Twin Horn J H Offen Portable
Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2016 3:42 pm
I have mentioned before on this forum that I like the more unusual machines and they don't come much more unusual than this one ! It is a J H O Portable made by J H Offen. The top hinges open in a triangle and it has two separate internal horns ! The tone arm connects to a tube which links them together.
According to the good old internet, James Herbert Offen was an employee of the Garrard gramophone motor company and patented various "improvements" to gramophones over the years, the most well known being the governor spring which clips on rather than being screwed on (1930). The registered design number on this machine is from 1925 and so predates it but it does of course have a Garrard motor and turntable !
I suppose he had an arrangement with Garrard to produce his own machines using their parts.
It has a number 42 stamped into it so I guess he made at least 42 of them - the only other one on the web
was sold at auction in 2013 and is not the same one - has anyone seen any more ?
I have to query the logic of the two horns - do you think people then believed that somehow the bass notes were "heavier" than the treble and so would go down into the lower horn ? As far as my schoolboy physics goes, I don't think this is the case so all you are doing is splitting the overall sound into two separate parts. Any other theories on this or was it just a novelty ?
According to the good old internet, James Herbert Offen was an employee of the Garrard gramophone motor company and patented various "improvements" to gramophones over the years, the most well known being the governor spring which clips on rather than being screwed on (1930). The registered design number on this machine is from 1925 and so predates it but it does of course have a Garrard motor and turntable !
I suppose he had an arrangement with Garrard to produce his own machines using their parts.
It has a number 42 stamped into it so I guess he made at least 42 of them - the only other one on the web
was sold at auction in 2013 and is not the same one - has anyone seen any more ?
I have to query the logic of the two horns - do you think people then believed that somehow the bass notes were "heavier" than the treble and so would go down into the lower horn ? As far as my schoolboy physics goes, I don't think this is the case so all you are doing is splitting the overall sound into two separate parts. Any other theories on this or was it just a novelty ?