U-S Banner



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.


The U-S Phonograph Company (the dash is supposed to be between the letters, the company didn't spell it US) was an independent company based in Cleveland, Ohio. U-S is best known as a manufacturer of celluloid records, but it did sell internal and outside horn phonographs of its own design. Of the outside horn series, the U-S Banner was the lowest in price, followed by the U-S Royal and then the U-S Opera. The U-S machines employed a design unlike any other, including a "flex arm" in lieu of a typical tone arm, parallel two and four minute feed screws, and shifting parallel two and four minute reproducers. The U-S Banner machine depicted below dates to around 1909. Examples have appeared with a Lakeside decal rather than the U-S shield, illustrating the relationship between U-S and Montgomery Ward. All U-S machines are fairly scarce, and very few are found in working condition. The reproducer assembly, a pot metal casting, swells and cracks with age. For further history of U-S see our article The U-S Everlasting Story.

U-S banner, front, horn
This black horn is the proper horn. The small end terminates in an opening quite a bit larger than standard Victor or Columbia, and clips into a heavy elbow. Larger image		 U-S Banner upperworks
The oval box that is part of the carriage assembly houses two separate reproducers. Larger image
Detail view upperworks
Details of the upperworks. Larger image		 flex arm
This alien looking contraption is the flex arm. (Images courtesy Kevin Boerma) Larger image