What is this gadget, please!

[recordo]

My good friend found this gadget marked Pathé on the left (9pm position), Columbia and Victor in the middle (6pm) and Edison on the right (3pm position).

On the back is a sort of key. It weighs a fair bit. Between us we have seventy years of collecting but we are both stumped.

Have we missed something really obvious?!

Many thanks, Glenn.

And I'm sorry, for some reason the photos have uploaded sideways!

[JohnM]

I believe it must be the missing link.

[Edisone]

Adjustable weight for a plays-all-records tone arm - I would guess an arm which pivots only at the base, with this thing sitting around it.

[Roaring20s]

I believe it must be the missing link.

John, not even the ghost of Carnack past could have made a better connection
to a Rooster, a Genius, a Winner, and America personified.

But, when its actual answer is known, dare I say, one could rule the world!

James.

[Retrograde]

Salesman's sample of a toilet seat for a crap-o-phone

(just kidding, y'all. It's really an Octubular Excursion Converter Bracket for a Hootusola)

[drboruff]

This appears to be the base for a tone arm/reproducer assembly manufactured by Fletcher....marketed under the Fletcher name along with a few others.
David

[recordo]

Thanks for the replies!

Mystery solved - merry Christmas.

Regards Glenn.

[Cody K]

Roaring20s:"...a Rooster, a Genius, a Winner, and America personified."

A Rooster, a Genius, A Winner, and America personified walk into a bar...

More seriously -- Edisone, good job!

[whoopinola]

In Southern Ontario, for a while it seemed , every other gramophone that appeared on the market was a McGlagan , and nearly every McGlagan had a Fletcher tone arm and reproducer , and every Fletcher had this weight attached . It's a very common piece of kit here.