Ref. http://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/17/09/23/170923_201151_M-W_mech_horn.jpg
 

Hi Folks,  There is at least one of these French Mechanical Horns still
around -- it's in my music room!  I bought it many years ago (about
1984) at a local antique show.  The guy who had it didn't know what it
was and neither did I, until I took a really close look at it.

Three years later I did some research and wrote an article about it for
the MBSI Journal of Autumn 1987, including photos, copies of the German
patent, and an X-ray image of the mechanism.  Here's the first couple
paragraphs from the article.

  "The Happy Honker - An 1888 Mechanical Horn

  "Picture a young lad in the 1890's gaily playing this little tin horn.
  Down the street he marches, piping the notes for all who will watch
  his one-person parade.  A, G, F, C, C, B, C, D, A, C, A# he plays,
  proud of the apparent talent that his new automatic musical horn has
  given him.  Imagine his amazement if he could have known that his
  very own toy horn would survive for 100 years, passing through many
  hands, in its trip through the generations.

  "It still worked when we found it, pushed to the side on a flea
  market table.  Fortunately, the dealer considered it neither a tin
  toy nor an automatic musical instrument, but we've learned to look
  more closely, and this time it paid off.  What tipped us off was the
  little push lever.  For seven dollars we bought it quickly and asked
  questions later."

There are 11 free reeds arranged in a circle on a round plate behind
the little lever.  The lever has a ratchet, so, every time you depress
the lever, it rotates the round plate one position (one note).  So, you
control the tempo by pressing the lever at the rate you prefer and you
blow into the mouthpiece to control the length and loudness of each
note.  If I can find the x-ray image, I'll send it in later.

Regards,
Craig Smith
near Rochester, New York, USA