I once worked on a very early Ampico installed in a Knabe grand that,
instead of a drawer, had a compact roll carriage with controls that
slid out and flipped up from under the keybed. The windmotor was
mounted to the keybed itself and transmitted its power to the movable
roll frame by means of telescoping rods. It also featured a keylock,
the keys being made in two parts hinged at the center - the lock rail
immobilized the keyfronts, yet the stack could still operate the rear
ends of the keys.
The reproducing mechanism was of the Stoddard type, with the intensity
section being double-valve, with screw-adjustable crescendo speed, but
the stack was more like that of an Autopiano, with the primaries in a
small single row chest attached directly to the pouchboard of the
horizontal secondaries. The primary pouches consisted of very small
(about 1/2" wide, 3/8" high, 1" long) rectangular blocks that were
hollowed out on top with leather glued over the top and down the sides.
John M Runge
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