[ Ref 021207 MMDigest, "Mystery nickelodeon", by Rich Allen ]

Dear Sir and MMD,  I think that I can guess the original maker of
your orchestrion/nickelodeon.  The tracker bar, spoolbox, motor, piano,
pump, and flywheel, not to mention the piano, seem to tell that this
was originally a Western Electric "Derby" cabinet piano.

Robbie's guess was half right; Western Electric was a secret
subsidiary of the J.P. Seeburg Piano Co. of Chicago.  Apparently,
Seeburg instruments sold so well that they formed the additional
company to provide competition for their dealers!

The "Derby" racehorse piano was designed to be a legal gambling
device (yes, there is such a thing!), by having a panorama at the top
case level with small wooden race horses mounted in a circle, and a
"winner" post, shaped like an upside-down "U" and straddling the track.

When a coin was inserted, the piano would start to play, and the
racehorses would spin around the track.  About 30 seconds into the
tune, the horses would be disengaged from the motor (I'm not exactly
sure how this works) and they would continue spinning on their own
momentum.  They gradually slowed down, and whichever horse stopped
under the "winner" post won.  Each horse had a number painted on it,
and this was how you determined the winner.  Since there was no payout
slot and no money wasted, and since the piano played you a tune whether
your horse won or not, it was perfectly legal, and bets could be made
on anything from money to beer.

The tracker bar is probably original: it has six-holes-per-inch
spacing, and the control holes are enlarged as though it was originally
designed to play "A" rolls.  The pump flywheel has small round holes in
the edges as in a Western Electric, and the pump and reservoir seem to
be Western Electric.

Looking at the photo of the back of the case, it seems that the person
who built this monstrosity simply cut, carved, and assembled the pretty
casework, then removed the lid, front doors, and glass of a regular
racehorse piano, removed the horse diorama and mechanism, and screwed
the case extension and extra cabinet work to the original cabinet.
Then, they seemingly veneered it so the seam between original and
extension was invisible on the sides and front.  The cabinetmaker was
quite clever, as the statues, plinths, and molding on the case seem
reminiscent of the Seeburg H orchestrion.

Going back to the mechanism, the 54-note piano is a dead giveaway.  As
far as I know, only Seeburg, Western Electric, and maybe Nelson-Wiggen
used this particular number of notes.  It is found in the Seeburg "L",
late model "C"(with xylophone), The Western Electric "C", and the
Western Electric "Derby", as well as the Seeburg "Grayhound", a related
model.

The main reason I think that it is a "Derby" and not the Western
Electric model "C" (which had the same musical mechanism, but without
the horse race diorama), is the location of the roll frame.  In the
"C", it is located in the top section of the instrument, behind the
hammers; in the "Derby", it is somehow squeezed into the lower section,
along with the pump and motor.

As far as extra instruments, they were obviously added on, and the
instrument probably converted to "G" rolls, which is what I am assuming
it now plays.

I am interested as to where the person got the accordion (which appears
to be a toy) and the drums, which are natural wood and don't appear to
be modern drumset drums.  The drum beaters and pneumatic action to
drive them are homemade, and although the bass drum and cymbal beaters
are fairly typical, the snare drum beaters are not.  I wonder how they
work; maybe like the complex Wurlitzer band organ beaters.

The pneumatic mechanism that plays the accordion is not visible in any
of the photos, as it is covered up by the accordion itself, so I cannot
guess how it is made.  The conversion was well done, using wood valves
and even providing a separate reservoir for the accordion.

The only bad part is the misleading "Wurlitzer" name tag which has
absolutely nothing to do with the actual maker of the instrument.  As
to the clever person who converted a plain cabinet piano into this tall
orchestrion, I have absolutely no clue.  Maybe someone else will know
that.

I would be interested to learn if this thing still plays, and if so,
how well.  Perhaps Mr. Allen can make some recordings if he wants to
and post them on his web site.  It should definitely be restored if it
isn't already ("restored" is a matter of opinion).

Research materials used:

1. Bowers, Q. David., "Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments",
The Vestal Press, New York, 1972.

2. Various contributors (notably Don Teach) in Mechanical Music Digest,
http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/

Andrew Barrett
Costa Mesa, CA