Who made this 50s Philco turntable?

pghcoyote · by **pghcoyote** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 6:15 pm

I have a Philco radio/TV/phonograph console purchased in 1950 and am curious as to who manufactured the turntable for Philco. It looks similar to some of the Webster-Chicago units. I especially love the bare metal record-size sensing "fingers" that threaten to scratch the B-sides of your records! I also recall it has one fairly small diameter rubber belt for the drive. The console is currently buried in my basement, or I'd pull out the turntable to find some identifying marks. Until then, can anyone hazard a guess based on the Owner's Manual scans below?? Thanks!

http://www.pghcoyote.com/philco/philco1.jpg
http://www.pghcoyote.com/philco/philco2.jpg

Record-changer · by **Record-changer** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 8:20 am

That is a Philco M-20. Philco used to make its own record changers until around 1959.

There were rubber tops on those feelers.

I used to have an M-22, which nodded the spindle instead of the shelf to drop the record. Here is a picture of it:

pghcoyote · by **pghcoyote** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:17 am

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I'm more of an acoustic phonograph guy, but it's great to start learning about the electrical phonographs.

famesteve · by **famesteve** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:32 am

The 1950's Philco changers worked well and after 1953 incorporated automatic shutoff. I have one that I got from a neighbor in 1967, it's a 1954 bakelitetable model. The cartridges, which tilt to change from LP to 78, are kind of finicky and hard to find replacements for.
Philco did use Webcor changers in the late 50's and V-M's in the 60's, but your 1950 model is definately a Philco-made unit.