Eumig T5-575 tape recorder

[Count Moriarty]

Hello Folks

Hope this finds you all well - sticking my head above the parapet after a very long absence.

After about 25 years of searching, I've recently acquired a Eumig T5 battery operated tape recorder. It's a device built circa 1962 that uses a proprietary cassette of quarter inch tape and can be connected to several or the Eumig 8mm cine cameras of the period to record synchronised sound.

Sadly several rubber drive parts, fortunately not including the pinch roller, have turned to nasty black goo. I've therefore got some work ahead of me!

I was wondering if anyone might have any information whatsover on this machine - operating manual or service manual? It seems to be rather an uncommon machine and I've thus far unearthed no useful information whatsoever.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Best regards,
Jim

[pecbtandberg]

Jim, I've got a vague recollection of this machine or one similiar to it. About 1989 I was in a shop that dealt with good secondhand hi-fi gear. I remember the owner showing me a deck like you describe. His story was something on the lines of that there was a bit of fight going on as to which cassette tape system was to be used/adopted. A bit like the old betamax and vhs one. He said that this one was far superior at the time, as it used standard 1/4 inch tape running at 3 3/4 ips. He said it was something connected to BASF as I recall. That may be a path to search. Philips won the day as we know. The smaller cassette was the attraction, never mind the quality at the time.

Peter (Buxton UK)

[ben]

post some photos of the machine and tapes.

[ricard]

Radiomuseum.org has a page on this machine

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/eumig_t5_575t557.html

including schematics and pictures of the cassette. Also, in a German forum there's a scan from a catalogue page and some further information:

http://forum2.magnetofon.de/showtopic.php?threadid=9576

According to that thread, the machine was completely made by Eumig and predated the Philips Compact Cassette (another page mentioned the year 1962, making it not too far ahead of Philips who launched their system in 1963), furthermore, only a couple of hundred were made. The catalogue page among other things mentions that the cassettes used 1/4" tape, ran at 3 3/4 ips and had a playing time of 10 minutes. It also mentions that the track arrangement was according to 'international standard', meaning the top half of the tape (when the oxide is facing in). I wonder why this was important, unless there was a way to play the tape in an ordinary tape recorder.

This page:

http://www.technikantik.at/Navigation/FOTO/foto.html

mentions that the camera started the tape recorder, but that it had to be stopped manually during recording so as not to chop off the sound. The recorder was intended for use with the Eumig C5 and C6 cameras.

[Count Moriarty]

Thanks very much for the input, some interesting stuff there - particularly the asking price on the latter of the websites Good spot, Ricard, it's a C6 camera that I'm intending to use the machine with once it's convalescent. Incidentally the simpler S2 and S3 cameras have the tape connection in addition to the C5 and C6.

It hadn't occurred to me, but yes, the cassette is wound "oxide in" as per convention. The whole cassette business is actually what's thrown me about how the machine operates. Usage with a camera is clear enough. For reproducing the sound you recorded with your film, however, it's obvious that there would need to be some means of synchronising the T5 with a projector. Eumig did make a tape sync projector, the P8 Phonomatic, which I've seen cited as part of this sound system, but this requires drawing off a long loop of tape from a conventional reel-to-reel to operate the synchroniser, a function for which the T5 is ill-equipped.

I will certainly try to get some photos posted over the weekend. I love these little mysteries, particularly the process of solving them!

Thanks once again,
Jim

[ben]

Never seen one of those before. Looks a bit like the sort of thing Grundig attempted with some of their dictation equipment.

[Count Moriarty]

Well, here as promised are some pictures of the instrument in question! The machine itself, the cassette, and the outfit complete with C6 camera.

The only missing component of the outfit is the synchronisation lead, but that's only a 2 pin plug so should be easily made up.

You can clearly see the evidence of the dreaded melted rubber on the driving wheels of the cassette!

Best regards
Jim

[ricard]

Nice pictures. It looks as if inserting the cassette involves a bit of threading to get the tape around the head block? I.e. not just popping it in as one would with a Compact Cassette.

[TIMTAPE]

Yes Ricard, reminds me of the Philips dictation cassette (pictured) from the late 50's/early 60's. It also used standard 1/4" tape with standard reels, so you didnt strictly need to use the cassette housing. Loading the cassette so that the tape went cleanly into the slot tended to be a bit hit and miss.

I remember this model with fondness. When I was a small boy my father would bring one of these home from the office on weekends and I was "fully employed" for the next two days making recordings of all sorts of things with it.

Cheers Tim

[ricard]

Getting away from the subject here, but I remember another Philips dictating machine with a cartridge that just held one reel. There was a little plastic bit attached to the end of the tape, and when you put the cartridge in the machine, some sort of fork pulled the tape out of the cartridge (automatically), along the heads, and mated with an empty cartridge (as I recall) at the other side of the head block. Must have been some 1960's machine, the styling was more square than Tim's picture above.

[TIMTAPE]

Ricard,

Yes, they were the LFH0082 and 0084 models. They used cassette width tape. I used to service them when I worked for with the local Philips dictation agent, although by then (early to mid 1980's) they had been almost completely superceded by the minicassette format.

Curiously, these machines had a capstan shaft and pinch roller, unlike the previous 1/4" format and the minicassette which superceded them.

I have a complete and working machine.

Cheers Tim