Disc Busy Bee Grand (Hawthorne and Sheble)



This article is part of the ANTIQUE PHONOGRAPH, GRAMOPHONE AND TALKING MACHINE IDENTIFICATION GUIDES.
SEE ALSO: Our listings of outside horn talking machines for sale.


Sold beginning around 1906 by the O'Neill-James company of Chicago, the Busy Bee disc was another machine of Hawthorne and Sheble manufacture. An extra projection on the turntable was intended to lock to purchaser into Busy Bee brand records. A cylinder Busy Bee machine, a modified version of a Columbia Q, was also distributed by the O'Neill-James company.

Hawthorne and Sheble Busy Bee
Hawthorne and Sheble Busy Bee Grand. Larger image		Busy Bee horn and support arm
The Busy Bee models were not equipped with a tone arm. A bracket fastened to the underside of the horn balances the horn precariously on an oversize support arm. Larger image
Busy Bee front view
The speed control and on/off switch. Larger image		Busy Bee reproducer
Note the unusual reproducer with aluminum diaphragm. The tip of the horn comes to a 5/8 inch opening, just like a cylinder phonograph horn. The tip is wedged into the special Busy Bee reproducer. Larger image
Busy Bee motor
It would be impossible to mistake the motor for anything other than Hawthorne and Sheble origin. Larger image