Delaware. These notes are from January 1929 into mid May1929. The recall involved about 5000 changers. It is interesting to note that while all the stock of unsold machines at Victor and their Jobbers received the updated mechanism that sold machines were only updated if there was a customer complaint! This is probably why some machines are discovered today with the original changer.
One of these pages below indicate that the revised changer addressed all the faults except one, unfortunately the list of the other faults is in the Manufacturering Committee’s notebook which is now apparently lost.

January 1929 must have been a tumultuous time for Victor since transition from the bankers that owned Victor to the RCA was imminent. What was the exact date when the RCA took control? The notes mention the new product line, probably the RE-45 and RE-75 which sold in huge numbers 100,000 plus compared to the five to six-thousand 9-54, 9-56, 10-35 and 10-69. This may be another explanation for the lack of interest in revising the User’s booklet. However, they did not forget the service side of the business with four versions of the repair bulletins, 24, 24A, 24B and 24C.

Jeff, have you ever come across what exactly was wrong with the first iteration of the changer? Presumably the repeat and manual functions didn’t work right but there may have been other issues.

I welcome everyone’s input.

Sorry, the posting of these pages is not in the order intended, start with the last one.

Mark

[gramophone-georg]

I picked up a very very pristine 10-35 a few years back with the updated changer. There was a manual tucked inside, and the manual for it also shows the original non- updated changer. A friend asked to make a copy and he, too, commented that all the 10-35 manuals he'd ever seen were instructions for the original design changer.

Seems weird that Victor did not at least print up a supplement leaflet or something, but it does not appear that they ever did.

[gramophone-georg]

Here's a writeup about the problems with the original design:
http://myvintagetv.com/updatepages1/103 ... r_1035.htm

The writeup says that the upgraded changers were reliable but a "serviceman's nightmare". I completely went through mine after getting a replacement rubber parts kit from Carleton Smith (electrolaman64 on here). It did not seem particularly difficult to me but that's probably because I'm used to close tolerance Mercedes and Porsche engines and mechanical fuel injection pumps. It WAS "fiddly" and needed precise adjustment for sure. It's a great changer and a wonderful piece of steampunk!