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Wurlitzer Band Organ Motor Shut-off
By Matthew Caulfield

Bill Chapman says that the two band organs which he is seeking
schematics for do not shut off dependably at the end of a tune or at
the end of the roll.  Wurlitzer rolls do have a coin trip or shut-off
hole punched in them to shut off the organ at the end of all tunes
except the last tune (hole #5 in a style 150 roll, which the two
organs mentioned both use).

The last tune does not have hole 5 punched at its end, because the
organ needs to hit the rewind hole (hole 54 in a style 150 roll) and
complete rewinding the roll before shutting off.  Then it starts in
again, moving from the roll leader toward tune 1, where it hits the
shut-off hole (for tune 10, so to speak) and stops.
 
That said, I have never seen a Wurlitzer band organ that actually
has a shut-off mechanism, although my experience is not as wide as a
lot of professional restorers here, like Durward Center, Art Reblitz,
Joe Hilferty, Tim Westman, Robert Loeffler, et al.  I once owned a
Wurlitzer 146 and have seen all but one of the extant Wurlitzer 165s.
No shut-off mechanism in any of them.  I doubt that schematics, if
any exist, are going to help solve this riddle.

In our Seabreeze Park 165, we use the coin trip/shut-off perforation
(hole #18 in a 165 roll) to activate a tune indicator which we
installed, showing what tune on a roll is playing at any given time.

Matthew Caulfield
Irondequoit, New York


(Message sent Mon 8 Jun 2015, 19:38:59 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.)

Key Words in Subject:  Band, Motor, Organ, Shut-off, Wurlitzer

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