I have written some observations about the Ragtime Automated Music
(R.A.M.) player system in the MMD Archives, if one cares to look.

I still maintain that the basic idea is a good one, however, a major
design change is in order.  The striker units are so small, and there
are airflow problems, especially when the pneumatics are expected to
work on such a long tubing run.  There is nothing wrong with using
plastic as a base material if designed properly.  Also, a poppet rail
should be installed on these units.

For a "one size fits all" design, the inverted Baldwin type pneumatic
that "plays" the sticker would give far less regulation problems.

I have always thought it would be an big improvement to duplicate the
old Baldwin three-tier stack design in plastic, using fiber tubes to
connect the units together, similar to a old Simplex wind motor.  The
pneumatics rows could be made in "fours", "threes", "fives" and "twos"
to prevent so many connections, and using the different combinations,
it could fit any piano scale.  The fiber tubing connects the units
together, with spacer blocks with locating pins (similar to building
blocks) complete with cork-rubber or leather gaskets.  Four threaded
rods with wing nuts per tier cast into the perimeter of the valve
blocks to tightly hold the tier together.

The plastic valve boards cast in such a way, that the valve and pouch
boards are reversible, by taking it apart and reversing the valve and
pouch boards.  That way the installer could have the tracker input on
either side of the stack, depending if it is to be used as a pedal
player or coin piano.

Or the whole affair could be made of wood, and the tier sections hot-
glued together to scale it to the piano.  This would not interfere with
rebuilding the stack at a later date.  Conversely, a Baldwin type stack
could be built with valves all the way across, and the unused valves at
the breaks could either be ignored, or used for other things.

Just an idea.

Andy Taylor