Hi to all,  I just took a look at John A. Tuttle's pictures of the
Romano coin-operated barrel orchestrion at the MMD Pictures gallery.
[ Ref. "Coin-Operated Barrel Orchestrion by Romano", MMD 010806]
I think in Belgium we'd rather call the instrument a "tingel-tangel"!

Since I couldn't find the names Romano or Bruylandt in Bowers'
Encyclopedia, I thought it might be useful to provide some more
information.  Please note: most of this information comes from two
books that are out of print:

- S. GODFROID, Muziekinstrumentenbouw te Geraardsbergen van de 15de
eeuw tot heden, Geraardsbergen, 1986

- S. GODFROID, Bouwers van automatofonen in Vlaanderen.  Proeve van
catalogus, in: Volksmuziekatelier, Jaarboek V, Provinciaal Trefcentrum
Baljuwhuis Galmaarden, 1987

First something about Romano.  We are dealing here with Charles Romano,
whose business was quite successful between 1901 and 1914.  The man
worked in the region of Brussels as a builder of a variety of
mechanical music instruments, but only some mechanical pianos and
barrel orchestrions have been preserved.

Note: this Charles Romano is not to be confused with Salvator Romano,
who is the Romano in "Romano-Belotti", a more well-known builder of
mechanical music instruments.

The barrel pianos of Charles Romano aren't very rare, but his
orchestrions are not to be found that often.

About Theodorus Bruylandt, we know more.  He lived from 1874 till 1937
at Geraardsbergen (Grammont).  He married a member of the Hooghuys
family in 1897 and first worked as a furniture manufacturer.  Theodorus
Bruylandt worked for some time at the Hooghuys factory, and the
Bruylandt family even lived for some time at the house of Hooghuys.

Until recently this was doubtful, but in the Hooghuys organ of Bill
Nunn (LH620) there is a signature by Th. Bruylandt (well, it is not
really a signature, rather a reaction against the First World War).
It says (in Dutch, translated):

  18th August 1914 war of Europe
  Th. Bruylandt Grammont
  Belgium France England against Prussia
  The German barbarians will be beaten
  Hurray for Belgium

In 1920, Bruylandt again works as furniture manufacturer, but in 1930,
he works at the Adamstraat 30, where he works as an organ builder.  But
as for today, no traces of mechanical instruments built by Bruylandt
himself have been found.  Probably, he only sold mechanical music
instruments from other manufacturers such as Romano.  (In a private
collection in Geraarsbergen there is also a mechanical piano built by
Charles Romano with a barrel by Bruylandt,)  Bruylandt also arranged
barrels, although also other arrangers as Edgard Hooghuys and Joseph
Tullio worked for him.

Now, for the name on the barrel of Mr. Anzano's "tingel-tangel":
I guess it reads "Th. Bruylandt en zonen" (probably not Bruylandi),
which means "Th. Bruylandt and sons".

It happens that Theodorus also had two sons, Emile (1902-1940) and
Edouard Joseph (1906-1979), who worked with their father until his
death in 1937.  After Theorodus' death, Emile continued to work in
the mechanical music industry (although neither he or Edouard Joseph
probably ever built any instruments themselves), but Edouard Joseph
went into other businesses.  A card of Emile Bruylandt from 1938 tells
us that he also manufactured 'powdering machines' used for cigars and
cigarillos.  Emile started producing these because the mechanical music
industry in Belgium was having hard times.  (The sons of Emile also
worked in the music industry for some time, although one of them
started a shop for picture and painting frames.)

So, I hope this was a bit useful !

Musically yours,

Bjorn Isebaert
Hofstraat 56, 9000 Gent, Belgium
http://members.tripod.com/bisebaer/