[ Douglas Heffer wrote in 131113 MMDigest:

> I have seen Phonola pianos made during World War 1 which used
> a fine white skin for the striking pneumatics.  Rubber was not
> available at that time.  Maybe there is a confusion in materials?

I, too, have heard of player piano pneumatics being recovered in
"some kind of paper".  Unable to find detailed information on such
a practice, the first thing that came to mind was Tyvek -- yes,
the popular household plastic wrap material by DuPont.

I had thought of building a device to test various materials by cycling
them many thousands of times per day until every one failed.  Springs
would force each pneumatic to rest with its covering stretched tight,
from where it would be suddenly collapsed at a suction level of around
25 inches water gage with nothing to prevent the material from pinching
each time.  The results should be interesting.  I would hope the Tyvek
would outlast the old-fashioned rubberized cloth, but how would it
compare with polyurethane-coated nylon?

Which reminds me: what ever happened to "Bilon", the thin nylon
sheeting coated on both sides with polyurethane?  Bilon was supposed
to be the longest lasting pneumatic cloth of all, and I have some here
that's still going strong after over thirty years!

Jeffrey Wood


 [ Some samples of "Bilon" pneumatic cloth have lasted for several
 [ decades, like yours, but the cloth from too many production batches
 [ failed quickly, which left the product with a bad reputation.  See
 [   http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/B/bilon.html 
 [   http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/P/polylon.html 
 [
 [ The material Douglas Heffer mentions might be lamb skin.  -- Robbie