Barrel Melodeon

Instead of having a keyboard played by a musician, this instrument has musical notes encoded by an arrangement of pints on a wooden barrel or cylinder. When a person turns the hand crank, bellows are pumped to provide air to the instrument, and the cylinder is rotated engaging the mechanism. The encoded music sends air to sound freed reeds, like those found in melodeons, accordions, and harmonicas to create sound.




Technical description: black walnut case raised on four short blocks; case cubic but with top front edge beveled and covered with hinged glass panel; rear part of top also hinged to open toward the back; case exterior decorated with gold-colored designs; crank handle protrudes from front left below glass panel; within case, a gear mechanism operated by the crank rotates a pinned wood cylinder and simultaneously pumps bellows in bottom half of case; cylinder pins engage row of 20 pivoted tabs that cover openings over free reeds; the brass reeds, identical to those used in melodeons, are mounted in two rows in a wood block within the windchest; cylinder pinned with one tune, "Boccaccio Racket"; other interchangeable cylinders now missing; printed operating instructions glued to end of cylinder and under rear hinged lid panel.