Jason Klinger asked about parts for his Simplex Recordo drawer, specif-
ically the flipper levers and poppets that transferred the motion of
the drawer pneumatics up to the backside of the keys.

It is interesting to note that this system, with the works in the
drawer and the flipper levers, was an invention of Frank C. White of
Wilcox & White and was designed specifically for Artrio Angelus grand
pianos.  Frank applied for a patent on the system of flipper levers on
March 24, 1921, just months before the bankruptcy of Wilcox & White in
July of that year.   When Carle C. Conway (Conway Musical Industries, a
holding company that owned Hallet & Davis Piano Company as well as Sim-
plex Player Action Company) acquired Wilcox & White at a federal bank-
ruptcy auction in May of 1922, he acquired the various patents and
trademarks of the company, along with the physical assets.

The idea of enclosing the expression system and pneumatic stack within
the confines of the drawer along with the use of the flipper levers was
ideal for the very compact Simplex pneumatics, and by August the new
mechanism, with the Simplex version of the expression system for both
uprights and grands, was ready.  The uprights used the standard size
Simplex pneumatics, but a much narrower pneumatic had to be designed to
fit the two-tier stack in the confines of the drawer.  The Artrio
Angelus system played 84 notes of the keyboard, dropping two notes at
each end.  But most Simplex Artrio grand drawers had to drop an addi-
tional note at each end for the two-tier stack to fit the drawer.

Towards the end of Angelus production, the Hallet & Davis pianos were
rescaled to allow a slightly wider drawer which allowed for all 84
notes of the system to be utilized.

When Simplex started to manufacture these drawers for Recordos and
standard 88-note grands they were offered for sale to the general piano
trade.  The Artrio Angelus, under Conway ownership, was available only
in Hallet & Davis and Conway brand pianos.

I have a spare set of 82 of the solid aluminum flipper levers, as well
as the poppet rail, that I can supply to Jason if he will contact me.
I can also provide photos of these flipper levers installed.

Dave Krall