[DogfaceNobody]

Hello Everyone.

I have a rare vintage 1960s toy that is sound activated. I did not know they even had analog technology like that in the 60s for the toy market.

It is made by Poynter Products and is called Charm the Cobra.

How it works is when you blow on the toy flute that comes with it, it supposed to activate the motor and the cobra rises up out of his basket. When you stop, he goes back down. I have the motor working. By connecting the battery directly to the motor, I can get the cobra to rise or go back down depending on the polarity.

My quandary is getting the motor to activate by using the flute as it is supposed to do. I am not sure how the sound activation works, but all of the parts appear to be there. It looks to maybe work on the same principle as an Edison recorder. I do see a resistor on the side of what appears to be part of the sound activation device, but it is pre-digital age. I attached some photos if it helps. The cylinder in the photos on the left side of the device has what resembles a tiny thin metal disk with an armature which kind of reminds one of a small record player. This is why I thought it may work like an old-timey Edison recorder by the small arm coming into contact with the disk, but that is a guess.

Does anyone out there know if it would be possible to fix this and get it running the way it supposed to?. Is there anyone out there in this big world that would have a clue on how to get it fixed?.
Truthfully, it seems a little incomprehensible how this little squeaky flute could activate the motor and cause the snake to rise, but that is what it is supposed to do.