Automatic Musical Instruments

The Link coin-operated piano at the Roberson Museum, a style R, was originally used in a hospital annex in Rhode Island in the 1920's, according to a sign affixed to the front part of the instrument. It was purchased many years later by local mechanical music enthusiast Harvey Roehl and added to his collection of automatic musical instruments in Vestal, N.Y. He eventually loaned the piano for permanent display at the Roberson Museum and Science Center. The instrument has beautiful art glass panels and hanging art glass lamps on the front, typical of these types of instruments. It contains, in addition to the piano, a "mandolin attachment" (a device dropped between the piano hammers and the strings to create a "honky-tonk" piano sound) and a rank of organ pipes to imitate a flute. The instrument uses a perforated paper roll, much like a player piano roll, but in the "endless roll format". This rather unusual roll system eliminated the need for rewinding, since in most coin pianos the roll was wound between two spools.

The band organs on the Ross Park and Recreation Park carousels were built by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company of North Tonawanda, N.Y. in the 1920's. The Wurlitzer company was well known in its day for the manufacture of theater organs (they were the leader in this field), band organs, coin pianos and orchestrions (or "nickelodeons" as they are sometimes called today), and other related instruments, and was later famous for the manufacture of jukeboxes. Wurlitzer manufactured band organs from 1909 to about 1939. The Recreation Park band organ, style 146-B, has a "duplex roll system ", in which the organ contains two multi-tune paper rolls. When one roll finishes playing all the tunes on it and starts rewinding, the other roll starts right up, eliminating a pause in the playing. In addition to the pipes (meant to imitate violins, trombones, trumpets, etc.) it also contains a glockenspiel, or bell bars, in addition to bass and snare drums, and cymbal. The Ross Park band organ, a style 146-A, just has a single roll mechanism. It just has the pipes and bass and snare drums and cymbal. Both organs provide the needed ballyhoo to make a carousel ride memorable and enjoyable!