In 031129 MMDigest Joe Husbands asked for support to make a renaissance
barrel organ and suggested to make the diameter of the barrel 40" for
a 3-minute song.  Robbie commented about this suggestion with

> Assume the diameter is 100 cm, so the circumference is 314 cm,
> and the surface speed will be 314 cm / 180 sec or 1.74 cm/sec.
> This seems terribly slow (book music travels at about 6 cm/sec).

I can not agree with this comment, especially not when dealing with
a "Renaissance Barrel Organ".  In my opinion the best source to learn
how to build a "Renaissance Barrel Organ" is the famous book written by
Dom Bedos de Celles, published in 1766 (!), entitled "L'art du facteur
d'orgues".  Dom Bedos describes all the very details for constructing
organs and barrel organs.

Concerning the surface speed of a barrel, he gives several examples.
One example, "How to pin the Romance of M. Balbastre on a big barrel,"
is based on a construction with the following data:

  Diameter of the barrel = 893 mm [35 inches],
  circumference of the barrel = 2805 mm,
  206 turns of the crank for 1 turn of the barrel,
  1.2 turns per second of the crank.

This results in a surface speed of the barrel of about 16 mm per
second, which is very close to what Joe Husbands has in mind.

Assuming that Dom Bedos has given representative data in his unique
oeuvre (as far as I know nobody doubts this), Joe Husbands should
continue with his construction.

To give him more detailed support, it would be great if there exists an
English translation of Dom Bedos' book.  I only know about a facsimile
reprint of this book in ancient French, and a publication as German
translation with all the many original engravings.

Good luck Joe!
and greetings from Germany

Christian Greinacher