I can't offer any information on a European children's toy
merry-go-round, or "Kinderkarussell" with an organette, but I can
suggest two other reasons for adding a pulley to an organette.

(1) A Dance Organette -- The first, and most obvious, reason to add
a pulley is to allow motorizing the instrument. We see this done with
modern crank organs of all sizes. It could be particularly useful in
providing dance music for a small group composed of couples. The motor
could be enclosed in a base cabinet which also had disk storage. In
this case, I don't think this is a likely use because of the rough
finish on the instrument in the photo.

(2) A Parade, or Processional, Organette -- An organette mounted on
a cart of some sort could be played smoothly while in motion with
a belt and pulley system connected to one wheel.

If I was building one, I would use a single wheel with a bicycle rim
and tire. With the clutch in the crank position the cart could be
transported silently and play in a stationary position. In the pulley
position, the instrument should play smoothly at a walking pace on
dirt or smooth roads, and probably even on well laid cobblestones.

It might have been designed for marching. During roughly the same
period, as I recall, some gramophone-type instruments in backpacks
were offered for use in military drills. In a formal parade our
organette might have preceded a marching group to the reviewing stand,
then pulled aside and cranked for the march past, and then followed
the group to the disassembly point.

As a Processional instrument, it might have been proposed for use
in weddings and funerals, as well as in carrying icons to and from
shrines and chapels. As an "organ" it might have been appropriate
when a fiddle or accordion might not be.

The rough finish on the instruments in the photos would suggest to
me that these instruments were housed in a larger and more decorative
enclosure. The organettes manufactured by the Leipziger Musikwerke
and Phönix were produced in large numbers and would have been readily
available both across Europe and in the US, making them a good
foundation instrument.

I have found no evidence to support either concept. Great concepts
are not always commercial succeses.

COAA published a good article on the Health Merry-Go-Round Company;
see:

The "Lost" Merry-Go-Round Company
Carousel Organ, Issue No. 7 -- April, 2001
By Yousuf Wilson

https://tinyurl.com/Lost-Merry-Go-Round

Wallace Venable
wallace.venable@mail.wvu.edu.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]