Rubes Brass Car Horn

Vocarola cousin

This one is on an antique car in the North Carolina Transportation Museum, "Spencer Shops".

This one I just got from an antique dealer in North Dakota.

I'm going to try and restore it.

More "before" photos below.   Wish me luck...

In 1922 about the time that Westinghouse was introduction their Radiola RC and RA/DA for RCA, they were concerned that they didn't have a horn speaker to sell with them. Frank Conrad who was Westinghouses' chief engineer noticed the horn on acar that belonged to one of the other engineer's and thought that if it would project the horn sound maybe it would do the same for the sound from a speaker driver. He "borrowed" the car's horn and mounted a headphone ear piece onto it. It worked so good the Vocarola was born.

I don't know if Rubes the company that made the car horn made the Vocarolas for Westinghouse or not, but there sure is a lot of family resemblance.

Some Vocarola history