This may be a bit off-topic, but I know how varied the interests of this
group are...

I was reading an old (1905) "Pocket-Manual of Musical Terms" and came
across the following, of which I had never before heard:

Melodion - A piano in which steel bars pressed against a revolving
cylinder took the place of strings; invented by J. C. Dietz, of Emmerich,
Germany.

So my curiosity is up!  Does anyone know more about the design of such an
instrument?  I can't quite picture the mechanism.  Did it ever make it to
market, or do any still exist?

Todd Augsburger
allmax@bright.net

 [ The "Dictionary of Musical Terms" (G. Schirmer, Inc., 1895) says:
 [
 [ Melodion.  A keyboard instrument invented by J. C. Dietz, of Emmerich,
 [ in which the tones were produced by vertical steel bars chromatically
 [ graduated; these bars being pressed by the digitals against a rotating
 [ cylinder.  'Forte' was obtained by a quicker, 'piano' by a slower,
 [ rotation.  Compass: 5-1/2 to 6 octaves.
 [
 [ I guess the bars were struck either by tiny hammers or a flail.
 [ -- Robbie