Sidewalks of New York 1895 Berliner Record

[WDC]

That's exactly what I was thinking too, Sean. However, I honestly doubt that it was really necessary, even with the shiny blank B-sides.

[phonogfp]

Yes, the pin was meant to prevent slipping, but I too wonder why this was thought necessary. Perhaps the original owners were changing the needle every 200 plays... There must have been some reason for the increased needle friction!

George P.

[Starkton]

I checked the instructions for setting up the "Grand Opera" Zon-o-phone: The "stop pin" should "hold" the record "firmly".

This was a simple method to economize the record hold down.

[stachowiak]

"Wasn't there a company (busy bee?) that had a second spindle out from the centre. I can only guess it was drilled to fit the turntable?
You'd think it would be easier to file the lug off the turntable."


Yes, it was busy bee, but it really wasn't a spindle that was out from the center. It was more of a rectangular shape with rounded corners.

Here is a picture of my Busy Bee Grand and a Busy Bee record. It's sitting on my Atwater Kent Kiel table radio.

[MordEth]

Here is a picture of my Busy Bee Grand and a Busy Bee record. It's sitting on my Atwater Kent Kiel table radio.

Stachowiak,

Thanks for sharing those—I cannot say that I’d seen one of these before. Did anyone else make records for these machines (I’m guessing not)?

I’d love to see a head-on closeup of the Busy Bee Grand decal, if you wouldn’t mind photographing it—I think it’d make a great addition to the logo transparencies thread. You might also consider listing this machine as a future featured phonograph.

Were there many of these made?

— MordEth

[stachowiak]

Here is a picture of my Busy Bee Grand and a Busy Bee record. It's sitting on my Atwater Kent Kiel table radio.

Stachowiak,

Thanks for sharing those—I cannot say that I’d seen one of these before. Did anyone else make records for these machines (I’m guessing not)?

I’d love to see a head-on closeup of the Busy Bee Grand decal, if you wouldn’t mind photographing it—I think it’d make a great addition to the logo transparencies thread. You might also consider listing this machine as a future featured phonograph.

Were there many of these made?

— MordEth

I picked this up about 15 years ago at the Rochester, NY Antique Wireless Association annual conference flea market. I think I paid about $300 for it. I don't know how many were made or how rare it might be. It is all original except for the reproduction reproducer. I 'm not sure if the finish is original, and the decal is not perfectly centered on the cabinet. It may have been made that way. I think that anyone that would have replaced the decal would have centered it better. I believe the reason for the slug was to prevent it from playing anything but a Busy Bee record. Perhaps this was a way of avoiding royalty payments. I'm told that most machines had the slug chiseled off, so it's amazing that this one survived. I got a good picture of the Busy Bee decal today. What format would you like me to send the file in? I have it in iPhoto and can export it in several formats.

Dick Stachowiak
East Syracuse, NY

[MordEth]

I got a good picture of the Busy Bee decal today. What format would you like me to send the file in? I have it in iPhoto and can export it in several formats.

Dick,

Nice, thanks. I prefer to work with the original if possible, which you can post to this thread if you’d like (the upload feature below the input field where you compose your messages) or attach to an e-mail (mordeth@bitbucket.be). You don’t need to worry about flooding my inbox.

It might also be interesting to start a thread of decals, if anyone has an interesting or favorite decal they’d like to share—when I have time and motivation I’d be interested in cutting these out for avatars, etc.

— MordEth

[stachowiak]

I got a good picture of the Busy Bee decal today. What format would you like me to send the file in? I have it in iPhoto and can export it in several formats.

Dick,

Nice, thanks. I prefer to work with the original if possible, which you can post to this thread if you’d like (the upload feature below the input field where you compose your messages) or attach to an e-mail (mordeth@bitbucket.be). You don’t need to worry about flooding my inbox.

It might also be interesting to start a thread of decals, if anyone has an interesting or favorite decal they’d like to share—when I have time and motivation I’d be interested in cutting these out for avatars, etc.

— MordEth