Gramophone Automatic 1

HMV Model 1 Autochanger 1928

HMV gramophone automatic model – Auto 1. Introduced in September 1928 with an accoustic No. 5A soundbox, a re-entrant horn, an electric light (second model), and a 220 volt electrical turntable, this was easily the most expensive gramophone marketed by HMV. The gramophone can play sequentially up to twenty records, (which can be a mixture of 10″ and 12″), or – to quote the HMV sales literature “repeat any one record as often as desired, (a feature that will appeal at once to dancers).” It is controlled directly from the front of the gramophone, or at a distance by means of the portable pedestal switch. The basic gramophone cost £125; with the doors it cost an extra £15 and in mahogany a further £15, so this example cost an astonishing £155. It is also extremely heavy. 

Gramophone Automatic 1, H.M.V., 1928. This is the largest of the retractable models and the shortest-lived. This astonishing contraption cost £125, had an electric motor, a walnut case and, in the original version, an early form of remote control, which enabled the machine to be operated from the comfort of an armchair.

Original description from: “Fonografi e Grammofoni” by Christopher Proudfoot, Italian edition “Silvana Editoriale” 1980.

Grammofono «Automatic I°», H.M.V., 1928. É il più grande dei modelli rientranti e quello di più breve vita. Questo sbalorditivo congegno costava £ 125, aveva un motore elettrico, un mobile di noce e, nella versione originale, una primitiva forma di comando a distanza, che consentiva di azionare la macchina standosene comodamente in poltrona.

Descrizione originale da: “Fonografi e Grammofoni” di Christopher Proudfoot. Edizione Italiana Silvana Editoriale, 1980.

Here you find 421 models, 330 with images and 242 with schematics for wireless sets etc. In French: TSF for Télégraphie sans fil.
All listed radios etc. from HMV (Brand), His Masters Voice, The Gramophone Company Ltd.; Middlesex