Do you know Allevi's barrel piano (Italian constructor)?  I have one but without hammers.  Could somebody help me to repair it?  I need a drawing or photo and a lot of advice.  Thank you very much.

Flavio Pedrazzini
North Italy
16 Jan 2003 23:20:20 +0100

 [ How can Flavio determine the dimensions of the missing hammers?
 [ We don't know if the hammer shanks, and the bearings, remain.
 [ -- Robbie

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From: "Flavio Pedrazzini" <flaviopedrazzini@jumpy.it>
To: "MMD Editor - Robbie Rhodes" <editor@foxtail.com>
Subject: Re: Barrel Piano by Allevi of Italy
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 23:50:40 +0100

My barrel piano has no keys.  There is a crank which turns a big wood roller with a lot of nails (like a musical box, but bigger).  I know how were the hammers -- I found one on the bottom of the piano.  They are similar to the hammer of the modern piano, but the hammer shank is of iron, 3 mm diameter.

I haven't the parts connected at the hammer shank (which may be a part of wood, with pins moved by the pins of the wood cylinder), the spring which pushes hammer toward the string and the frame upon which swing the hammers.

I made a model of all that but I'm not sure if the springs and the frame are okay.  I don't know if the frame is a big piece of carved wood, or if it is several pieces glued.  I don't know what kind of wood, either.

Thank you very much,
with best greetings from foggy North Italy.

Flavio Pedrazzini

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From: PMann4960@aol.com
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 07:29:24 EST
Subject: Re: Barrel Piano photos
To: editor@foxtail.com

Hello Robbie, Here are some photos of the barrel piano. These photos should help Flavio.

Paul Manganaro

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From: "Flavio Pedrazzini" <flaviopedrazzini@jumpy.it>
To: "MMD Editor - Robbie Rhodes" <editor@foxtail.com>
Subject: Re: Barrel Piano photos
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 21:24:00 +0100

Mille e mille grazie, your photos are wonderful, his piano is similar to my piano!
I don't know an English word so big to thank you and Mr.Paul !

Flavio

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From: PMann4960@aol.com (Paul Manganaro)
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 18:31:23 EST
To: editor@foxtail.com

Subject: Re: Barrel Piano by Allevi of Italy

Hi Robbie, I went to the web site and the pictures look very good.
http://www.mmdigest.com/Tech/BarrelPiano/index.html

I don't speak Italian so I can't help out in that respect.  The only term I know is the "key frame".  This term relates to player barrel organs.

I call the one moving part an "action part".  Other than that, to describe a part I would have to describe its function.  I hope Flavio can understand some further explanation of the key frame and the action parts.  Please forward this to him.

The key frame is one solid piece of maple wood.  Notches are sawed out of it for each action part.

The action part must be of a precise thickness.  If the action part is too thin, there will be too much side play in it and the pin in the action part will find a way to go around the pin on the barrel instead of reading [feeling] the pin on the barrel.

The key frame has a hole drilled through its entire length to accommodate a 3/32" [2.38 mm] brass rod.  To drill this out, a jig made out of steel would have to be made to fit into the cutout.  This jig should have a hole one-thousandth-inch larger than the brass rod diameter , 3/32".  [I.e., the clearance hole is 2.406 mm.]  A three-foot long piece of drill rod should be dressed [to grind] on one end in the form of a spade [shovel] bit.  As the drill enters a cutout, the jig should be put in place to guide the drill for the next hole.

The photos show a reinforcement bar screwed to the top and bottom of the key frame.  This is a piece of steel about 3/4" [19 mm] thick to prevent the key frame from warping.

In one of my photos you can see a piece of action cloth (woven felt) as part of the key frame.  This stops the action parts from traveling forward too much.

Each action part has a pin to read [to feel] the barrel.  It is a square bar that is ground to a point so that it may be driven into the action part using a hammer.  The action part is pre-drilled to accommodate this pin.  The length of each pin must be the same.  The end of the pin must be filed by hand to the same thickness of the pin on the barrel.  It must also come to a point on the end.

If the spring on each action part is too weak, the piano will play too softly.  If the springs are too strong, the barrel will not turn, because then there will be too much force on the pins of the barrel.

A coil spring, on the left side of my piano, holds the key frame to one side.  Adjustable screws are used to position the key frame over the barrel.  To find the location of the first and last action part, the barrel must be shifted from the first song to the last.  The pins on the extreme ends of the barrel will tell you where the first and last action parts are to be located in the key frame.

Paul Manganaro
 
 

Barrel organ terms -- Herbert Jüttemann: Waldkircher Dreh- und Jahrmarkt-Orgeln