Coin Slot Magazine - #V8N7 - 1983 - March [International Arcade Museum]
player stack under the keyboard,
with the pneumatics oriented verti
cally, there was simply no room for
any type of replacement music roll
mechanism inside the piano cabinet.
Faced with the unavailability of or
iginal music rolls and parts, and the
desirability of having the rolls "out
front" where they could be easily
changed, the decision was made to
install a new A-roll, ten-tune rewind
mechanism in front of the stack
Style A rolls were the most logical
choice for the conversion, as their
scale makes use of most of the
portion of the cabinet was extended
frontward to accommodate some
of the parts, so we simply extended
the cabinet a little more and built a
shelf across the bottom to accom
25$ per play, turning what had been
modate the added parts. As there
was still no room for a rotary vacuum
tering their original design is
ordinarily a terrible thing to do! In
pump — neither in the newly enlarged
front chamber nor in the rear cavity
that originally housed the music roll
bin in an area normally occupied by
the center back post in regular
pianos— a modern suction box was
added in one bottom corner, next to
the new spoolbox. The piano case
original Style D Peerless musical
scale. The two scales follow, for
was refinished, the action and play
comparison:
coin mechanism was installed for
er action were rebuilt, and a new
Peerless Style D Roll
(113/4" wide; 6 holes per inch)
1
2
Low C (which would have
been at hole 9 but was re
placed by the sustaining
pedal perforation)
Hammer rail down
3
Hammer rail up
4-8
Playing notes G chromati
cally up through B
9
Sustaining pedal
an unwanted orphan into a useful
coin operated instrument.
Please note that converting
original coin pianos by al
any instance where music rolls are
available, every effort should be
made to restore a desirable coin
piano back to its original format,
with reproduction parts made as
close as possible to the original
parts. Anything less than this is
comparable to installing a Corvair
engine and transmission and Pinto
seats in a Model T Ford!
This particular example was an
10-69 Playing notes C# chromati
cally up through high C
Style A Roll
(Standardized roll used on many
coin pianos, 11W wide; 6 holes per
inch.)
1
2
3
Soft pedal
Sustaining pedal
Play
4-61
C chromatically up through A
62
Extra instrument (not used
"Prehistoric" player stack. Well, almost prehistoric. The pneumatics and valves are
located in two rows, one behind the other. The two rows are hinged together at the
bottom, allowing the stack to be swung open to gain access to the valves tor cleaning
or adjustment. The pneumatics push on little wooden bell cranks, which push up on
wood pushrods; which in turn push up on the back ends of the piano keys. Each wood
pushrod is capped with a little rubber"erasor, "a rather crude arrangement that wears
quickly because of the friction.
in this example)
63
64
Rewind
Mandolin (not used in this
example)
65
Shutoff
In the original Peerless D format,
the piano was caused to shut off at
the end of each song by means of a
clever T-shaped lever, which re
sponded when the lowest two playing
notes were punched at the same
time. Under this condition, which
would never normally occur during
the playing of a song, the piano
.com
m
:
u
m
e
both low notes. To prevent patrons
o
mus
d by fr holding
-
from cheating the piano
e
e
d
d
a bass
Interior view of the stack with the front half hinged downward. The pneumatics are
up the two lowest
nlo playing
arca keys connected
.
w
to their valves by large rubber hoses, which are shellaced in place in little
o
w
D
w two keys wooden connector
on the beyboard,
w these
/
boxes rather than the usual brass tubing connectors. After
/
:
p
were hinged tt to allow the shutoff
fastening the two halves of the stack together, the whole contraption is screwed in
h
would shut off instead of playing
mechanism to work even if the front
ends of the keys were held up.
In the original design the lower
MARCH 1983
© The International Arcade Museum
place under the keyboard of the piano. Each pushrod must be individually regulated
to its piano key, a procedure that is accomplished after the mechanism is installed
in the piano.
47
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