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MMD > Archives > July 2014 > 2014.07.11 > 04Prev  Next


Perforated Music Media - Autotypist Paper
By Allen Ford

Hi All, In the 1970s I acquired an Autotypist, an Autotypist punch,
several spools (steel mandrels on which spool ends were mounted) in
boxes, and a roll of Autotypist paper that looks similar to that
currently used by Dave Saul but it is thicker.

I eventually sold the Autotypist to a private museum in New Jersey,
gave the punch and the roll of paper to Dick Hack, and I still have
a few spools in my garage.

I just measured piano roll paper from packing of one of the people
I purchase rolls from; I think the source for all is the same or nearly
so.  Its thickness, found by measuring 16 layers and dividing by 16,
is 0.00250 inches.  Doing the same for the Autotypist paper yields
0.00313 inches so the Autotypist paper is 25% thicker than the modern
music roll paper.

Many years ago (pre-1978) I repaired the first 18 inches of an Artrio-
Angelus roll that did not play well due to water damage and I used
the paper for the Autotypist and noted at that time it seemed to be
thicker.  Now we know how much thicker.  The Autotypist used larger
holes, spaced 8 to the inch, and did not have a tracking system, being
similar to commercial mechanical musical instruments.

Sincerely,
Allen Ford


(Message sent Fri 11 Jul 2014, 14:21:06 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.)

Key Words in Subject:  Autotypist, Media, Music, Paper, Perforated

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