> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roger Kulp" <[log in to unmask]>
>> I have a table model version somewhere.I thought it was later than 1931.
>> Roger
>> --- On Sun, 11/29/09, Paul Charosh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> From: Paul Charosh <[log in to unmask]>
>> A friend has acquired a GE radio/phonograph, ca. 1931, with two arms:
>> one
>> for playback, one apparently for home recording. We would like to learn
>> more about it.
>>
Steven C. Barr wrote:
> IIRC, GE put out some models which had two arms...one to play 78's and
> one
> to play LP's...?!
No, it was Philco that did that, and it was in 1948. The 78 arm was
usable for the changer mechanism, but the LP arm was single-play only.
Rather a stupid idea, but they were in a hurry to get them out! Philco
had single-arm 2 speed changers by the end of 1948, just in time to have
to re-design them into 3-speed changers. I have all the catalog sheets
and repair manuals for this whole series, and have a couple of unmounted
examples.
> I also agree (as an "ex-radio collector"...LONG story!) that
> 1931would be an EXTREMELY early date for a "radio-phonograph!"
>
No, they were quite common by 1931. Spaces for radios were included in
some phonographs as early as 1924, and there were factory installed
models by 1926. There even were Orthophonic Radio-Phonos.
> The console models are anywhere from c.1934 to WWII...the smaller table
> models (now being reproduced...well more or less?!) are late-thirties
> to late
> forties...!
>
> Steven C. Barr
>
These dates are all screwy. As I said, console radio-phonos date back
into the 20s, and table models came in the early 30s. Disc recording
machines start in the early 30s, both for bare aluminum with a feed
screw and the RCA pre-groove discs in 1931.
Oh, that reminds me. To answer an earlier question, RCA was still
producing the pregrooved blanks throughout the 30s at least into 1942.
The label logo changed in 1939 to eliminate the name Victor and the HMV
drawing in a circle, leaving only the RCA meatball. The printing plates
for the labels were destroyed on August 7, 1944
Mike Biel [log in to unmask]
|