looking for info on brunswick parisian portable

[anchorman]

I have a brunswick parisian portable that I asked about in the technical section, anyone with info on where to get a pattern for the paper cone, please contact me or post on this thread. I am trying also to figure out how to open it for cleaning without drilling out any rivets.

it is similar to a polly portable, but with a metal case that appears riveted closed on the rear, but has two small screws that hold it together in the front. if anyone knows what the original screws look like, please let me know. the label inside say copyrighted 1927.

information/tips would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
jon

[Retrograde]

polly instructions

[anchorman]

so according to that, the platter is on a tapered spindle. one should be able to get it off in theory, I can't quite see an easy way to do that... I think I can fake it on the resonator/cone from the picture. hopefully I can figure how to get the platter off so I can clean inside.

if anyone else has a picture of those instructions at a slightly higher resolution it would be nice to see!!!

[OrthoFan]

if anyone else has a picture of those instructions at a slightly higher resolution it would be nice to see!!!

Go to this page and click on the center "disc" image. That will call up a PDF file with a full size image --
http://www.oldcrank.com/reference/polly ... index.html

....or click on this direct jump to the PDF file --
http://www.oldcrank.com/reference/polly ... /polly.pdf

--------------------------------------------


I'm sure you've probably already seen these, but J.I.C.:

http://www.intertique.com/PollyPortableID.html

http://victrolagramophones.proboards.co ... thread=684

http://www.collectorsworldwest.com/lookup.php?id=147

Hopefully, one of the members of this board who has a Polly Portable, or similar branded model, will send you a trace of their oscillator so you can make an exact match. Any type of heavy duty construction paper should work--even poster paper. It seems to me, years ago, someone was selling reproductions, but I no longer remember who it was.


On last thing to do, before playing too many records, is to carefully inspect the area around the needle holder. I remember seeing one, years ago, in which the needle's fulcrum--or whatever it's called--was set between two small rubber rings apparently used to dampen vibrations. Unfortunately, the rubber had turned rock hard, preventing the needle from moving freely to track the record, and as a result, it sounded horrible--buzzing, blasting, etc.

If there is a similar assembly on the one you have, and if there are any frozen rubber parts, you might consider replacing them, or doing some type of a repair using a suitable substitute for the original rubber such as silicone caulk, etc.

HTH,
Ortho_Fan

[anchorman]

excellent! thanks.


the rubber on mine is a little sad looking. I was thinking to replace, but I thought I might see about the insides first... I think I can blow up the picture of the cone from the instructions I saw and get close enough.

the pictures I have seen so far, it looks like a manila folder would work fine to make the cone, just have to make it close to the right size.

[gramophoneshane]

Many years ago a friend of mine had a Guiniphone (which is essentually the same as the Poly Portable), and he got a reproduction cardboard cone from England.
I cant quite remember now, but I think he may have got it via the CLPGS.
The one below is a scan from C.Proudfoot's first book, but the repro cone was printed in a similar manner to the one below. Not having seen more than one or two Poly's, and no Brunswick versions, I dont now whether the USA machines all used single coloured cones, or if some were decorataed like the UK machines. I believe several decorative cones were available with the Guiniphone.

*I should have checked OF's links, as it seems there were decorative cones on some US machines as well.

[larryh]

Does anyone think that the sound comes anywhere near a good internal horn? I see these from time to time and owned a brunswick probably 50 years ago by now. But I found it to be very shallow sounding compared to a similar horn portable. It may have been that I was pretty unaware of the workings of these machines at the time, or it may have just been the way they worked, I always wondered. I know Pathé evidently carried the design to great heights at one point. Did they go back to internal horn designs or was that the end of the line for their mechanical machines?

[alang]

excellent! thanks.


the rubber on mine is a little sad looking. I was thinking to replace, but I thought I might see about the insides first... I think I can blow up the picture of the cone from the instructions I saw and get close enough.

the pictures I have seen so far, it looks like a manila folder would work fine to make the cone, just have to make it close to the right size.

Could you please post a picture of the original hardened rubber parts? My Polly Portable didn't have any rubber parts in the needle holder and I always wondered why anyone would buy something that sounds so terrible.

Andreas

[alang]

Here are some pictures and measurements for the Polly Portable speaker cone:

Drawing with corrected dimensions:

Polly Cone.jpg (42.32 KiB) Viewed 2747 times

As you can see in pic 4 my cone has been folded incorrectly through the decal, so it's not holding tension anymore. It should only be folded twice as marked towards the bottom side, so it will hold tension when in use. The flap is just another strip of cardboard glued to the bottom side and riveted on the outer rim. For use the other edge of the cone slides under the flap and the little notch cutout holds it in place under the rivet.
Hope that helps
Andreas

[Retrograde]

Alang, check your dimensions. The radius and diameter on the diagram seem large.


(6/4/11 - I see now that the dimensions are updated, thanks )