Echo-la, with Pathé electric turntable?

[poodlesrule]

New to the forum and to phonographs! Neighbor just gave me an "Echo-La" electric-drive phonograph (Chicago).

Total (non-collector) newbie, this is my first few hours with it, and I am carefully examining the beast first.
The electric cord is broken so I do not know if motor is working. We tried it manually, and horn system is all there and works, apparently.

Oddly the Echo-La name only returns some auction in the Midwest. I was puzzled by the Pathé-labeled speed adjust plate, until I saw the paper label reading "Pathé Frères, Brooklyn, N.Y., through the holes in the platen...

- was the electric drive assembly sourced from Pathé for Echo-la
or,
- was it a retrofit of a better drive than original, which may have been a spring motor?

The metal grommet on the wood frame, where the electrical cord comes out, looks like it could be where the original crank may have been?

Some questions:

Unit is fairly clean. Anything I need to do to it, as it has been dormant for a good many years? I have some 1920's foxtrots to play on it!

I need to repair the power cord and switch. Can the machine be run without fear of damaging the motor. I am thinking odd DC setup or such.

The speed adjust knob seems frozen, Could I apply a little quality sewing machine oil?

I am eager to get it to work, but certainly want to treat it with respect. It was Uncle Joe's, after all... which matters, because he was well versed in all things electrical for his day -that's were I get the idea of the retrofit.

[Wolfe]

Some pics would help.

From your description it sounds like a Crapo-La. Crapophone, or some kind of Franken-beast.

[David Spanovich]

It sounds like it was one of the short lived models produced by the hundreds after the key patents expired.

If it's an internal horn model, similar to the one you spotted on this auction site -- http://www.artfact.com/auction-lot/echo ... b57b6edcbd -- it's probably not a crap-o-phone:



Instead, I'd guess that the original spring motor had been replaced somewhere along the line with an electric version, since, as you noted, the cord comes out of the hole where the crank would probably have been attached.

As Wolfe noted, the best way to judge would be to see some photos, especially some showing the turntable area, and if possible, the motor.

If you have questions about how to post photos in your posts, we can walk you through the steps.

DS

[poodlesrule]

The Pathé turntable is a retrofit, as I now see how it has very little room to still fit nicely within the cutout, and still clear to horn base.

Would make sense: Original owner built an electrical business in Chicago, when the city was switching from gas to electricity, so he had an inclination to "upgrade" the unit(?)

It is more like a credenza, phonograph unit at right, storage at left. Very well built internal horn, but just door, no louvers.

I will take pictures in a day or so.

A question: in operation, at the end of record track, what typically stops the (spring or electric) motor? The horn has a metal "index" attached, but it is not actuating anything, just bumps into screw heads functioning as stops on the base collar (lay terms).

[poodlesrule]

If you have questions about how to post photos in your posts, we can walk you through the steps.
DS

Yes, it would be best.
Please help with proper photo posting -directly, or via Flickr or such?

[David Spanovich]

If the photos are stored on your PC in jpg format, all you have to do to post them is to create a follow on post, type in your text, then scroll down to the Upload Attachment section:

For Each Photo:

1 -- Click on the Browse Button.

2 -- You will see a box pop up with your PC's folders displayed. Click the folder where you've stored the photos if it is not displayed, and click on the "Open" button.

3 -- Click on the photo you want to attach, and click the Open button again.

4 -- The screen will disappear, and you will notice under the browse button another button "Add the file" Click on that. The file will be uploaded.

5 -- You'll now see a new area right under the box where you've typed your text labeled "Attachments" followed by the name of the file and a button "Place inline." Click on that.

You'll see something like [attachment]filename.jpg[/attachment] appear in your text box where your cursor was positioned.

Click on the Preview or Submit button to view what you post looks like with the photo.


(Hope this made sense.)

DS

[poodlesrule]

Now with photos:

Shelf at very bottom was an add-on, for storage..

Still haven't a chance to rewire motor to test it.

I always find it fun to see how the stuff was so well made back then - I rescued a 1937 Keystone 16mm home projector, and it is a delight to see how sturdy the thing is!

[brianu]

that's definitely not a Pathé cabinet, nor is the tonearm and reproducer... looks like just a random off-brand. where are the Pathé markings? on the speed control and, what, somewhere else on the motor board? if so, it could be that someone swapped out the original motor and motor board for a Pathé one... although I've never before seen a Pathé induction disc electric one (not that that makes it particularly rare or valuable, just not as common as the wind-ups). on the right side of the cabinet, is there a hole, or the remnants of one, where the crank originally would have been inserted?

[poodlesrule]

Cabinet was made by Echo-La per nameplate in turntable "well"

Turntable was clearly a retrofit.

Pathé: name appears on the speed adjust control knob cover plate, and on a paper sticker under the platen.

the side hole, where the cord now exits the unit, possibly the old crank port, looks like this:

[brianu]

[quote="poodlesrule"]Cabinet was made by Echo-La per nameplate in turntable "well"

Turntable was clearly a retrofit.

Pathé: name appears on the speed adjust control knob cover plate, and on a paper sticker under the platen.

quote]


I'm unsure what you're referring to with some of your terms, like platen?

but echo-la, right, based on the identification plate, that's the off-brand company that probably made everything but the motor/motor board and that add-on shelf underneath the cabinet.

and yes, the turntable was likely a "retrofit" in the sense that someone swapped out the original at some point - someone being some random owner, not the company that would have sold this machine originally. so, regarding your initial question...

"was the electric drive assembly sourced from Pathé for Echo-la or was it a retrofit of a better drive than original, which may have been a spring motor"

... it's doubtful the motor and motor board were provided by Pathé to the company that made the rest of the machine. and it's also questionable whether this "retrofit" resulted in a "better drive than the original" merely because the replacement motor was electric, as opposed to the orginal motor, which clearly would have been spring-driven.