I may have the answer to the Zephir problem.  In a mid-1920's Pratt-Read
player I rebuilt, the skin was marked "ZEPHIR, Patented."  So perhaps the
correct spelling is ZEPHIR, not Zephyr, the old English word for
"breeze".   This may have been the origin of the peculiarly clever name
for this skin -- as a trademark (unless ZEPHIR was just one brand of
Zephyr skin!).

That skin was glued so perfectly to its board that it appeared to be
almost melted onto it!  Yet, the pouches were perfectly dished, as though
pressed by a precision caul, and soft.  I have never found any way of
producing this effect.

I have often wished I had time to spend a day at the patent library
downtown and find the ZEPHIR patent or patents -- is it not likely that
the gluing process is discussed in the exposition?  At very least, we
would probably learn how the original, high quality skin is made.

If one of our readers who has convenient access to a patent library has
the time, a search for "ZEPHIR" in the 1920's decade might solve our
dilemma!

Incidentally, I believe that high-grade Zephir skin may be available in
Europe for use on cuckoo-clock bellows and the like.  Tony Ciuffini sent
me a sample, when he was working at Reuge Music Box Co., with which I was
very impressed.  It did not delaminate, and had the same look and feel as
the old stuff.

Larry Broadmoore

 [ My 7 kg dictionary of American English, 1927 edition, shows only
 [ "zephyr", but in modern German it's "der Zephir" (and Pratt-Read
 [ probably purchased the material from Germany!).  I suspect that
 [ the Dutch/German spelling was preserved in the English dialect of
 [ South Africa.
 [
 [ Also:  "caul -- A form by which, when heated, veneers are pressed
 [ when gluing them on."   -- Robbie