Disco Anyone????

[gramophone78]

A good friend of mine has just acquired a wonderful and very rare machine call a Heliophon. As the record plays a oil lamp turns. The metal lamp shade has glass jewels and the horn inner bell is mirrored. You can imagine the rest. What a great and funky machine.

[Tinkerbell]

I'd love to see a Youtube video of that in action!

[gramophone78]

Here are some more pics. The lamp is belt driven from the motor. It is also geared so the lamp rotates very slow as the record spins at 78 rpm. To date....there are only three of these known to have survived. This machine came from the family that had it new. It was used in a cafe and it is NOT coin operated. The past owner add the coin slot and coin drawer. When a customer wanted to see it play....he charged and used the machine as a savings bank.... .

[alang]

Amazing! What an interesting machine. Do you know more specifics, like when it was made, where and by whom?
Thanks for sharing
Andreas

[Tinkerbell]

Here is another one I found online... not nearly as nice, as the lantern is not jeweled, and much of the silvering in the mirror shows deterioration. Different case, too.

http://phonautographist.blogspot.com/se ... /Heliophon

[alang]

Thanks Tinkerbell. Interesting, so it seems to be a German or maybe French or Swiss machine. At least that one was sold by a store in Strassburg im Elsass (in Alsace) at the French and Swiss borders. They built horn machines in Europe well into the twenties, so it was probably a later design. Your post had a straight tonearm, while the OP's machine has a gooseneck, so I would think they were probably built right before 1920, around the time when the Victor patents expired, probbaly using Swiss parts. What do others think?
Andreas

[estott]

A couple of companies in Germany made machines like this. If I recall correctly Polyphon made a large upright cabinet model for dance halls- spring driven, but the light in the horn is electric and has a generator. Of course the best known of these "Wunderlichts" are those mounted on top of automatic pianos.

[Brad]

The worlds first color organ. (Remember those? )

[gramophone78]

Here is another one I found online... not nearly as nice, as the lantern is not jeweled, and much of the silvering in the mirror shows deterioration. Different case, too.

http://phonautographist.blogspot.com/se ... /Heliophon

Yes Tink, that is one of the three known. That one is incomplete and was sold at Brekers a few years ago. It went for HUGE money.... . This one my friend found is the most original untouched one. I will have to ask him for more info....maker,country, etc.... It really is a cool machine IMHO. However, the machine it's self is nothing special. Just a average European model. Even the motor is nothing too exciting. However, with this extra set up......WOW!!!!!. Here is the motor. You can see how it has an extra spindle and gear for the lamps belt. I'm almost tempted to offer him my hot-air machine in trade........Nah!!!. I just couldn't do it.... .

[Tinkerbell]

Very cool. It's always nice to be able to get a peek under the hood, so to speak!

Now, how about getting your friend to shoot some video???