The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

phonogfp wrote:I ducked class and was shooting spitwads in the cafeteria...

George P.

I see a machine in need of a cylinder placed upon the mandrel (cylinders kept in boxes are too quiet). The mainspring needs to be wound (must have power). The horn will work much better when placed over the neck of the reproducer (or get hearing tubes). The slide lever moved to the "on " position to allow the mandrel to turn (no electricity needed) and then the reproducer lowered to allow the the stylus to make contact with the cylinder. Thus you may sit back and watch the machine perform as intended... and provide musical enjoyment for the ears!

Wow. No end gate and still plays! Did somebody stick in a D type center bushing or ...? I should have mentioned earlier that you've got the case looking great.

Regards,
Martin

I can't imagine an Edison dealer making such a modification. I suspect a good mechanic put a D mandrel with center bearing in the Model A top works and it works fine. Jerry

Jerry B. wrote:I can't imagine an Edison dealer making such a modification. I suspect a good mechanic put a D mandrel with center bearing in the Model A top works and it works fine. Jerry

I think it adds a cool history to the machine. Thanks for sharing!

Martin

Were the "D" mandrels the same as the end-gate models ( pivot-divot on open-end )?

Has anyone else seen such a conversion? It's a first for me. Jerry

Not only have I seen one, it's been sitting on the shelf for years because I didn't have the heart to part it out and I didn't think it should be in my collection. It's a model B Home someone upgraded by cutting the end gate off and adding a center support bearing. To me the 2 & 4 minute selector is odd as I have not seen one with the fingers on it connecting to the clutch before. Like Jerry's it runs very well and I never noticed the end gate was gone until one day I got it out to clean up. But I always kept it because of it's odd ball status. Maybe back in the day some one was doing this, or there may have been a magazine article out on how to do it.

Best Regards, Larry

Hmm. Two of 'em. The factory did have a "conversion service" and certainly dealers were encouraged to move obsolete 2 min machines by converting the unsold machines themselves. Perhaps this type of conversion was as a result of a parts shortage of model A/B attachment kits.

Larry - yours looks like it really could be a factory job. Look at the lever shift set up. Yours is different. That's a real unusual marriage of a model D type pulley shift set up with the model A/B lever type shift. I've never seen one like that. The one on Jerry's is the typical lever shift type.

Neither machine is typical, but are way more interesting to me the way they are.

- Martin

martinola wrote:Hmm. Two of 'em. The factory did have a "conversion service" and certainly dealers were encouraged to move obsolete 2 min machines by converting the unsold machines themselves. Perhaps this type of conversion was as a result of a parts shortage of model A/B attachment kits.

Larry - yours looks like it really could be a factory job. Look at the lever shift set up. Yours is different. That's a real unusual marriage of a model D type pulley shift set up with the model A/B lever type shift. I've never seen one like that. The one on Jerry's is the typical lever shift type.

Neither machine is typical, but are way more interesting to me the way they are.

- Martin

The shift on my "original"(AFAIK) Home B "signature" is like the one in Jerry's photo at the top of the thread: little pin on the short end of the lift-lever engages a groove in the collar on the feed-screw, not the lip of the flanged gear-housing per Larry's machine.

My "original" (AFAIK) Home D, just has the 2/4 with the flanged housing, no lever, no groove on the collar. The mandrel does look as though it has a center dimple for the pivot-point of an end-gate pin, or perhaps it's a centering mark for a lathe or assembly fixture ?

Did the new center bearing fit in the old center stanchion, or was drilling/grinding necessary?