Re: Spiral Spring Polyphon
By Bill Burns
Angelo Rulli asks about a Polyphon disc music box with spiral spring and chain drive.
I know of a 22.5" upright Polyphon with 16 saucer bells that uses the same mechanism. In Bowers' Encylopedia there are pictures (page 156) of a similar model with bar-type bells, about which he says "early models made with coil spring; later models with spiral spring." In the 15.5" section (page 150), he shows Styles 43B and 43D, noting that these were available with spiral spring mechanism. There is also a photo on page 149 of just the spiral spring mechanism from this style of music box, with a note: "Spiral spring as used in certain later Polyphons, mainly those of the 20th century." In the introduction to the Polyphon section, Bowers writes: "Most Polyphon disc boxes were powered by flat coil springs. In the late 1890's a new spiral spring was introduced. While this never entirely supplanted the coil spring, the spiral spring did find use on many different models - including many of the larger coin-operated models."
Prior to seeing the bell box mentioned above, and Angelo's describing his spiral spring model, I had never seen a Polyphon with a spiral spring. I wonder how many were made?
Interestingly, at least on the 22.5" upright model, winding the spring while the box is playing removes the driving force, and the disc stops. This model also has no automatic stop at the end of the disc. Is this also true of the 15.5" models?
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Bill Burns
Long Island, NY
billb@savvy.com |
(Message sent Mon 27 May 1996, 16:59:11 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.) |
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