The Tangley STA-58 Calliaphone was designed and built for indoor use.
As such, the operating and tuning pressure was lower (at 4 inches water
column) than the outdoor models, as exemplified by the dual manual and
roll-played CA-43 (rated at 1 psi air supply, tuned at 3/4 psi).  The
STA-58 was powered by a Spencer centrifugal turbine blower but the
outdoor models generally use a [Roots] positive displacement lobe pump.

The keyboard compass of the STA-58 has the same number of playing
notes, 58, as the style "A" roll, which is apparently the deciding
factor that designated the range -- use the entire span of the roll,
without coupling of lower and higher notes as done with smaller models.

I acquired one STA-58, with a full set of original whistles, in 1983,
at an auction of Buckeye Lake, Ohio, artifacts.  A long while was spent
acquiring the requisite parts to re-automate it, the stack and all else
having been removed and discarded years before.

The chassis and parts went to Terry Haughawout, who constructed a
new stack in the Tangley style, and restored all of the accumulated
original parts to working order, 1992-1994.  Like the other STA-58
units in old photography, it had a wood-grained metal housing.  It
wasn't red.

The machine was then taken in 1995 to Dave Miner, who worked on the
whistles; buffing, lacquering and tuning them.  Despite efforts, the
top notes were generally too shrill for most rolls while the bottom
notes "hooted."  More voicing work could have been accomplished but it
would have meant dismantling of the whistles to achieve results.  While
in his possession, Dave measured the whistles and using that knowledge
fabricated the replica set for a device he sold later.

The STA-58 eventually went to Bill Griffith, who operated a calliope
museum in Spring Green, Wisconsin, for a few years.  He sold it and two
other calliope rarities to Bob Gilson, who in turn relinquished it to
Elise Roenigk.  It has an appropriate home in a Norman Baker hotel in
Arkansas, where at least half of his unusual six-sided desk is also
presented along with other artifacts and documentation related to the
man (a convicted felon who did time in Leavenworth Penitentiary).

The wooden cabinet enclosure that housed at least one STA-58 is
depicted in Tangley literature.  It had glass panels and swell shades.
These were apparently worked by some sort of foot pedal apparatus.
The one surviving STA-58 has a cut-out in the lower panel, perhaps
a space for the player's feet, or possibly the location of a set of
swell controls.  The earlier re-working of the device precluded any
further conclusion as to purpose.

At least one, if not two, other STA-58s survive today.  None of the
original cabinet-housed units are known to exist.

Fred Dahlinger
Baraboo, Wisconsin