E.R.P.I.

[tomt]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Western-Electric...QQcmdZViewItem

volume contol, or field coil adjustment?









PDT)

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ September 06, 2007 11:30 AM: Message edited by: Todd W. White ]</font>

[tomt]

more stuff from the same seller -

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-IPC-Altec-L...QQcmdZViewItem
Pair IPC Altec Lansing theater speaker baffle for 515 - (eBay item 220143623333 end time Sep-06-07 18:00:00 PDT)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Ampex-350-35...QQcmdZViewItem
Old Ampex 350 351 console cabinet reel to reel pre-amp - (eBay item 220143624320 end time Sep-07-07 18:00:00 PDT)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Western-Electric...QQcmdZViewItem
Western Electric TA-7381 tube theater pre-amp amplifier - (eBay item 220144737853 end time Sep-10-07 18:00:00 PDT)


http://cgi.ebay.com/Northern-Western...QQcmdZViewItem
Northern Western Electric R4043D tube amp amplifier - (eBay item 220144740611 end time Sep-11-07 18:00:00 PDT)


http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Lead-shielde...QQcmdZViewItem
Old Lead shielded wire Western Electric audio? - (eBay item 220144740643 end time Sep-11-07 18:05:00 PDT)


http://cgi.ebay.com/Victor-6L6-tube-...QQcmdZViewItem
Victor 6L6 tube amp amplifier pair Western Electric Lic - (eBay item 220144740653 end time Sep-11-07 18:10:00 PDT)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Western-Electric...QQcmdZViewItem
Western Electric filter for tube 49 pre-amp amplifiers - (eBay item 220144740661 end time Sep-11-07 18:15:00 PDT)

for the hard core -


http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-wrench-for-...QQcmdZViewItem
RARE wrench for Western Electric 555 driver horn 15 16A - (eBay item 220146327984 end time Sep-12-07 18:30:00 PDT)


http://cgi.ebay.com/Western-Electric...QQcmdZViewItem
Western Electric 555 horn driver pair NICE matched - (eBay item 220147379125 end time Sep-12-07 18:36:46 PDT)

[chopsrr]

Did you see the going prices of the Western Electric TA-7381 preamp and 555 drivers?!

And they still have 4-6 days to go!

[bfish]

It looks to be a "Backstage Horn Cutout Box" from a Vitaphone system. Amplifier output wiring from the projection booth was routed backstage first to the cutout box, then on to the receiver voice coils. The box would have provided a constant load for the remote amplifier, allowing one to service the receiver(s) backstage, even in mid-show.

From the Vitaphone manual;

"Changing Receivers"

"If a defective receiver is found by application of the various tests described in these instructions, replace it by one of the spares we furnish. Be sure to connect each wire to the same terminal on the new receiver as it was connected to on the old one. All four receiver terminals are marked for this purpose. If a receiver is connected wrongly, the quality of the sound as heard in the house will be spoilt."

"Never open receivers or attempt to repair them. Never operate a receiver without the horn, as this may damage it."

"In installations having only one horn, if this horn is provided with a receiver switching device the spare receiver may be put in use by simply moving over the throat lever. The double-throw switch located in the stage cut-out box, which controls the sound circuit to the receivers, must also be thrown to the other position so as to connect in the spare receiver."

[bfish]

This reminds me of something I've long wondered about.

Since W.E./E.R.P.I. only leased such equipment to theaters, was there ever a change in policy that allowed such equipment to be purchased by the user?

If not, there's a lot of uber-wealthy "collectors" that spent sizable portions of their uber-wealth for stolen goods...

[bfish]

From the Bell Memorial site;

"ERPI also made sound equipment for movie theaters, which it leased, rather than sold- just as the Bell System had leased out the telephone equipment Western produced. ERPI equipped 879 movie theaters in 1928, and 2,391 in 1929. By 1932, only 2 percent of open theaters in America were not wired for sound. Western Electric proved better at wiring the nations' theaters than at maintaining that customer base, however, and ERPI abandoned the motion picture theater business in 1937. The company continued to produce sound equipment for movie studios until 1956*, when as part of the consent decree it abandoned most non-telephone enterprise..."

I presume that disposition of equipment might have been addressed in the '37 consent decree, but I've never found the text for that.

*they also produced and distributed a series of ephermal films, several of which can be viewed here.