Check out this variation...

[Lenoirstreetguy]

Nononono! This isn't a Victor product! That illustration was the one I posted from the Eaton Radio Catalogue. Those machines that are illustrated were made ONLY in Canada and sold ONLY by the Victor Talking Machine Company of Canada out of Montreal. They are unbelievably rare and were only on the market for a few months in 1925. They of course were obsolete by December when the Orthophonic line was introduced. The one here in the post is a home brew combination. This was done all the time. Victor in the States sold the "Radio Adaptable Victrolas" in 1924-25, but this is not one of them. Several radio manufacturers, notably RCA , Zenith and Federal made chassis specifically designed to fit into acoustic machines and specifically the "Radio Adaptables." I still own an EXPENSIVE Brunswick Ultona which was utterly mangled to install a radio set in 1923. Mr Seager (and yes, I DID know the old boy who did the chopping) took out the record storage and then bored a hole in the tone arm in order to attach a loud speaker unit. It made quite a mess of the machine, but he was pleased with the tone that the Brunswick horn gave to the reproduction.

[Lenoirstreetguy]

That Brunswick on Cragslist has had the legs chopped off, sadly. You can see it at the back of this illustration. The Radiola Superheterodyne that was installed in this machine actually performs quite well: they are incredibly sensitive receivers, but of course they use enough batteries to stock a medium sized hardware store. And the tone quality is a tad thin on the loudspeaker. And look at the prices! I think you would have been a tad hissy if you had spent almost 700 clams (after you bought the batteries) on one of these machines in, say January 1925 only to have them made obsolete by the fall when the Panatrope came on the market. Even the radio chassis would have been on the "B" list by then because RCA's newer model had a wider tuning range than the one in your Brunswick. (Kinda like me buying a 480 computer in the early 'nineties )

Jim

[Kirkwood]

That Brunswick publicity photo is one of my favs. Some years ago I bought a BR160 (second from left in the photo) and am just now starting to bring it back to life. Poor thing met up with a flood, up to about 1 inch on the door bottoms. Just needs a LOT of reglueing and a refinish---and oh yeah, gotta work on that radio chassis someday.

I found a nifty bit of related ephemera on eBay. Seems a family got one of these as a Christmas gift "from Father" in 1924. They very carefully bound together all of the paperwork into a little booklet: the phono instructions, the packing slip, the Radiola instructions, etc. The pride of ownership comes across loud and clear! In several places they note that it came from Meier and Frank Co. in Portland Oregon, and it cost $500.00! They kept very careful notes of each time a battery or tube was changed (things like "Burgess B batteries cannot be used, because the wires are not long enough to connect"). Good grief! They bought batteries or tubes nearly every other month into 1931. The last entry for batteries was in June 1933. Interesting to note was that the batteries got cheaper in the 1930s. Also interesting is that in 1925 and 1926, these notes were very neatly printed in pen and ink. By 1933, they were simply written in pencil, like a grocery list.

I got a clarification from these instructions as well. I long suspected that the long covered "tray" next to the radio was to be a resting place for radio tubes. Indeed, the instructions advise "Remove the Radiotrons from their sockets while making the battery connections". So you had to move this thing away from the wall to access the battery compartment, remove the tubes, change the batteries, re-install the tubes, check everything out and then move the set back against the wall or into the corner. A lot of work to hear radio broadcasts, but how else were they to pick up the Coon-Sanders Nighthawks broadcasts?

[Lenoirstreetguy]

I know! The battery replacement follies were the reason that everyone dumped the battery set as soon as they possibly could...either by means of a battery eliminator or a new "electric" set. The reason the tubes were frying was those little UV 199's (and 120's) that were used in these sets really couldn't take the power required if you wanted to turn up the volume.
Speaking of batteries, Eveready had an ad campaign in the late twenties: "Radio is Better With Battery Power." They were fighting a losing battle.

[estott]

Sounds like an advertisement I saw from the early 30's: "I have a Modern Ice Refrigerator. Ice retards food shrinkage"

[phonophan79]

Another Brunswick Radiola Model AR-818 / BR-160

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/atq/1292569622.html

[estott]

Nice Brunswick, but again it's one of those ads I hate: priced at $1.00 but it's "Make an offer". Man what a lawyer could do with that.

[Kirkwood]

That Brunswick BR160 is just like the model I've started working on. Back when I bought mine (in rough shape) I'd never seen nor heard of one, so I was convinced that it was a scarce model. Seems a fair number of them survived, if multiple listings on craigslist and eBay in years since are any indication. This was great timing on the part of phonophan76, putting that craigslist link on here. I was wondering how the base and speaker door had been finished, and these are super clear photos. Even allowing for some darkening of the finish I think I can proceed with confidence getting the finish done right. Thanks a bunch!!!

By the way, this model of the Ultona reproducer does NOT have the angled needle chuck to play the Pathé vertical-cut discs. Guess if you had some of those records on hand when you bought this in 1924, you asked the dealer for the older style reproducer. Also, there is a wooden strip visible next to the Radiola panel. Under that is a shallow concave trough to hold the tubes ("radiotrons") when changing tubes or batteries. This also disguises the bump-in area to accommodate the loop antenna door that's on the left side.

[phonophan79]

yet another Brunny radio / phono...

http://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/atq/1294419750.html

[OrthoSean]

Orthosean -

By the way did you ever get the radio working on your BR-260?

Haha...no not yet! It's on my list. Eventually, eventually...I do play the phonograph part of the machine all the time, though.

Sean

EDIT: Ah-ha! Jim, now I know how much the BR-260 cost when new...I have been wondering that for a LONG time! Thanks! Cool picture!