Reference the recent posting concerning the meaning and use of the
word 'pouce' on musical box tunes sheets. Ted Brown, chairman of the
Association of Musical Box Collectors (AMBC) was a close associate
and collaborator with the late H.A.V. (Anthony) Bulleid who made a
study of the word. The subject is quite complicated to explain and
we therefore understand if the following is too long to publish.

The French introduced the decimal-based metric system in 1801.  Prior
to this there were other systems that closely aligned with the Imperial
measures used in the UK and elsewhere.  The Continental versions of
these were the 'pouce' (French for 'thumb') of which there were 12 to
the 'ligne' (an old English word for line).  One pouce equals 1.066
Imperial inches, thus pouce and lignes were easily recognisable
approximations to the average length of the human thumb and the foot.
Pouce was used exclusively as a measure of cylinder length.  On the
rare occasions that lignes were written, they seem to be for diameter.

These old measures had the advantage of being divisible into quarters,
thirds and halves, etc.  Although they persisted in France for a time
after the introduction of the metric system, the Swiss musical box
makers continued with these old measures for about 100 years.  They can
be found written by hand on the tune sheets of several makers.

A study of the 400 or so tune sheets recorded by Bulleid indicates
that only a few known makers and some unknown agents (or makers) wrote
the dimensions for pouces (and sometimes lignes) on the tune sheet.
The reason for doing so remains unclear but it would suggest that the
information was not for the buyer.

Bulleid wrote that the use of pouces and lignes died out quicker in
Geneva than in Saint Croix, the two major cylinder musical box centres
of manufacture.  Examples for Geneva are few whereas there are many for
Saint Croix.

Examples are also found on numerous unattributed coloured tune sheets
featuring statuesque figures and children/cherubs at play, types mainly
associated with Saint Croix.  The writing was often small and in
cryptic form.  As well as the word pouce, sometimes the English word
'inch' was used or the symbols p or ".  All were for the old
measure, the pouce.  Another symbol that appears is ''' for the
word ligne.

The cylinder length as written on a tune sheet in pouces rarely
tallied with an actual measure.  Bulleid concluded that there were
three possible interpretations:

- the overall cylinder length including its end caps;
- the barrel length without the end caps;
- the actual pinned surface length of the cylinder.

He concluded that the pinned length was most commonly the closest
measure to pouces.  It made sense because the pinned length best
defines the effective cylinder length and, by inference, that of its
comb.  He wrote: "It rightly ignores additional unused lengths where
a cylinder is longer than its comb or vice versa, both these being
fairly common" (Cylinder Musical Box Design & Repair, page 95).

He explained that there were exceptions such as Thibouville-Lamy,
who was the agent for l'Epée, both of France.  Their cylinders were
distinctly shorter than the pouces stated on the tune sheets.  The
reason for this is uncertain.

Bulleid also quoted PVF using '7-1/2 inches' (i.e. 'inches' written
in English) on the tune sheet whereas the overall cylinder (end cap
to end cap) was 8-1/8 inches but its pinned length was 7.9 inches.
It seems that 'inch' was merely a Swiss translation for their word
'pouce'.  Thus 7.5 x 1.066 = 7.995 Imperial inches, very close to the
barrel length if the thickness of the end caps is ignored.  All very
confusing!

Page 196 of Bulleid's book Cylinder Musical Box Technology, Fig 6-21,
is for a tune sheet with 15" written in very small script under the
top cartouche, i.e. 15 pouce!  More examples are:

- Fig 1-25, with 15p on a PVF tune sheet for an overall cylinder
length of 16-1/4 Imperial inches. Thus 15 x 1.066 = 15.99 inches could
represent either the barrel or pinned surface length.

- Fig 4-13 for a Paillard 'Columbia' model tune sheet with 16 pouces,
31 lignes written prominently in the top cartouche of a Sublime
Harmonie Expressive musical box, circa 1874. The cylinder length is
16 x 1.066 = 17.06 inches and its diameter as (31÷12) x 1.066 = 2-3/4
inches.

- On page 152 Bulleid wrote that the standard cylinder diameter had
been established by 1840 at 24 lignes, 2-1/8; inches.

The earliest example of pouces (and sometimes lignes) listed in
Bulleid's tune sheet book and supplements are as follows, in date order
and grouped by maker/agent/unattributed with tune sheet book numbers in
brackets:

1855, Unattributed, possibly Saint Croix by Jaques or Paillard, (167);
      Alliez & Berguer, Geneva, (74); Jaques, Saint Croix, 106 pouces
      (9.4ins long), 36 lignes (3-1/8;ins diameter) (36).

1864, Guissaz, Saint Croix, (150).

1865, Brémond, Geneva, (147); L'Epée, France, (283, 292 & 33).

1870, PVF, (Paillard-Vaucher fils), Saint Croix, (38); Paillard-Vaucher,
      (185); Paillard-Vaucher fils, (183); Edouard Jaccard, Saint
      Croix, (224).

1871, L'Epée, France, written as '8 pouces -1/2' for 8-1/2 pouces. (85).
      Also, L'Epée, (55).

1873, Paillard-Vaucher, (68).

1874, Paillard, (pouces and lignes), (134)

1875, Unattributed, Saint Croix style tune sheet printed by Guyot of
      Mulhouse (Geneva), (233); Jaccard-Walther, Saint Croix, (224);
      Paillard, Saint Croix, (24); L'Epée, France, (333); Conchon,
      Geneva, written as 14" (pouces), 32''' (lignes), (148).

1878, PVF, written as 15in, possibly a London agency tune sheet, (327);
      Nicole, Geneva, (88); London agent Adolphe Wooge, 12 inches
      written on tune sheet in large script, (96).

1880, Unattributed, Saint Croix style tune sheet. Sold by Geo. Baker.
      Probably supplied by Paillard, (116); Baker-Troll, Geneva,
      written as 12 inches, Saint Croix type tune sheet, (242); Mermod,
      pouces and lignes on tune sheet, (132); Paillard,

(266); Unattributed, but with Geneva style tune sheet, (143);
      Unattributed with Saint Croix style tune sheet, (143);
      Unattributed, written as 8 -1/2" for pouces. Saint Croix style
      tune sheet, (380); Unattributed, S. Troll of Geneva, written
      12" (pouces), 24''' (lignes), Saint Croix style tune sheet, (379);
      Paillard-Vaucher et fils, (42); Agent L. Machefer, Saint Croix
      style tune sheet, (363)

1881, L'Epée, France, (165).

1882, Unattributed, Fabrique de Genève on tune sheet, (377); Paillard,
      (41 & 89); Unattributed, Saint Croix style tune sheet, (390);
      Paillard-Vaucher, (184).

1883, Mermod, (355); Paillard, (90).

1884, Cuendet, (302).

1885, Cuendet, (220).

1886, Paillard, (135); Mermod, Saint Croix, (276).

1888, Maison Mayerix, Paris, (275).

1889. Mermod, written as 3 4/8 pouces, (for 3-1/2 pouce long), (356).

1890, Paillard, written as 'inch', (136).

1891, Cuendet, Saint Croix, written as 5/2 for 5-1/2 pouces, (272);
      Mermod, Saint Croix, Plate 11 of Tune Sheet book; Mermod, Saint
      Croix, (18).

1892, Unattributed, 3 pouces long (the smallest ever recorded). Saint
      Croix style tune sheet. (240); Paillard, written 11-1/2 inches
      (probably for pouces = 12-1/4 Imperial inches, (40); Paillard
      Columbia, written as 12" (pouce long), 27''' (ligne for
      diameter), (204); Cuendet, Saint Croix, (6).

1896, Cuendet, Saint Croix, (149).

1897, Vidoudez on a Junod tune sheet, (215).

1906, B H Abrahams, Saint Croix, (73).

1907, L'Epée, France, (8 & 9).

1908, L'Epée, France, Plate 7 of Tune Sheet book),

1918, E. Paillard, (the name changed from C. Paillard in 1899), (396).

Summary: Although Bulleid wrote that Geneva makers Brémond and
Lecoultre marked pouces on tune sheets, the limited evidence indicates
that the movements were sourced from the Saint Croix region.  There are
no tune sheet examples for Karrer of Teufenthal.

The earliest Geneva example is for Alliez & Berguer.  Whether they were
agents or makers (or both) has not been resolved but they sometimes
followed Saint Croix practice by pinning the first tune on the tune
tracks.  The convention for Geneva was mostly the last tune pinned on
the tracks.

The next example is for Brémond but it is a replacement tune sheet used
by them about 1890 when they carried out a repair.  Its serial number
was 8873, which is 1865 for Brémond but would be much later if the
movement was made by another maker such as Paillard (1883).  Although
we have to accept that Bulleid identified the maker correctly, it does
not support the use of pouces on Geneva tune sheets as common practice.

Another Geneva example is for Conchon, 1875: Bulleid listed the firm as
a Geneva maker in 1874 but 'hazarded a guess' that it could be as early
as 1867.  Conchon made blanks and combs concentrating on large complex
cylinder boxes.  His Star Works was opposite the square from Brémond.
Thus this tune sheet is not positive proof for common Geneva practice.
Also, none of his tune sheets bore any similarity with the un-elaborate
designs of other Geneva makers; they were more Saint Croix in style.

The only Nicole example is for 1878 on a very late Nicole tune sheet
design at the cusp of their agency period.

For Baker-Troll, circa 1880, there is only one recorded example of
this Geneva maker.  It is for a rare single-comb Harpe Harmonique
musical box.  The elaborate tune sheet was also used by Billon-Haller.
The Billon family were significant players in the development and
survival of musical box production and worker organisation, much
opposed by others in the latter years of Geneva manufacture.  This
example is also not typical of Geneva practice.

After 1878, Geneva faded as Saint Croix became dominant in the last
few years of cylinder musical box manufacture.  With the exception
of l'Epée, all tune sheets using the various terms for pouce are for
Paillard, Mermod, Cuendet and others associated with Saint Croix.
The evidence that Geneva makers used these terms seems to be very weak
and all their examples so far recorded could be of Saint Croix supply.

But does it matter?  And why were the words pouce and ligne written on
tune sheets?  One can only hazard a guess that it was not for customer
information but that it did matter during the manufacturing and
assembly process.

Could it be that in the pre-factory period, the tune sheet information
with its pouce measurement signified something to do with the comb,
as Bulleid assumed?  The ébauche (Saint Croix term) or blanc roulant
(Geneva term) needed to be fitted with a comb tuned exactly to
accommodate every note pinned on the cylinder surface.

With components moving around from home-worker to home-worker and,
during the factory system department to department, something was
needed to relate the pinned and finished cylinder to its comb.  Perhaps
the pouce was the link, i.e. the length of the pinned surface of the
comb tuned to suite the gamme (i.e. tuning scale).

The books of airs (livre d'airs) carry positive proof that the actual
tuning scale (the gamme) also made reference to the length of the comb
(sometimes written as 'pces').  Ted Brown and I would welcome any
contribution to the above and will publish in the AMBC Periodical,
Mechanical Music World.

Paul Bellamy

 [ The word pouce as written on tune sheets.
 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/15/12/04/151204_122437_Pouces%20&%20lignes.doc