Phonoland

To whom it may concern, I'm trying to locate some information on an old
phonograph that my wife has. The information I've obtained off of the
phonograph is as fallows.

Manufacturer : Path'e

Pathe Freres phonograph Company

Pathephone Model # 40

#2379

New York N.Y. USA



I am trying to find out more information, but find nothing on the web
about a pathephone Model # 40. I believe it is in good shape although I was
told it needed the spring repaired. If you could help or point me in a
direction to find out more information on this phonograph, such as year of
manufacturing, type of disks to use etc. I would be great full.

Thank You for Your Help


Troy

I cant tell you much about your model 40, but heres a picture of a pathe' disc.


They have an etched label, rather than the normal paper label.They were recorded between 90-100rpm, and start at the centre,and play toward the outer edge. They are recorded in the vertical(hill&dale) format, like edison cylinders and diamond discs, instead of the lateral process used for normal 78s which wont play on a pathe machine. These pathe records also use a sapphire ball needle, which doesn't have to be replaced all the time like normal gramophones that use a steel needle. Let us know what city/country your in, and we can let you know the best place to get new needles from. They're not very expensive.

Hi Troy,
I had a look in my Pathe catalogues and found one from 1912 depicting among others the Pathe Models 36 and 44.Your model 40 must be similar i guess.I enclose 2 pictures of this catalogue.
Paul
http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/8103 ... 002sk7.jpg

http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/3872 ... 001gm1.jpg

You're right. There is virtually nothing on the internet about this specific
model. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive book or web site
devoted to Pathephones--that I'm aware of--though you can find out quite
a bit about "Pathe Freres" and it's American subsidiary--piecemeal--such
as the reference to the American company on this site --
http://www.intertique.com/BirthOfTheVictrolaClones.htm

I did spot one online reference: The Daily Courier - May 7, 1918 --
apparently ran an add for Pathephones, listing the Model 40, among
others, so this was obviously in production at that time.
SEE: http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q= ... 8&oe=UTF-8 Unfortunately, this is an
archived page, so you have to pay to view it. You may want to pay a visit
to your local library, and scour some newspapers for ads from the late
teens to the early 1920s.

I'd imagine that the model numbers -- 30, 40, 60, 85 -- followed some
logical sequence, with the higher numbers devoted to the more deluxe
models.

A few later production Pathephones were equipped with a "universal" style
tone arm which allowed you to turn the sound box (reproducer) to play
laterally recorded records made by Victor, Columbia, etc. If the tone arm
is not adjustable, and the reproducer's mica faces toward the front, than
you are limited to playing Pathe "hill and dale" or vertically recorded
discs. A special "needle" tipped with a saphire ball stylus is required.
(DON'T ever attempt to play a Pathe vertical recording with a steel
needle! It will chew up the groove.)

Also see:

Pathe Records -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path%C3%A9_Records

Complete 1914 Pathephone Catalog (french) -- http://www.archeophone.org/catalogues/p ... s_1914.php

Main Page -- other rare catalogs --
http://www.archeophone.org/catalogues/

The Pathe stylus is decribed on this page --
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT ... phonograph
(Click on thumbnail image to see full size page.)

The "Adjustable Sound Box" is described on this page --
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT ... phonograph
(Click on thumbnail image to see full size page.)

* SPECIAL DOME-SHAPED SAPPHIRE ON SHANK for use on Pathe' Hill and
Dale recordings is available here --
http://www.antiquephono.com/accessor.htm


HTH,
Joe_DS

Troy, looks like you did better here, than at the other place. I was quite surprised by the lack of responces to be honest. Oh well!!

Pathe made some oddball machines:

Their first ones turned at 90 rpm. The vertical records started in the center and used needles twice the tip radius of the Victor needle. The records were available in 10'', 12'', and 14''.

They made another machine with a 20'' vertical record which was center-start and turned at 120 rpm. It used the same needles. I have seen and heard this player in operation.

In 1926, Pathe changed to an 80 rpm rim-start disc with vertical cut and the standard sized needle.

In 1931, they switched to the standard 78 They were the last company to change to lateral cut..

Record-changer wrote:Pathe made some oddball machines:

.....

In 1931, they switched to the standard 78 They were the last company to change to lateral cut..

That's true for the French market--though I've read that 1932 was the cutoff date--but lateral (needle-cut ) Pathe records were introduced in the US market in 1920, and shortly afterwards in the UK. These were sold under the "Actuelle" name. Some early labels from the 1920s appear on this page: http://www.tedstaunton.com/labels/1920- ... uelle.html
(Main Page -- http://www.tedstaunton.com)


The information provided about the records on the Wikipedia jump I posted above is pretty accurate, from what I can tell.

I agree that Pathe did, indeed, manufacture some "oddball" phonographs. My favorite is the large cabinet model equipped with the paper/fiber cone "speaker." I listened to one several years ago in the home of a Sacramento area collector, and was very impressed by the overall sound quality. Not as forceful as a horn gramophone, but still very rich.

I agree that Pathe did, indeed, manufacture some "oddball" phonographs. My favorite is the large cabinet model equipped with the paper/fiber cone "speaker." I listened to one several years ago in the home of a Sacramento area collector, and was very impressed by the overall sound quality. Not as forceful as a horn gramophone, but still very rich.

I was finally able to hunt down an online photo of this machine, for those who may be interested. Sorry if it's a little dark --


Pathe' Actuelle Phonograph

The original image can be found at --
http://www.burchardgalleries.com/auctio ... 0/l032.jpg
FROM -- http://www.burchardgalleries.com/auctio ... n2300r.htm

I have a Pathe phonograph similar to this model. It was my great grandfathers and it works perfectly. It even has a supply of little metal needles that haven't been used, along with dozens of phonograph records filling the shelves of the Pathe itself. I crank it up every now and then and think about what it would be like to only have that as a form of entertainment. Very weird and nostalgic.