ScuzzBlog: Diaries 2018 March 03: Entry 1801: scuzzblog: Post: 1 Philips EL 3585/15 - Frozen in time This was probably a week I would prefer to forget in truth. Sadly the south coast was hit by the 'Beast from the East' which also smacked straight into the after flow of some hurricane and so we were treated with yet more abnormal weather. Evidently the coldest for this time of year on record. The upshot was that the house was enveloped in a thick layer of ice. And I mean covered. What happened is that it rained and then instantly froze all over the house. And so my windows turned into obscure glass making it impossible for me to see out. We had a deep layer of snow which lay over a solid sheet of ice. The place became inaccessible and the local village store was fast running out of supplies. Days and nights were bitterly cold and I have to say it made life quite miserable. For me, though, I always have a project so I set too cleaning the little portable tape recorder type Philips EL 3585/15. First though a bit of retro history. In 1970 I was set to go to Adventure Camp at school. I had been let down by my best school chums who decided to drop out when they saw that the school bullies were going. These guys were thugs, even then. I was so dreading going and did pray for a kinda miracle to prevent me from going. Anyway, the Sunday before I was playing football and fell on my arm breaking the thing which instantly stopped the trip. I recall that night lying in bed with a cast all the way up my arm kinda thanking the big guy for intervening but questioning whether breaking my arm was really necessary. The problem was that it was my right arm and when I returned to school I was called into the heads office and told I had to go home as they were not insured to cover pupils with busted arms. Each day for the next 8 weeks I was given daily school homework but unable to do any of it as I couldn't write. Interestingly I did become ambidextrous in the time but didn't tell the school that as I was enjoying my free time. In those days I was mad on the Apollo moon missions and the previous year man had for the first time landed on the moon and I recall sitting on my bed with the sun streaming through the window sorting out all my newspaper cuttings, when my dad burst in and gave me one of the greatest gifts I have ever received. The tiny Philips portable EL 3585. This little wonder became my closest friend during my days at home and served me so well for years to come. The year was 1970 and no internet, magazines to read. No technical manuals or anybody to talk to about how the thing worked. So all I learned was from the doing. What I discovered was if I placed a piece of paper behind the first head on the tape it did not erase what was on the tape. This meant that with a little bit of practice I could record several voices one over the other. Additionally because batteries ran out I could use a used battery which would cause the recording to go slower and when played pack would go faster. And so with my own voice I could play the part of several characters. I wrote a series of short stories and featured myself doing all the voices. Because the tape was portable I was able to go outside with the tape machine and record all kinds of sounds for the plays. I recall being lost for the sound of a car driving away. I then visited the greenhouse where there was hanging a whole load of canes. I found that by recording with an underpowered battery and hitting the canes faster and faster, the play back was very similar to a Model T Ford. Amazing really. I still have all the tapes and in truth I would love to play them again. Sadly the little machine has been sitting idle for a couple of decades. My father had the tape when I left home in 1984 and he hacked around with it. I am guessing from the oily dirt all over the machine it had been sitting in his metal working machine shed amongst all the car engines and tools. The thing was black with grime and the smell was very much of oil, the kind you drain from your cars sump. So the week was spent cleaning as best I could the grime from the little tape machine and I managed eventually to get all the moving components to actually move and do what they were supposed to. Unfortunately dad managed to snaffle a few parts from the machine so I am missing the battery cover, the microphone and a few screws. He also cut the wires to the speaker. You have to remember when looking at this tape machine it was hammered. It had already seen eight years of service before it got to me. So the Philips and been thrown about, squashed behind piles of boxes. Sat in damp oily shed and generally neglected. So the case has taken a battering. I do recall seeing the label strip from the front which may be in the loft. I have more tapes but would have to dig them out. For now though she is missing a drive belt and I believe a large rubber drive grommet. I also need to reconnect the speaker. What is so funny is that the main drive is held off a component by a white bit of card and insulating tape. Inside that card is a Rotring pen nib. Could only be me that did that as they are the trade make tool of an Architect, which I am. I could hardly see anyone else using a Rotring pen case to do such a modification. And so to the rather worn and weathered Philips EL 3585 from the inside out. Born into my world in 1970 which makes the tape machine just 48 years in my keeping, though more like 56 years old. So marvel at what was state of the art for 1962. Not bad in truth. Philips EL 3585 made in Holland in 1962 Uses 6 x 1,5 V batteries at speed - 1 7/8 Utilising 2 tracks and 4" reels Battery operated tape-recorder with EL 3755 microphone. First though my frosted glass. Frozen over by the icy weather on the south coast And yes this is actually clear glass The inside of the Philips EL 3585/15 Not just giving out the recording level but advised on battery health Two of the major drives plus the top bracket of which one is missing Head restraints with springs removed. Trying to clean this has been a mammoth task and I had to remove most items so I could get to the components Eventually I got the buttons working You cannot believe how much dirt and oily greasy grime came off the head section alone The slides and spring below the switches are a work of art The stem with the red spot is depressed to record and stays down when the middle button is pressed Note middle button and red stem depressed To release you actually pull the middle button toward you And the red stem plunger activates this sliding switch inside the tape It is so busy inside the tape machine And there is that Rotring pen case that I was discussing The speaker wires have been cut There were wires to the speaker coming out of the case and I sense dad had been using the speaker with some other electrical equipment I mean where would you start replacing transistors and capacitors Note the spring plungers to the buttons A city skyline of electrical components The microphone housing The model label of the tape recorder There was a foam cover to this circuit board which had turned into a dust blanket of brown ... stuff Generally all the wires were intact The main drive belt is missing Well actually, not missing, but broken I replaced the two springs Put the meter cover back on and fitted the volume control And then placed the innards back into the plastic outer casing Placed covers back over tape heads Note the missing label strip Also the missing battery cover and microphone. All cleaned as best I can The amount of times I stuffed a bit of paper over the head to record several voice takes. One of my plays on tape called Lonely Life... and the my signature name ' talent ' which is what I called myself in those days. Never my real name And there we have the record buttons working as intended The very badly damaged plastic top cover The right silver stem here is a dummy by the way. Does nothing Carry handle reattached The very wonderful Philips EL 3585 from 1962 My next tape machine was a Prinzsound RTR16 which was a load of junk. It really was It spent more time at Dixons repair shop than in actual use. In the end they gave me pretty well my money back and told me to go away. I don't have the cassette player which my dad probably took to pieces The ITT on the other hand is a real beauty of a machine. This is not mine as dad still has my original. I did buy another and this works just as well. I used the recorder whilst composing guitar music and it was extraordinarily efficient. I like units I could carry around and visit friends with my compositions. The ITT is classic My next recording beast was the SONY which I still have albeit sits at my sisters house. All my kit I left at home when I left in 1984 and gave to dad. Over the years it has found its way back to me. Just need to collect the reel to reel which is a heavy bit of kit There seriously has never been a better recording device than this. With the four tracks and stereo output it seriously blows your mind as to the definition I played all this through a Realistic amp Which I still have this very day and use it as a radio. First time I hooked this up a friend of mine turned up the volume and blew up my brand new GB3 speakers. Again just an incredible bit of kit that I could plug so much into. The coloured dial and the tuning stem that turns bright red when you find the station brings back happy memories of me pulling all nighters in a cold bedroom when I was at School of Architecture I also still have my 5" National Panasonic TV which I had sat on the amp in the bedroom With this I would have watched Faulty Towers Hitch-Hikers Guide and Neil Innes and the like which I recorded in sound only to the SONY No video in those days, but fortunately shows were so well written you could imagine the scenes by simply listening. I currently use the TV with a Spectrum 48K I still have all my cassette tapes from that era Mostly chart shows from Radio 1, Kenny Everett Sunday afternoon shows and Neil Innes. Plus my 4" tapes And my SONY tapes I'll mention a couple of other items that I used a lot. Whilst the telescope could just about see the craters on the moon, it was more useful for inverting the lenses. Lenses were so important to me Because with them I could make projectors and microscopes. By inserting into home made devices I was able to use home made picture slides of architectural models and project onto paper and then draw trace before drawing in and painting as art work To take pictures I used the trusty Zenith and then develop my own films and also create my own black and white slides. I used various lenses and extension pieces to create macro images of items and pictures Also by sitting the camera on the very tripod I am still using today I could set the camera to 30-X which allowed me to take pictures longer than the refresh rate off the 5" TV and photograph picture sharp images. Remember that in these days there were no computers and no videos. No internet and a very limited source of graphical information And so using any methods possible to create your own graphics helped greatly in projects Generally all my films were developed and printed by myself. Great fun. And I still have all my manuals for the kit So there you have it... More from the era before the computer. Just one thing I would add.... If you are blessed with your hands and your eyes then marvel at what you can achieve. There is so much anyone can do with just a tiny fraction of imagination. Life is about time. And this is your time, you only get the one. So if you can, you should make use of your eyes and hands to make the most of your time. I certainly have, and still do There you go ... frozen in time. But not forgotten

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Last updated 03/03/2018

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