One thing that will funnel us into the era of the Victrola's manufacture is the electric pickup, if nothing else. With Victor, it couldn't have been before 1925. Also, the induction disc motor appeared with the introduction of the Orthophonic phonographs. That seems to track with Bob Baumbach. Now, we need to remember that a lot of cities had DC power districts, so the universal motor was kept in the catalogues along with the induction disc motor. The universal motor began about 1915, but not the magnetic pickup!!
The only other thought on this is, that this Victrola could have began its life with a spring motor and acoustic sound chamber. If the cabinet is as fine as it seems to be from the descriptions, the owner could have had a dealer do a conversion. > [Original Message] > From: BruceY <Bruce78rpm at comcast.net> > To: <Phono-l at oldcrank.org> > Cc: <phonolist at yahoogroups.com> > Date: 9/1/2008 4:50:38 PM > Subject: [Phono-L] Gramophone Company Period style victrola ? > > I have just been contacted by a lady in Massachusetts who has what appears to be a very large and elaborate Period Style Cabinet Victrola. It has Victor Victrola Style parts, and #2 Reproducer, but inside the elaborate cabinet are the words Gramophone Co. This is an internal horn style victrola but for some reason it also has an additional early style electric pickup and tone arm with it. It does have a motor in it to turn the turntable, and I will see if the owner can identify it as either the early induction or universal type. Can anyone out there, maybe some of our friends across the pond positively identify the cabinet styles that were used in the Gramophone Company Period style victrolas. If you think you can, I will gladly send you some photos of the this monster for you to identify and get back to me. It is a real "space taker upper" and I must admit I have never ever seen one of these before. I checked Look for the dog and it does not match any of the Victor Period > Style Cabinets. She said this was originally purchased from a Wellesley, Massachusetts estate aution. thanks for your help on this. > > Bruce > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
