The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello; could I play blue Amberol Cylinders with a Pathé Model O Democratic..
a Pathé Coquete...any othe Pathé Model.? I thank you all.

All of the Pathé phonographs that I have seen were designed to play 2 minute cylinders whose groove pitch is 100 threads per inch. I don't know if any Pathés were designed to also play 4 minute records, but to do so, they would have to be geared to move the reproducer carriage at 200 threads per inch. You would also need a smaller sapphire stylus to fit the smaller grooves.

Thanks a lot for your answer.Here in Europe is quite easy to find Pathés Machines,and as I´m been buying blue amberols I was thinking to hear them with a Pathé model. Thanks again.............

Nanonet, You probably already know this but it's not so difficult to find Edison 2/4 minute machines or table top Amberolas here in Europe on which you would be able to play your blue amberols.

As far as I'm aware, Pathé stopped producing cylinders for retail sale in favour of discs sometime in 1906, before 4M cylinders were released, so I very much doubt they would have bothered making an upgrade kit for their machines to play someone elses cylinders.
There may have been such a kit produced in France by some unrelated manufacturer I guess, but if there was, I've never seen or heard of one before, and if such a convertion ever did exist, they must be rarer than hens teeth.
Pathé did make "Celeste" cylinders that ran for 4 minutes, but these were the same diametre as Edisons big Concert cylinders, except they were 8 ½" long- almost twice the length of a normal Concert, and still cut at 100TPI.