Antique Phonograph with Stirling Engine Hot Air Motor

[TheHistorylover99]

What song is playing on it?

[shellacscales]

This is a wonderful piece of history. You really have an awesome collection of machines. Thanks for sharing!

[VTMCompany]

i keep thinking of the song (there'll be a) hot time in the old town to-night...

[Mark5W8Comer]

Paillard? I wonder if this is the same Swiss Paillard that also made the Bolex cine cameras? As far as fire hazards taken less seriously, they used to use candles on Christmas trees! What were they thinking?

[fadatuberadioman]

That is GREAT!!!!!! Amazing

[themadhacker2]

alcohol. so could I say, power this on moonshine because that is cheap and easy to make.

[Zoidberg227]

@themadhacker2 It's cheaper and easier to buy isopropyl alcohol at Rite Aid ...

[Mark5W8Comer]

@themadhacker2 Power it with moonshine to play Memphis Minnie records...

[HeartlandTrailsvideo]

What a cool phonograph! I haven't had the chance to see one like this in person, especially operating.

[W2QYVkz789]

It's incredible!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JAKCRIP]

This is Great!

I had never heard nor seen this usage of a Stirling engine.

Thanks!

[MrKeithGreene]

The cleverness and ingenuity if late 19th and early 20th century inventors never cease to amaze and mystify me!! What a fantastic phonograph! In the old use of the word, this is a truly awesome machine. Thank you so very much for putting the video on so everyone can see it.

[Darto501]

A few seconds crank on my victrola will play several minutes of records. So I wonder what was the point of this invention? After all you had to change the needle after every record and lift the disc off and put on another. Cranking was a short job compared to changing the needle after every record and lifting off the disc and putting on another after the four minute song was over!

Hope nobody invested much money in this idea, he he.

[ReidOphone]

@Darto501 noted: "A few seconds crank on my victrola will play several minutes of records"....

Yes, but a regular Victrola is not awesome. This was awesome in 1910 and it's just as amazing today, a century or more later. Agreed?

[kaos0077]

Thats the craziest thing I've ever seen. Well done.

[randommagnum]

That is awesome. Man... I mean it's awesome on so many levels... Do you have any idea how lucky you are to have that thing?

[AAErikCO]

So clearly the benefit of this would be no cranking? More continuous play of records?

[Patriot1776]

Yeah I believe so. Now you're not limited in a listening session by how long your arm can hold up to winding the clock motor over and over again. Instead, now the limiting factor is how many needles you have in your needle tin, since this was still the era of steel needles that had to be changed after every side to prevent record damage.

[Patriot1776]

Oh yes, also of course this would be how you got long playing sessions before electric motors started becoming common in consumer equipment and before widespread electrification.

[AAErikCO]

This is SO awesome! I machined a sterling engine in my high school machine shop out of billet aluminum and brass that runs off a propane torch.

[EnerG15]

I bet that was expensive back then!

[Zeobit]

I'm not into this stuff, but that's a really fascinating machine, because I clearly traceable how everything works and why it's able to make sound. That's something I often miss in modern technique...

[rweerakkody4565]

ah ok. thats the problem when i make comments halfway up the video. so you dont need to wait but can manually start it.

[rweerakkody4565]

oopsy. to continue the earlier comment....

but it would have taken time for the water to boil so the music could be played. would it????

^_^

[rweerakkody4565]

yes maybe it was called a fire hazard. or maybe no. if edison, as a child, was wise enough not to fill a toy house with hydrogen gas and spark it with electricity, he would have studied the safetiness of this machine.

i got a bit surprised that the steam engine was used here. great !!!! but it would take time to

^_^

[ricande]

This is not realy a steam engine. The stirling engine works by displacing hot air inside two pistons.. No water added. :) Realy cool (or warm) engine that has a lot of potential in todays economics...

[alman54]

That's amazing. I've looked at a lot of phonographs, but that's the first I've seen one like that . I wonder why it wasn't considered a fire hazard. Would it be today? I mean, the cabinet is made out of wood.

[ReneRondeau]

Fire hazards were taken somewhat less seriously in the old days. It definitely was a hazard, and from all reports quite a few were damaged or destroyed by fire. I don't take chances, I never leave this one unattended while in operation.

[edisonphonographs]

This plays very nicely and sounds great! Where did you get this amazing machine? About how many of these hot air phonographs were made?

Thanks

[ReneRondeau]

This was formerly in the famous Dave Heitz collection. No one knows how many were originally made. There are 3 known to survive in the US and 2 in Canada. I know of 4 or 5 in Europe but I suspect there are several more unreported ones.

[rweerakkody4565]

these things are good to keep around.

[hotairengcollector]

This is a great video. I collect hot air engines and have been looking for one of these for about 15 years in the US and in Europe to no avail. You have a very rare phonograph. Thanks for sharing with all of us .

[DeLorean4]

It would be so cool if my computer started up like that. With all the time it takes, it may as well have an alcohol powered motor.

[merrihew]

Speed adjustment and constancy must be a nightmare. Wasn't there once another machine that used gas fed flames across a sort of harp within the horn?

[KawhackitaRag]

I see a flyball governor mounted horizontally underneath the turntable, so I would imagine that would take care of the speed issues.

[ricande]

Yes.. I was looking for that one to.. Had me thinking for a bit... Realy good enginering. :D

[karmadeal]

They must have been really hot song-hits

[RogatySTN]

sounds like donald duck cartoons...

[Mattys2007]

this is awesome, hot air engines were used in a range of things when you think about it, dentist drills, music, water pumping, sewing machines. great

[SWINGREGORY]

VERY COOL

[eastmolman]

with the heat this thing puts out how do you keep the record from warping?

[douro20]

If you look at the machine, there is a big mica heat shield around the hot end of the engine as well as a horn on the side of the machine which direct the waste heat away from it.

[shawndalakiddio]

This is brilliant. I wonder why this technology did not catch on?

[EmilyGreene1984]

I think its because the machine was/is a potential fire hazard. You have to keep a constant eye to make sure that the machine does not overheat or catch on fire as well as when your done listening to the music, you put out the fire. Some people tend to become lazy or pre-occupied when they have music on, so that's when it becomes dangerous.

[fritzu1991]

unbelievable x)

very very nice..

good condition!

[SWINGREGORY]

is it possible to buy it in Europe ?

[rnchy]

Thank you for preserving and posting these

extremely rare creations. I've only read about them! Thanks!!

[antiquekid3]

Rene, this is the coolest phonograph I've seen, along with your Auxetophone!

[gmmix]

This HAS to be the most unusual talking machine mechanism ever devised. I've watched this video nine times and continue to be fascinated. Thank you!

FIVE STARS.

[fordson23]

Beautiful Machine!  The open glass case adds sauce to the goose. About as dangerous as a kerosene lamp IMO.

[gmmix]

Return visit to see this video once again. What a treat to see this machine in operation. Thank you for this valuable and instructive posting. FIVE STARS.

[marcoch91]

hello tahnk u for posting... just saw once before in st croix (switzerland).where those paillard gramophone where done...

[darksound1973]

Thanks for Sharing, I have seen that machine in books, it is a treat to see it actually working!!

[2agray]

That is absolutely amazing! All to save yourself cranking. I'd be afraid it would catch on fire being that old even if rebuilt.  Where in the world did you find something like that?

[mrrk]

Good God. What a machine. Dosent the wood get hot?

[phil17890]

I have just bougth a Paillard Maestrophone but a conventional system (with a crank) in Vevey Switzerland. It is a lot safer but not so amazing...

[wilkes85]

wow that thing is awesome. I never seen anything like that before. I don't know why, but when i saw that little horn thing on the side, and read all these comments about how dangerous it is, I thought that a big flame shot out of that little horn... LOL i'm a loser haha

[bingcrosby1903]

Amazing! ive never seen one, though id be scared to death to operate it! thanks for sharing some of your collection, more to come would be swell!

[fuzzbear6240]

Rene, That's an amazing machine-dangerous but amazing! Heh Heh! Thank you for sharing it with us all. YF, J.

[fuzzymonkey777]

I would have used a Doors record, Great video. :)