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Notes on Auto-coupled 78rpm sets   


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  13th Jul 2017, 12:48 AM#1  REPORT  
scrough

No picture 'cos I'm not into 45rpm :(
Member since Jan 2013
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I've just updated the release date for a 78rpm auto-coupled set. It had been entered as 1951, but was actually released in Jan 1938, which is the biggest error I've discovered so far :grin:.

I've recently done some background research on auto-coupling relating to HMV, so here are some notes. Might help in pub quizzes?

HMV released their Automatic Gramophone No. 1 in 1928. It could play two to twenty records, and both 10" and 12" mixed. Auto-coupled sets were first announced by HMV in their December 1928 supplement, available from the first of that month.

In 1931 HMV introduced their Model 522 gramophone which handled only eight records, and in October 1933 (by then combined with Columbia as EMI) announced that all future auto-coupled releases would be configured for eight record auto-changers. The auto-coupled sets already issued were re-issued for eight record couplings using new numbers where necessary, which explains why you'll sometimes find two different releases of the same auto-coupled recording. For example, the HMV C series sets in the ranges C 7000-7153 and C7159-7192 were re-released from C 7262 upwards. HMV used 7000+ numbers for auto-coupled sets in all their UK series,whereas Columbia tended to use 8000+ numbers.

Many sets were issued simultaneously in both auto and standard coupling, so you can often determine the release date of an auto-coupled set if you can find the more commonly listed numbers of the standard coupling set.

So if you are searching for an HMV/Columbia UK auto-coupled release date without success, send me a PM and I'll try to help.

Edited by scrough on 13th Jul 2017, 1:12 AM

  20th Jul 2017, 12:04 AM#2  REPORT  
Pridesale

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  22nd Jan 2023, 6:09 PM#3  REPORT  
scrough

No picture 'cos I'm not into 45rpm :(
Member since Jan 2013
3425 Points
Moderator
Peter Adamson has recently published an article in the CLPGS 'For The Record' magazine No 84 for Winter 2022 which gives us a means to identify many of the earliest auto-couplings and seperate them from later ones. Thanks Peter!!

The first versions of the Automatic Gramophone mentioned picked up a record from a 'bin' on the left, placed it on the turntable, and after playing it, turned it over before placing it in a bin on the right. This means that the coupling order (which I'll refer to as 'flip coupling') was different to the autochanger order ('drop coupling') we are very familiar with, where the first record of a set contains the first and last sides to be played.

In 'flip-coupled' sets, the first record would contain the first side and the side to be played half way through the piece, so for example a three record set would have the sides coupled thus:
Record 1: Side 1, Side 4.
Record 2: Side 2, Side 5.
Record 3: Side 3, Side 6.

For three record 'drop-coupled' sets, the side order is:
Record 1: Side 1, Side 6.
Record 2: Side 2, Side 5.
Record 3: Side 3, Side 4.

Another string to our auto-change bow :read:

Edited by scrough on 8th Jun 2023, 8:22 PM

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