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Here is my $30 swap meet find. Is this a French HMV portable gramophone; (or rather a British machine that was sold in France)?

Any info on this machine would be appreciated. Also, I don't see a brake, so I don't know if it is missing, or if the brake is somehow built into what looks like a complicated auto-stop mechanism.

Regardless, the machine runs, and I suspect that the reproducer was worth the price of admission...

Mike

This is a 1931/32 first series french HMV 102. The autobreak (no. 5) is very tricky and If you get oil on it, all is lost, so beware!
The No 16 soundbox is not (really) rebuildable.

MikeB wrote:Here is my $30 swap meet find. Is this a French HMV portable gramophone; (or rather a British machine that was sold in France)?

Any info on this machine would be appreciated. Also, I don't see a brake, so I don't know if it is missing, or if the brake is somehow built into what looks like a complicated auto-stop mechanism.

Regardless, the machine runs, and I suspect that the reproducer was worth the price of admission...

Mike

I hope it's okay to ask - I would really like to see a photo of the serial / id number which should be visible under the turn-table.

Looks like you may have a very early production model maybe ?

The id no tag is clearly absent, as visible in pic1 (see screw)

Yes, no ID tag that I can see. The reproducer actually sounds very good. I tried it out on my Victrola 4-7 and it sounds better than the original.

This is the earliest version of the HMV 102, with the "Universal Autobrake" which was intended to stop the record whether or not it had a run out groove. It proved so troublesome that within a year it was replaced by a less complicated system, which could be switched in or out of action with a lever. A manual brake was also added, and this arrangement continued until the end of production.

The large washer in the first picture is coloured red as a warning NOT to lubricate it.

epigramophone wrote:This is the earliest version of the HMV 102, with the "Universal Autobrake" which was intended to stop the record whether or not it had a run out groove. It proved so troublesome that within a year it was replaced by a less complicated system, which could be switched in or out of action with a lever. A manual brake was also added, and this arrangement continued until the end of production.

The large washer in the first picture is coloured red as a warning NOT to lubricate it.

... and yet my early version works very well indeed.

I would suggest that this HMV 102 is worth quite a lot more than 30 dollars - at least over in the UK.

MikeB wrote:Here is my $30 swap meet find. Is this a French HMV portable gramophone; (or rather a British machine that was sold in France)?

Any info on this machine would be appreciated. Also, I don't see a brake, so I don't know if it is missing, or if the brake is somehow built into what looks like a complicated auto-stop mechanism.

Regardless, the machine runs, and I suspect that the reproducer was worth the price of admission...

Mike

Oh, if you haven't seen the page then please follow the link below which shows the motor is the very earliest one:

http://www.graham-ophones.co.uk/motors- ... 4587121239

A shame about the missing ID tag. I will search around in the machine to see if perhaps it is in there loose somewhere...