A victor back bracket tonearm mystery perhaps solved
Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 11:45 am
As some of you may recall from another thread, I have become intrigued (OK, maybe obsessed) with an unusual Victor back bracket and tonearm combination; when it was used and what machines it was used on. The part of the bracket where the tone arm joins it does not have the commonly seen larger diameter inset at the bottom into which the top of the tonearm fits. The tonearm that goes with it has a flange made into it that serves as the pivot point between the arm and bracket. (See picture.) Without the flange the arm would just slide through. While I can’t find anything specifically on it in the literature or a patent for that variation, I think I may have at long last nailed it down.
Follow up here on the Forum, an internet search, and an inquiry sent to my friend Wayne Wolf turned up 3 examples of this bracket/arm combination that seem to be original to the machine upon which they are mounted. All are all on Victors marked as “Type E.”
The Type E designation was used beginning with the Victor Monarch Junior in 1901. The Monarch Junior became the Vic II. (Look for the Dog, page 51; Victor Data Book, pages 12, 79.) Those marked Type E became the “Improved Victor II” when equipped with the tapered arm beginning in 1904. (See Look for the Dog, page 61.) The Type E designation was used up until 1909. (See Look for the Dog, page 61.) The shift to the Vic II, Type M (humpback) occurred in 1905. The M was shipped up through late 1909. (Victor Data Book, page 80.)
Wayne tells me that the needle on his humpback properly falls on the spindle. The back bracket and flange-style tonearm does not properly fit the humpback, with the needle falling about ¼” shy of the spindle when installed on a humpback. Thus it appears likely that the flange-style tonearm and back bracket designed to accept it had a very short life in 1904-05 on the second of the 10 Vic II subtypes described in Look for the Dog.
With thanks to Larry Crandell for the good photo. Look for the Dog page references are to the revised 2005 edition.
Clay
Follow up here on the Forum, an internet search, and an inquiry sent to my friend Wayne Wolf turned up 3 examples of this bracket/arm combination that seem to be original to the machine upon which they are mounted. All are all on Victors marked as “Type E.”
The Type E designation was used beginning with the Victor Monarch Junior in 1901. The Monarch Junior became the Vic II. (Look for the Dog, page 51; Victor Data Book, pages 12, 79.) Those marked Type E became the “Improved Victor II” when equipped with the tapered arm beginning in 1904. (See Look for the Dog, page 61.) The Type E designation was used up until 1909. (See Look for the Dog, page 61.) The shift to the Vic II, Type M (humpback) occurred in 1905. The M was shipped up through late 1909. (Victor Data Book, page 80.)
Wayne tells me that the needle on his humpback properly falls on the spindle. The back bracket and flange-style tonearm does not properly fit the humpback, with the needle falling about ¼” shy of the spindle when installed on a humpback. Thus it appears likely that the flange-style tonearm and back bracket designed to accept it had a very short life in 1904-05 on the second of the 10 Vic II subtypes described in Look for the Dog.
With thanks to Larry Crandell for the good photo. Look for the Dog page references are to the revised 2005 edition.
Clay