Bernard “Barney” Walberg was born in Sweden in 1877, coming to Worcester MA with his parents as a child. He was a professional musician before buying a half-interest in Taylor & Auge from A. L. Auge, the single remaining owner of that firm. Taylor & Auge were dealers and repairers of musical instruments; the manufacturing of instruments began when Walberg became involved in 1903 (1). After Auge passed away in 1910, Walberg continued with the name of Walberg & Auge. This drum is ca. 1920-1930.
Walberg’s company was an important innovator of drum set hardware, and made parts for virtually all the American drum manufacturers in addition to its own drums. As Harry Cangany says, “Walberg & Auge is probably the biggest unknown name in the history of 20th-century American percussion” (2). Just a few of Walberg's patents:
(1)Nutt, Charles. History of Worcester and Its People, Vol. 4
Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1919, p. 677
(2)Cangany, Harry. The Great American Drums and the Companies That Made Them, 1920-1969. Modern Drummer Publications Inc., 1996
Blog: https://jazzriffing.blogspot.com/2013/03/world-renowned-walbergs-of-worcester.html This blog has a great deal of information that I have not verified with other sources, including that Taylor and Auge may have been workers with the drum maker Isaac Fiske’s business (ca. 1860), before Fiske sold to C G Conn in 1887.
You can see a rope tension Walberg and Auge drum with hooks here https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_606949
