Eliyahu Shahar writes about his 15.5" Regina:

> My problem is that the coin-op parts were disassembled and
> I am not sure how to reassemble them.

Dear Eliyahu:  I recently restored an early 15.5" coin-op Regina
table-top disc musical box.  While the coin slot was there, the
original coin-drop mechanism was missing, so I had to make one.

I scoured the musical box literature, but found nothing useful about
coin-operating mechanisms.  I observed and photographed several 15.5"
coin-op Reginas and obtained diagrams from a professional restorer
and also a fellow collector.  Unfortunately, there are sufficient
differences in the design of the Regina musical boxes that none of the
observed coin mechanisms would work in my musical box.  As a result,
I designed my own.

This is the way it works.  There is a large cam that rotates once for
each one revolution of the disc.  This is located on the inside of the
motor works.  A slot (indentation) in the rim of the cam allows the
start and stop functions - a penny (or other coin) weighs the coin dish
down sufficiently to raise the stop lever out of this slot so that the
spring motor can drive the gear forward.  A long spring will hold the
lever in the cam slot without the weight of the coin.

At about the middle of the tune, the pin in the cam (the one that is
perpendicular to the cam face) pushes lever as it goes round, that
tips the coin dish to one side (either side will do as long as the coin
drops through the hole in the bottom of the music box case into the
coin drawer).  When it has pushed far enough, the coin drops out of
the coin dish and the dish rights itself - a smaller spring makes this
possible (see pictures).  The small spring may need to be adjusted so
that it will allow the coin to stay in the coin dish without tipping
out until the tipping function does so halfway through the tune.

Coin-drop mechanisms have either one or two steel pins in the assembly
that drive the large cam around by a toothed gear that is parallel with
the cam.  If there are two pins, then the musical box will play one
tune per coin.  If there is only one pin, then the cam is effectively
turned at half-speed and the musical box will play two times around for
each coin.  This is a permanent adjustment (or at least must be done in
a shop).

There are other coin mechanisms that are adjustable using an external
lever.  These can then be set by the proprietor of the establishment
where the musical box is placed when he wants to run a 'special' to
promote business.

Attached is are some pictures that show the result.  I hope you will
find this useful.

Best of luck with your restoration project.

Musically yours,

Bill Wineburgh
http://members.aol.com/WWineburgh/

 [ Nice work, Bill.  I'll place the article and photos at the
 [ MMD Tech site, http://mmd.foxtail.com/Tech/  -- Robbie