In Digest 970114 Robbie Rhodes writes:

> The Link nickelodeon operated from an endless music roll.  When the
> nickels were collected and the music was changed, the operator would
> locate the splice to separate the end from the beginning of the roll,
> and then wind it carefully on a core for storage.

No, no, no, Robbie!  That is not the way that link rolls were changed.
They were not taken apart at all.  The feed rolls were removable from the
spool frame plus the input platen.  Then a special spool with a crank and
removable end flange was used to wind up the roll double thickness.  Once
fully wound, it was removed from the machine, the end flange removed and
the roll slid off the tapered spool core.  It was then stored in a box
with no core, ready to be put back on the machine when desired.

To install a roll in a Link, the roll was placed in the left side of the
paper box and the loop end was pulled over to the spool box.  The paper
was carefully fit into the spool box and then the drive rolls and input
platen were installed inside the paper loop.  The machine was then
operated which caused the paper to be pulled off the roll of paper, played
through the spool box and tracker bar and then sent out through a set of
stripper fingers to end up in the zig zag pattern usually seen for the
supply of paper.  It was necessary to play all the way through the roll
before all the paper ended up fully stuffed into the stuffer box.

And that's the way it was.

Bob Conant¶
Endicott, NY¶
Temporarily hiding in Fort Myers Florida