RCA Victor Record Changer 1931 Radiola Automatic Electrola RAE-26...Wow

This is some cool technology for the 30's..it looks pretty amazing even today.

 

Very cool!

 

It also plays RCA Victor's ill-fated 33⅓ RPM long-playing Program Transcription records:

 

From an online inflation calculator

If in (enter year) 1931
I purchased an item for $ 247.50
then in (enter year) 2019
that same item would cost: $4,190.34

 

It's amazing that it took almost 20 years for the LP format to be accepted and even then competing with 78's and the new 45's.Now it's come back from the dead again
When i was watching the video today before i posted it,I noticed that 78-33 switch and thought that most people would have still used it for 78's,most of the time,at least the rich folks that would have owned one.
LP record - Wikipedia

 

More than 20 years if you count Edison's long playing diamond discs, which, cut at 450 threads per inch, ran for 20 minutes per side at 80 RPM for a 12" record. Those were victims of playback technology lagging cutting technology. The Great Depression killed Victor's experiment with 33 1/3 RPM records. In addition, both Edison's and Victor's long playing records suffered from mostly or entirely being dubs of conventional issues, and hence of lesser fidelity.

 

Both units are impressive examples of vintage engineering. its amazing what engineers in the 1930s were able to come up with, not only in Audio, but especially in automobiles. Chrysler had some really advanced engineering going on.

 

Amazing!! Props to the guy who restored that beast too. I love that he recorded the actual sound of the unit playing. Pretty impressive reproduction. So neat. Thanks for posting this.

dan c

 

This one doesn't flip records, it just places them on one another. It's ingenious how gentle and methodical that system worked, but watching it I just can't imagine it worked every time. It's laughably complex and over engineered, but also so impressive.

I have seen Victor changers that handled the records with less care. One I recall plopped the record in a slot so it landed in a bin below. It's cringey to watch, sounds more like a record crusher than a changer.

dan c

 

Back than everything was mechanical, steam engines, adding machines, calculators and the turntable. Plus about a million other things.
Engineers had to be on top of their game to design this stuff. All the cams and linkages were figured out the hard way, sliderule calculations, graph paper models and tons of math.
Very few mechanical engineers would have a clue on how to design something like this today.
I have several old textbooks from my Dad who was an engineer that were hundreds of pages long with nothing but drawings of ingenious mechanical mechanisms. They were a bible of sorts when you had to design a mechanism and needed a certain function. More than likely you could find a drawing of what you needed but actually designing it and making it work was up to the individual engineer.
Those guys were smart!
Today all the cams and linkages have been replaced with programmable logic chips, servo motors, solenoids, hydraulics and other actuators. It's made engineering a device much simpler.
We need to preserve these items for what they are, mechanical works of art.

BillWojo

 

In 1957, Ford engineers designed an automatic Retractable Top, that, at the touch of a switch, lifted the top off the car, opened the trunk, and placed the top gently in the trunk. It was absolutely REVOLUTIONARY at the time. All done by Ford engineers using motors, gears, cams, etc. just unbelievable engineering for the 1950s.

Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner - Wikipedia

 

And World War II and later 78 RPM discs 10 out of 10 crack or break on this changer. As they were more brittle.

 

When the tone arm swings over, it squeaks like a coffin lid being open like you would hear in a scary movie!