Regina Fold-Top Music Box

The Regina Music Box Company was a music box company established in Rahway, New Jersey, 1892 by Gustave Brachhausen (Hoffmann). Brachhausen was a German engineer, working under Paul Lochmann and Ellis Parr, who had recently invented the Symphonion machine, a disc ran musical box. Brachhausen, in collaboration with another engineer, Paul Riessner, made various improvements to the Symphonion, and later left Lochmann and Parr altogether to create the Polyphon disc machine. In September of 1892, the pair left Germany to make a stake within the American market, founding the Regina Music Box Company. The company underwent a brand name change in 1902, changing the corporate title to simply The Regina Company.

The company gained traction much faster than the founders would have anticipated. After securing various American patents, the company had to begin looking for more space to expand. By 1894, the company was formally incorporated with a capital fund of

$75,000, which is worth over two million dollars today. As the business grew, workers were needed, but because of the niche field of work, approx. 60 European specialists were brought to Rahway within the first couple years of the company gaining traction (Kosiarski, “The Regina Musical Box: A History of Regina Past and Present”).

The first Regina music box was sold to William F. Hasse on October 5, 1894. The music box that is displayed within the collections was bought sometime before 1915, but the exact date is unknown. Most boxes were built with a standard top, but the box in collections is different in the sense that it has a fold over top, with two tops folding to meet in the center instead of one.

It is noted that at the turn of the century, music boxes gained popularity and the demand became large. In 1904, the United States Bureau of Census listed musical boxes as a whole second in the world of manufacturing, following the piano industry. Although the business was booming, there was economic trouble in 1901, as there was a general business recession. But this recession did not last long, and sales jumped back to normal. Brachhausen realized around that point that while he was an inventor, he was no businessman. In 1903, the company issued more stock, but there was a steady decline of sales.

Over time, the age of metal sheet discs was coming to an end, and the company put their mind to other things. There was a last ditch attempt to create a musical desk, which did give some relief to sales, but otherwise stopped selling officially in 1914. They also produced a vacuum cleaner, which was not the greatest hit they could have had, as it needed two people to operate.

As the piano industry continued to grow, the Regina Company unveiled its first piano soon after the decline of the music box industry. Over time, it became clear that the only way for the business to stay afloat was through diversification. In the 1910s, the company began to sell printing presses, and soon after made an attempt to break into the phonograph business. They also made musical gambling machines and a hall clock during this time. Brachhausen sold out of the company for approx. one million dollars in 1915, and in the following years lost all of his money and ended in a divorce with his wife. He returned to work at Regina in 1919, but as a bench worker, making dice and other tools. That was the last year a Regina music box was manufactured.

In 1924, the company was bankrupt and taken over by a new management team. It slowly began to regain some traction by selling floor polish and scrubbers, and eventually made the first stick type vacuum. In 1940, the company bought out the

Smooth Cut Can Opener Company, and began to expand even more. As World War II broke out, the Regina Company converted completely to war production, and was the first to do so in the New York Ordinance District. The company still grew, outgrowing the original factory. It moved to a new site in 1957, and expanded more over the next years, continuing its line of floor care appliances (Kosiarski, “The Regina Musical Box: A History of Regina Past and Present — Part 2”).

The company did later go bankrupt, and was bought out by Phillips Electronics in 1995. The Royal Corporation took over the company in 2000, and began to repackage the brand and their vacuums under the Home Depot brand.

Bibliography

Hoffmann, Frank. Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound. New York ; London, Routledge, 2005.

Kosiarski, Mary. “The Regina Musical Box: A History of Regina Past and Present.” The Music Box: An International Magazine of Mechanical Music, 1975.

—. “The Regina Musical Box: A History of Regina Past and Present — Part 2.” The Music Box: An International Magazine of Mechanical Music, 1975.