TANGLEY CALLIOPE RESTORATION PROJECT (part 29)
by Dr. Bill BlackTUBING THE TRACKERBAR AND STACK
We will now proceed to install the trackerbar tubing. PHOTO A shows a previous picture of the unrestored trackerbar assembly. In PHOTO B we have cleaned up the various parts. The parts consist of the trackerbar, a back plate with the nipples for the tubing and two mounting plates. These mounting plates are attached to the back plate with screws which can slide back and forth in slots. The trackerbar has screws mounted on it so that the corresponding slots the in mounting plates which are at an angle allow the bar to be drawn down tightly against the back plate as the mounting plates are moved sideways. A leather gasket is placed between the bar and the back plate for a good seal. This arrangement allows the trackerbar to be removed so you can clean the paper dust which is caught by the screen between the bar and the back plate.
PHOTO C shows the old trackerbar tubing in place before the calliope was disassembled. Note the Y shaped tees in the tubing. The machine uses an A roll which was widely used on automatic pianos. There are 58 playing notes on this music roll but the Calliope has only 41 notes which can play from the music roll. Octave coupling is used to connect some of the lower notes on the music roll to the corresponding higher octave note of the music roll. So, the machine is able to play these notes on the A roll by sort of cheating and playing the note in the higher octave. This is accomplished by the tees in the trackerbar tubing. The calliope has 43 playing notes in the pipework and the keyboard when it is playing by hand. The top two notes in the calliope are not connected to the stack and donšt play from the music roll. PHOTO D shows the new trackerbar tubing installed. The back side of the roll frame has a wooden strip through which the tubing passes to hold the tubing place and keep it away from the music roll.
In PHOTO E we can see the tubing to the vacuum reservoir and the stack now installed. Also visible at the bottom of the picture is the trackerbar tubing attached to the stack.
PHOTO F show the completion of the installation of the various pneumatic parts along with the corresponding tubing in place.
Dr. Bill Black is one of the nation's most knowledgeble Wurlitzer band organ experts. He has made recordings of many band organs and other mechanical music machines which are available for purchase in our CarouselStores.com website.
