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"Double post" madness!

Larry, I'd like to know what this spring does. Does it assist the lifting of the cabinet lid?

Fran

Another thought, I had: I'll bet the dataplate is aluminum.

Fran

Another thought: Toward the end of the Great War, the Edison Phonograph Works was only producing "(restricted to)...the C-250, the C-150...and Amberola 50" (The Edison Diamond Disc Phonographs and the Diamond Discs - George L. Frow, pg 60).

This possibly explains why someone would be compelled to have their new Chippendale mechanism placed into an "aftermarket" cabinet -- no consoles were available from the OEM at the time.

Fran

Fran,

You are correct both times. the spring is for lifting the top & data plate is Aluminum.

Larry

Larry--I hope it is awhile before you read this post because you have been away picking up this machine. WOW

Clay

It's just super. The dual winding setup is quite fascinating. Check the condition of the line cord and plug housing before plugging it in, of course, but the wiring we can see inside looks sound. Motrolas don't go bad on their own so don't be afraid to try it. You just push the button on the top. It will stay down as long as the motor is being wound, then automatically release once the tension triggers its clutch. If it won't stay down when you first press it, make sure the motor is run down. Don't hold the button down if it won't stay down.

If you do get it to wind via Motrola, please let us know if it makes the crank rotate along with it.

The installation looks so clean, that I wonder whether it really is anything a dealer could have pulled off, but I guess skilled craftsmen can always be found - so who knows.

10 or so years ago I bought an art cased Edison in Ohio. It was the huge, ugly Sheraton model. It came with one of those Motrola winding things but because that one has cabinets on both sides there was no provision for hand winding. That thing must be about 6 ft. wide! As near as I could figure from Frow's confusing book, 6 of them were made and when my Mom saw it she remarked that it would have taken one hell of a salesman to get rid of that many of them! I don't remember what the ID tag says on it, but I know where the machine is and the next time I'm around it I'll look. I know it doesn't mention anything about a "model" and there is no medallion in it either. It's a later one though with a C type motor.

That Sheraton one also had no provision for record storage. Just two empty cupboards on both sides of the phonograph part. It's unusual that your machine has more of a Brunswick type record storage than anything normally encountered in an Edison. I wonder why they didn't use racks like you see in a C-19 for instance? Edison did some odd things, that's for sure. And since there was a connection with Edison & Brunswick that may explain those drawer-boxes in there.

It's nice that it is a good looking machine though, and I'm glad it didn't get made into a wine cabinet. I saw a really nice Victrola 10-70 last summer in Madison, WI. that the dealer had just recently pulled everything out of and put shelves in. It's also kind of early for a lowboy machine don't you think? I would much rather have one with a spring winder in it like that, instead of having to practically lay down every time I needed to wind the thing up. That's always to me been the worst part of those low machines.

Well good luck with it! It's nice to see something really unusual (and nice looking) come along now and again.

Plugged it into a variac set the voltage about 105 and the variac is fused. Let it run down flipped the variac on and it started cranking and yes the crank moves. Can someone advise me there is no knob to push in there is just a screw(maybe to tighten or release tension)? The winder also works when it is playing.

Larry

That brass thing poking out of the top is the button. Don't mess with trying to turn it with a screw driver, because it is probably already set correctly. Apply line voltage and depress the button, and let it spin until it shuts itself off on its own. If it slows or stops but does not shut off its own power, kill the power before the motor burns out.

The way it works is that it winds until the spring is fully wound, whereupon it senses resistance and disengages with a clutch type arrangement. The button pops back up with a snap and powers everything off.

I'm guessing that the button is already depressed, by someone playing around in the past, and that the poor thing hasn't been allowed to wind up the spring all the way since. That's why it ran upon application of power.

So power it up and let it wind, and tell us what happens.