The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Do you recall if there was a small ball bearing in the bottom of the spindle shaft?
If the motor was in pieces, it would be easy for it to fall out, & that can cause the motor to behave just as you're describing.

I don't recall, but that's worth looking into....

Does the shaft have a dimple on the bottom-end to seat on the ball-bearing ?

If there is supposed to be one there, it will.

lakesideglenn, to get back to your original question. Pathé was in America circa 1914-1922. They were caught up in the vertical vs. lateral cut format wars of the time, shifting from the former to the latter in terms of their records about 1920 as the patents that locked up lateral cut records expired and it became clear that lateral cut was going to win the war. Usually (I hedge on most of this stuff as you can almost always find some exception to most anything), their US lateral cut records bore the Actuelle label.

As to which type of records the machine you are looking at was designed to play, it all depends on what model and when it was made.

I have a circa 1917 model 75 floor model that came with two interchangeable reproducers, one for each type of record. As a general guide you can tell one from the other in that the vertical cut reproducers run with the plane of their widest part being at a right angle to the record grove and the lateral cut reproducers being parallel to the record grove. At least with mine, the vertical cut reproducer is quite a bit bigger in diameter as well.

I am actually quite pleased with my 75. The case is simple, but well made and attractive. It has a good strong motor (gets through a 14" Pathé vertical cut with no problem at all, for instance) and is as loud as I might wish. After I replaced the reproducer gaskets, it sounds just fine.

IMHO the vertical cut Pathé records sound quite good. I like them and you can get them on eBay most any time. Pathé vertical cuts are a bit higher than the run of the mill lateral cut 78, but nothing extravagant unless you are talking about very early center start records, which are much rarer. Another nice thing is that the vertical cut reproducer uses a sapphire stylus, so you don’t have to change needles with every record. And yes those styli/styluses are still available.

Of course with the lateral cut reproducer installed I can play any 78--usually both sides on one winding with no problem.

Clay

One thing I can say about my oak Pathé table top machine - it is the loudest phonograph in my collection - and I mean LOUD!!

briankeith wrote:One thing I can say about my oak Pathé table top machine - it is the loudest phonograph in my collection - and I mean LOUD!!

Im curious as to whether your Pathé is loud while playing both lateral & vertical recordings, or just with laterals?
I've always found Pathé vertical recordings very clear, but lacking in volume.
I dont own a Pathé machine however, so it may be that the lower volume is due to the reproducer I use, although the few Pathé machines I've heard (a couple small French open horn models & a couple American uprights) didn't seem to play vertical cut records with great volume either.

Very, very loud, both lateral & vertical records, and I am clueless to why that is? Puts my Victors and Edisons to shame when it comes to clarity too! Also, it is a rather large case & horn for a table-top phonograph. Could that be it?

I get a good volume from both the lateral and vertical reproducers on my Pathé 75. I would note, however, that both reproducers have been rebuilt with new gaskets and, in the case of the vertical reproducer, a new diaphragm, so that may well make the difference.

Clay