COLIBRI Gramophone

The rare Belgian made "Colibri" gramophone was the smallest of all the miniature portable gramophones that were popular in the 1920s. It will play a full sized 78 but packs away into an all-metal ultra-portable case. The motor, the sound box and all internal mechanisms were manufactured in Switzerland by Sainte-Croix for the Belgian designer. The Colibri has an ingenious design in which all the components fit snugly inside the lid and when assembled the gramophone will play a 10" record by clamping the disc onto the tiny 3cm turntable. Operating: There is a small spring-loaded door on the side that opens to the inside of the box and is clipped by a button spring dish. The box, once mounted, is a sounding board. This door acts as the horn mouth. The unit turn arm compresses to fold away. Because the arm tube tapers, it easily telescopes outwards to its full length. The needle has to be placed in the correct position on the record's playing surface, in order to trace an arc across it and so the arm needs to be a certain length to achieve this. In a player of this small size, there is no acoustic horn and so the sound travels through the arm and emerges from the sound-outlet cavity on the side of the unit