Re: Building a Calliope
By Will Dahlgren
Jody,
You wrote:
> Until I went to the band organ rally in Flint last
> month, I'd only ever seen one calliope. I saw it
> in Issaquah Washington (near Seattle) in late summer
> of 1983. I was visiting a park there that had a steam
> locomotive on display and was attracted to the sound of
> the calliope playing elsewhere in the park. It was on
> a trailer and had been brought there by its owner as an
> inoffensive place for him to play it. It had a keyboard
> but was being played by an 8080 (or maybe an 8008)
> microprocessor. I believe that he said that he'd built
> the whole thing. I did not get to see the computer,
> nor did I get to see the valves or manifold, but I did
> get a peek at the back side. It was driven by a small,
> modern, propane fired, residential steam boiler.
If you can figure out how to valve the pipes with some sort of electrically operated valve, the WIMP system I have discussed can do MIDI to pipes. The restrictions are about 24 VDC and 3 amps maximum. I an having an air callopie built with the WIMP.
>
> I've been disappointed to have never another calliope
> until the rally, and then to find only air calliopes. The
> air ones were certainly fun. But there's a mystique to me
> (and a richer sound according to David Wasson) about steam
> power.
>
> Does anyone know who's calliope I saw in Issaquah ?
>
> Are steam calliopes still commercially produced ?
>
> Some places have very strict pressure vessel and/or
> boiler laws. What regulatory hoops does one have to
> jump through to bring a steam calliope to a rally,
> parade, or other public event ?
I doubt there would be any official problems, but you do want to test your boiler if it is handmade. I believe the miniature steam train folks test at about 2 times the expected pressure. If the setup you saw used a commercial boiler, then you are probable OK.
Will Dahlgren
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(Message sent Mon 21 Aug 1995, 15:46:13 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.) |
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