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I have been thumbing through my old Sears catalogs looking at Columbia cylinder Graphophones. Of particular interest are the late B series, ie: BK, BE, BF, etc. In the advertisements, these machines came with a 14" brass horn. In all my years of collecting these machines, I never saw one in the flesh. I have some questions about these horns. Were these horns made out of a lightweight brass? I know a regular brass horn for an Edison, is much to heavy for the Columbia carriage. That's the reason why the aluminum horns were made. If anyone knows and can shed some light, I would appreciate it.
Harvey Kravitz
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The Columbia B series machines featured a substantial reproducer carriage, which was able to bear more weight than the earlier floating reproducer mounts (many of which used potmetal, making the aluminum horns necessary).

Bill

Thanks for the info. What does a Columbia brass horn looks like? I'm interested to see what they look like.
Harvey Kravitz

A Google search brought up a number of images similar to the following two... I think one might be more accurate than the other (if that is an original horn).

I have seen that 14" horn many times, It is a repro. The ones I have seen in the old Sears catalogs have the same shape and profile as the aluminum horns.
Harvey Kravitz

Harvey, since you have three aluminum Columbia horns, just take one and paint it gold...

My BF has a brass horn, but it's nickel plated. Has letters and numbers stamped upon the neck.

If you are able to send a picture, That will be great.
Harvey Kravitz

Panatropia wrote:My BF has a brass horn, but it's nickel plated. Has letters and numbers stamped upon the neck.

Phonofreak wrote:If you are able to send a picture, That will be great.
Harvey Kravitz

Panatropia wrote:My BF has a brass horn, but it's nickel plated. Has letters and numbers stamped upon the neck.

I'll take some tomorrow morning.

Here's the horn that came with my BF. While the bell is brass, the cone is steel. Stamped upon the neck ferrule and barely visible is "standard".