Welcome to
the
Mechanical Music Digest's
Calliope Home Page
Illustration from Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments,
by Q. David Bowers, page 840
An account of Joshua C. Stoddard's invention is reprinted in "Player
Piano Treasury", by Harvey Roehl:
" ... The first instrument consisted of 15 whistles, of graduated sizes,
attached in a row to the top of a small steam boiler. A long cylinder with
pins of different shapes driven into it ran the length of the boiler. The
pins were so arranged that when the cylinder revolved, they pressed the
valves and blew the whistles in proper sequence. The different shapes enabled
the operator to play notes of varying length. Later, Stoddard replaced
the cylinder with a keyboard. Wires running from the keys to the valves
enabled the operator to play the instrument like a piano."
Here's a collections of images and articles on Steam Calliopes and
Air Calliopes. For the time being, there's no particular order. Check
back from time to time for additional entries.
Calliope articles
Steamboat Delta Queen Calliope (whistles
by Thomas J. Nichol)
Ernest J. Wilde Steam Calliope in Sacramento CA, by
Marc Kaufman
Wooden Whistle Calliope by Paul E. Freiling
Calliope and "Lady Godiva" Are Hits At Parades
MMD Editor Robbie Rhodes playing a Tangley Calliaphone
clone
Harmony in Steam, an article on Joshua C. Stoddard
Arthur Davis Steam Calliope seen near Seattle, Washington
in 1983
"New Age" Air Calliope by Melville McBride,
Aptos, Calif.
Cozatt Calliope, manufactured by Perry Cozatt
Links
Indiana University
Perdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Calliope (whistles
by Thomas J. Nichol)
Two Jesters
Calliope
Belle of
Louisville, Riverboat - National Historic Landmark Study
Steamboat
Delta Queen - National Historic Landmark Study
Lake George
Steamboat Company - Minne-Ha-Ha
C. Shannon and the Antique Reed
Organs and Calliopes (has rare air calliope pictured)
Karl Petersen's steam
powered Citroën station wagon (This one isn't exactly a calliope,
but it's sure nifty!)
System Design
MMD Calliope System Design Page -- A collection
of technical discussions
Click to hear a calliope playing "Stars and Stripes Forever"
MIDI file startrio.mid (8 kb)
or MP3 file StarsTrio.mp3 (582 kb)
MMD Alligator Airboat Calliope
Copyright (C) 1998 by J. L. Stubbs, used by permission.
http://www.web-access.net/~airpig/
5 July 1999, 24 April 2001, 14 August 2001, 10 December 2003
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