| 
| 
 Player Actions Used in Kreiter Pianos
 By Howard Wyman
 
 
 | Several years ago Durrell Armstrong published a booklet entitled,
"Player Action Identification".  According to that booklet some
Kreiter pianos used Standard actions and others Simplex actions.
There is also a listing for a Kreiter, K. M. which used a Melville
Clark action.  If it is a Standard action the pedals would have the
large "S" monogram on the pads.  On the other hand it would be a
simple task to identify a Simplex action by the shape of the holes in
the tracker bar.  Rather than being rectangular, they would have the
patented "trapezoid" pattern.
If it is a Melville Clark player action it would probably have a
spring wind mechanism to drive the music roll.  The main spring was
wound by a linkage to the pumping pedals and had a slip clutch to
prevent over winding.  This eliminated the large drain on the vacuum
system otherwise required to run an air motor.  I hope this is helpful.
Howard Wyman
 |  | (Message sent Sun 20 Sep 1998, 02:24:29 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.)
 | 
 
 |  |