Music Trade Review
Issue: 1916 Vol. 62 N. 9 - Page 8
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE
8
REVIEW
POWER CONSUMPTION—(Continued from page 7).
much higher possible motor speed when required,
extremely rapid re-roll speed and other advan-
tages too numerous to mention, among which,
however, must be included the relatively enor-
mous advantage of having instant speech at the
maximum from any lower level.
Apart from these considerations, however,
which are more or less academic from the view-
point of the present article, the curves are ac-
curate and immensely valuable for all of us.
The recording instrument used in the tests is
the Esterline Co.'s graphic wattmeter. The paper
strip on which each curve is drawn consists, as
will be seen, of four horizontal parallel lines,
with vertical lines at regular intervals cutting the
horizontals. Each of the equal spaces enclosed
by the verticals represents a time interval of one
minute and the strip travels in one minute the
length of one of these, which is actually 1M>
inches. The illustrations given herewith are, of
course, considerably reduced. Thus, as will be
seen, most of the curves represent about ten min-
utes of playing.
Each of the spaces between two of the hori-
zontal lines represents 125 watts and, as will be
observed by examining the beginnings of the
curves, the motor uses about 1,188 watts to main-
tain the speed of the blower for forty-four inches
water column vacuum before the roll begins to
move or the pneumatics to speak. The curves
show, in fact, that to maintain a vacuum in the
chests and channels of a player, without any play-
ing going on, in itself absorbs more than half the
available power.
gradual increase in load due to the increasing
weight of the take-up spool as the roll winds up.
Similar comparisons may be made in the case
of curves N and P. It ought to be mentioned that
a still better method of comparison would be to
photograph two of these companion curves on
two glass plates such as are used in making lan-
tern slides, and then fasten one exactly over the
other so that both at once can be shown by a
projecting lantern. This immensely enlarges the
curves, making them easy to follow and furnish-
ing a remarkably valuable comparison of power
consumption fluctuations.
Incidentally it may be noted that the re-roll
peaks are very high and their duration time very
short. This is due to the fact that the motor in
the player-piano, which has furnished the means
for these experiments, is set to run at the very
high speed, when re-rolled, of 450 feet per minute.
The facts thus revealed, namely, the dispropor-
tionate drag of the roll-driving motor and the
consumption of power in maintaining a vacuum
in the chests and channels, show concretely some
defects in player design of which the existence
has long been suspected. It is well that unim-
peachable evidence should be produced to show
how much remains to be done before we can say
that anything approaching an ultimate design has
been accomplished.
We shall be happy to give further information
on these matters to any inquirer who will address
the Plaver Section editor.
PLAYOTONE AND BEHR BROS. SALES.
Hext Music Co. of Denver Doing a Very Active
Business.
H. E. Watson, representing the Mutual Oil Co.,
ol Kansas City, in the Wray, Col., district, recently
purchased a Hardman, Peck & Co. Playotone from
the Hext Music Co., of Denver. The same firm
also sold two Behr Bros, pianos last week, one to
Miss Fay Vandeveer, of the Harvard Hotel, and
the other to Mrs. H. Hutchinson, a Denver mu-
SOLVED-
The Tracking Problem!
A SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT OF A GREAT DISCOVERY!
What the Curves Represent.
Attention is now directed to the curves. The
double curve "I" may be studied to advantage.
Here is shown, on the right, the wattage for play-
ing Schubert's "Who Is Sylvia?" and on the left
the consumption when running the roll over the
tracker bar silently at tempo 70. The average
tempo of the piece is less than seventy, and so
the right hand curve, which, of course, varies as
the time occupied, is longer than the left hand
one. It will at once be seen (1) that the mainte-
nance of a vacuum is the great task, (2) that the
motor drag alone is responsible for more than
one-half of the power consumption, (3) and that
the speaking of the pneumatics does not produce
anywhere very sharp peaks and therefore no-
where any very great increases proportionately in
power consumed; that is, in air displaced. The
piece is a song arrangement, has an elaborate ac-
companiment with a singing melody cut in fairly
long perforations and maintains about the same
level of dynamic intensity from end to end, the
average tone strength being mezzo-piano or piano.
The facts thus disclosed are still more remark-
ably set forth in comparison of the curves "J" and
"K." The second of these shows the power con-
sumption in playing Liszt's second rhapsody,
where sudden changes of dynamic level are many
and where the general strain on the vacuum sys-
tem is great from end to end. Compare this
curve (K) with the one above it ( J ) , which
shows the power consumption in running the same
roll over the tracker bar silently at tempo 70. A
still better comparison can be had as follows : Cut
out these two curves from the illustration, mount
each separately on cardboard and hang them both
on pins, so that they are exactly in line with each
other, in front of a camera. If now they are
hung up on two parallel pins going through the
top corners of each card, and with the two cards
exactly on a level, a photo may be taken of the
first card, and when the shutter is closed the first
may be removed and the second photographed on
the same film. Then there will appear a com-
posite photo showing the one curve superimposed
on the other. This will show clearly what can be
seen less accurately by visual comparison of the
two curves side by side; namely, that the motor
is the greatest power waster in the whole player
mechanism. It is easy to see at once that the
motor-alone-curve maintains nearly as high an
average level as does the other. Fluctuations in
the motor-alone-curve correspond to fluctuations
in motor speed, of course, together with the
Such an assertion has been made more than once in various
quarters; so we shall not object if our statement is accepted with
reserve. Yet it is true.
Schulz Dealers are now being made acquainted with a new, efficient,
simple method for abolishing forever all tracking troubles, irre-
spective of the condition of the music roll.
The means whereby this method has been made possible consist of
what is called the
M. Schulz Company
Roll Centering Device
(Patented)
The depression of one lever at the moment the roll is ready to start
over the tracker-bar serves, in this wonderful system, permanently
to center the music roll between the chucks and on the tracker-bar,
in such a way that no difficulty in registration can occur when once
this has been done.
No Pneumatics
Absolute Certainty
No Perforations or Flanges
Absolute Simplicity
No Complication
Absolute Rightness
Schulz Dealers Have the Biggest Talking Point
in the Player Business Today. Get in Touch
With this Wonderful Development
Get full particulars from us: Send for Free Booklet entitled, "Correct
Tracking of the Music Roll—a Problem and How it Was Solved."
M. SCHULZ COMPANY
GENERAL OFFICES
711 Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
CHICAGO
SOUTHERN WHOLESALE BRANCH
730 Candler Bldg., Atlanta, Ga.
THE MUSIC TRADE
8
REVIEW
POWER CONSUMPTION—(Continued from page 7).
much higher possible motor speed when required,
extremely rapid re-roll speed and other advan-
tages too numerous to mention, among which,
however, must be included the relatively enor-
mous advantage of having instant speech at the
maximum from any lower level.
Apart from these considerations, however,
which are more or less academic from the view-
point of the present article, the curves are ac-
curate and immensely valuable for all of us.
The recording instrument used in the tests is
the Esterline Co.'s graphic wattmeter. The paper
strip on which each curve is drawn consists, as
will be seen, of four horizontal parallel lines,
with vertical lines at regular intervals cutting the
horizontals. Each of the equal spaces enclosed
by the verticals represents a time interval of one
minute and the strip travels in one minute the
length of one of these, which is actually 1M>
inches. The illustrations given herewith are, of
course, considerably reduced. Thus, as will be
seen, most of the curves represent about ten min-
utes of playing.
Each of the spaces between two of the hori-
zontal lines represents 125 watts and, as will be
observed by examining the beginnings of the
curves, the motor uses about 1,188 watts to main-
tain the speed of the blower for forty-four inches
water column vacuum before the roll begins to
move or the pneumatics to speak. The curves
show, in fact, that to maintain a vacuum in the
chests and channels of a player, without any play-
ing going on, in itself absorbs more than half the
available power.
gradual increase in load due to the increasing
weight of the take-up spool as the roll winds up.
Similar comparisons may be made in the case
of curves N and P. It ought to be mentioned that
a still better method of comparison would be to
photograph two of these companion curves on
two glass plates such as are used in making lan-
tern slides, and then fasten one exactly over the
other so that both at once can be shown by a
projecting lantern. This immensely enlarges the
curves, making them easy to follow and furnish-
ing a remarkably valuable comparison of power
consumption fluctuations.
Incidentally it may be noted that the re-roll
peaks are very high and their duration time very
short. This is due to the fact that the motor in
the player-piano, which has furnished the means
for these experiments, is set to run at the very
high speed, when re-rolled, of 450 feet per minute.
The facts thus revealed, namely, the dispropor-
tionate drag of the roll-driving motor and the
consumption of power in maintaining a vacuum
in the chests and channels, show concretely some
defects in player design of which the existence
has long been suspected. It is well that unim-
peachable evidence should be produced to show
how much remains to be done before we can say
that anything approaching an ultimate design has
been accomplished.
We shall be happy to give further information
on these matters to any inquirer who will address
the Plaver Section editor.
PLAYOTONE AND BEHR BROS. SALES.
Hext Music Co. of Denver Doing a Very Active
Business.
H. E. Watson, representing the Mutual Oil Co.,
ol Kansas City, in the Wray, Col., district, recently
purchased a Hardman, Peck & Co. Playotone from
the Hext Music Co., of Denver. The same firm
also sold two Behr Bros, pianos last week, one to
Miss Fay Vandeveer, of the Harvard Hotel, and
the other to Mrs. H. Hutchinson, a Denver mu-
SOLVED-
The Tracking Problem!
A SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT OF A GREAT DISCOVERY!
What the Curves Represent.
Attention is now directed to the curves. The
double curve "I" may be studied to advantage.
Here is shown, on the right, the wattage for play-
ing Schubert's "Who Is Sylvia?" and on the left
the consumption when running the roll over the
tracker bar silently at tempo 70. The average
tempo of the piece is less than seventy, and so
the right hand curve, which, of course, varies as
the time occupied, is longer than the left hand
one. It will at once be seen (1) that the mainte-
nance of a vacuum is the great task, (2) that the
motor drag alone is responsible for more than
one-half of the power consumption, (3) and that
the speaking of the pneumatics does not produce
anywhere very sharp peaks and therefore no-
where any very great increases proportionately in
power consumed; that is, in air displaced. The
piece is a song arrangement, has an elaborate ac-
companiment with a singing melody cut in fairly
long perforations and maintains about the same
level of dynamic intensity from end to end, the
average tone strength being mezzo-piano or piano.
The facts thus disclosed are still more remark-
ably set forth in comparison of the curves "J" and
"K." The second of these shows the power con-
sumption in playing Liszt's second rhapsody,
where sudden changes of dynamic level are many
and where the general strain on the vacuum sys-
tem is great from end to end. Compare this
curve (K) with the one above it ( J ) , which
shows the power consumption in running the same
roll over the tracker bar silently at tempo 70. A
still better comparison can be had as follows : Cut
out these two curves from the illustration, mount
each separately on cardboard and hang them both
on pins, so that they are exactly in line with each
other, in front of a camera. If now they are
hung up on two parallel pins going through the
top corners of each card, and with the two cards
exactly on a level, a photo may be taken of the
first card, and when the shutter is closed the first
may be removed and the second photographed on
the same film. Then there will appear a com-
posite photo showing the one curve superimposed
on the other. This will show clearly what can be
seen less accurately by visual comparison of the
two curves side by side; namely, that the motor
is the greatest power waster in the whole player
mechanism. It is easy to see at once that the
motor-alone-curve maintains nearly as high an
average level as does the other. Fluctuations in
the motor-alone-curve correspond to fluctuations
in motor speed, of course, together with the
Such an assertion has been made more than once in various
quarters; so we shall not object if our statement is accepted with
reserve. Yet it is true.
Schulz Dealers are now being made acquainted with a new, efficient,
simple method for abolishing forever all tracking troubles, irre-
spective of the condition of the music roll.
The means whereby this method has been made possible consist of
what is called the
M. Schulz Company
Roll Centering Device
(Patented)
The depression of one lever at the moment the roll is ready to start
over the tracker-bar serves, in this wonderful system, permanently
to center the music roll between the chucks and on the tracker-bar,
in such a way that no difficulty in registration can occur when once
this has been done.
No Pneumatics
Absolute Certainty
No Perforations or Flanges
Absolute Simplicity
No Complication
Absolute Rightness
Schulz Dealers Have the Biggest Talking Point
in the Player Business Today. Get in Touch
With this Wonderful Development
Get full particulars from us: Send for Free Booklet entitled, "Correct
Tracking of the Music Roll—a Problem and How it Was Solved."
M. SCHULZ COMPANY
GENERAL OFFICES
711 Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
CHICAGO
SOUTHERN WHOLESALE BRANCH
730 Candler Bldg., Atlanta, Ga.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).