I don't know if this instrument has been discussed here previously,
but it sure seems to have enough mechanics in it to qualify for MMD.
[ We discuss self-playing musical instruments played by a music
[ roll or the like. The Telharmonium qualifies for MMD since it's
[ an ancestor of the Hammond model BA player organ. ;-) -- Robbie
The idea was similar to Muzak: subscription music for stores or perhaps
private homes. But there wasn't a good way to amplify electrical
signals in 1910 or so. Ergo, we build an organ with a substantial
variable-reluctance alternator for each note. The combined signal was
to drive loudspeakers directly over telephone wires.
As I labor over the Sawtooth Steinway, the patent drawings are, well,
interesting: http://www.synthmuseum.com/magazine/0102jw.html
Mark Kinsler
Lancaster, Ohio, USA
http://www.mkinsler.com/
[ "In the summer of 1906 the Telharmonium was dismantled and loaded
[ onto thirty railroad cars ..." !! -- Robbie
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