I mentioned earlier that I used kangaroo hide leather back in the
1960s to recover two Ampico pumps.  The reason for this: rubber cloth
of that era was not of good quality and wore out within a very short
time -- within a year it was full of holes.  We did not have much
choice and decided to use leather on the Ampico pumps.  The pumps we
recovered in leather in the 1960's are still in excellent condition
and are still in use today.

I also noticed that Wurlitzer used leather in many of its pumps on
band organs and nickelodeons.

In 1994 when we restored another Ampico we used new rubber cloth
because we could not obtain kangaroo leather.  Again we found that
the rubber cloth was failing within a year and a half.

The pump in our 1920 Seeburg is still working with its original rubber
bellows cloth, with no signs of leaks or wear.  Hopefully bellows cloth
made today is of the same quality?

Bruce Clark