S q u e e z y t u n e s: Mechanical Instruments

Seybold Hohner Magic Organa

That last post didn't turn out how I wanted. Hopefully this will be better.

This is a Seybold Hohner Magic Organa which is currently on Ebay.

It looks like an accordion, but in fact it's a kind of a music box as this video demonstrates.

Here's a pic of one of the paper rolls which contains the tunes.

Link: Incomplete Hohner Organa on Ebay

January 27, 2010 in Accordions, Mechanical Instruments | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tags: accordion, ebay

Vintage Steam Organ

Vintage Steam Organ, originally uploaded by Robins Album.

I couldn't resist the colours of this photo of a steam organ from flickr user Robins Album.

January 03, 2009 in Mechanical Instruments | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Compare this with the Smart Car I featured yesterday. This is a 1938 Ford Truck with a circa 1920 National Calliope Model B 955 fitted in the back. The calliope plays manually or automatically with paper rolls. The truck is decorated with rounding boards from a carousel dated about 1895 giving this a true element of the fairground.

October 15, 2007 in Mechanical Instruments | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Orpheus Music Box

This is an Orpheus Music Box, or mechanical zither. As you might imagine you turn the crank which rotates the disk and so produces music. Apparently these were made in Germany from the 1880s and are quite rare. This one attracted lots of bids on Ebay and eventually sold for US $3,200 (£1,628).

clipped from cgi.ebay.co.uk

June 10, 2007 in Mechanical Instruments | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Hicks Salon Barrel Piano

This mighty beast is a Joseph Hicks 41-key salon barrel piano made in London in the first half of the 19th century. In an impressive rosewood cabinet containing an extra 10-tune barrel. The Hicks family made barrel pianos and organs in several shops in England (notably Bristol); they even had a branch of the family in New York City. Their output was primarily street instruments used by buskers in England and the United States. This rare exception was built for home use. It was on Ebay with a starting bid of £3,200 US but failed to attract any bidders.