I have just completed restoration of this radio/player and have submitted it to Radiomuseum.org as a new model. They correctly pointed out that the 4 speed record changer is about 6 or 7 years later than my player and I would like to know what might have been originally installed.

Trawling through advertising on Trove, it was originally fitted with a single player and later in 1950, a record changer was offered as an option, but certainly not with the 4 speed unit in mine.

Would anyone have some information on this? This link is to the Radiomuseum page.

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/scharnberg_tablegram_52.html.

Thanks
Harold

I have a Precedent tablegram that was made in 1952 by Jackson industries in Melbourne. It still has it's original record changer installed which is a Garrard 78rpm only model. The original grease on the changer mechanism had congealed and hardened so I cleaned off all the old grease and re greased the cams under the changer mechanism and it is working well.

Thanks, Samt, According to an original advert, a Garrard unit was used so it could be the same one. Any chance of a photo?
Harold

Hi Gandhn, sorry about the late reply. I have just moved house and my tablegram was stored at another house while I moved. The record changer on my 1952 Precedent tablegram is a Garrard R.C 70B 78 RPM only. The record changer works well after a clean and re grease. The stepped spindle lifts out and is stored next to the platter when the lid is closed. I have emailed the photos to the administrator to include.

I hope this is of help to you. The radio also works well. I replaced all the wax and electrolytic capacitors and some resistors that had drifted in value. The dial has the local Tasmanian stations highlighted on the front so this model would have been originally sold in Tasmania. I purchased this tablegram about 15 years ago at a junk shop in Hobart.

SamT's changer looks to be very well preserved. It reminds what a problem it was to play any music longer than about 3-4minutes. In those days an "album" was literally a bound volume or box of paper or cardboard envelopes,each containing one disc of the set.

Even with an auto-changer like this, there was a problem in getting the sides in the correct sequence. Some items, such as classical works, might be published "disc 1: a,b, disc 2:a,b,..." so that the disc had to be flipped for each new side. Others were published with the sides interleaved as "disc 1:a, disc2:a, disc3:a...." so you could stack them on a changer like this and get a run of sides in correct sequence. There was never a reliable industry standard and eventually microgroove/long play reduced the problem. Radio studios always had at least two turntables, but if the sides were back-to-back on a disc you still needed two copies, one on each turntable, if you were going to run a piece of music without a pause every few minutes never intended by the composer.

Maven

The Automatic Record Changer was invented by a 20 year old Tasmanian Eric Waterworth in 1925. One of his prototype record changers was discovered under his house in Hobart after 60 years and was donated to the Sound Preservation Association of Tasmania. It was re assembled and restored by volunteers and is currently on display at the Sound Preservation Association of Tasmania museum in the old Bellerive post office building in Hobart. It is a facinating place to visit with an excellent collection of radios, phonographs, valves, cinema projection and broadcasting equipment on display.
Eric Waterworth later opened an optical lens factory in Hobart that manufactured optical components for gunsights during the second world war, as well as camera and cinema projection lenses, optical sound reproducers for cinema projectors, and slide projectors for the education department for use in schools. I have in my collection a couple of Waterworth slide projectors, as well as a 35mm cinema projector with a Waterworth optical 35mm film sound reproducer and Waterworth projection lenses. They are all in working condition. I used the cinema projector to screen films in a single screen cinema in a country town until last year when 35mm film prints were discontinued by the film distributors in favour of digital projection.

Thanks Sam, for your info on the changer. I don't want to change the changer as it will be used for LPs as well as 78s, but I did want to know what was originally installed. The Garrard RC 70B ticks all the boxes.