Mechanical Music Digest

Mechanical Music Digest^™ Gallery

MMD

Gallery

Pictures

Pistonola

pistonola_photos

Boyd Pistonola Boyd Pistonola Player Action - Photos
photographs by David Evans, Hampshire, England

The Boyd Pistonola was developed by H C Goldman and C F Webb in London
around 1912. It was first demonstrated in November 1913 at a concert held in
Ilford Town Hall, Essex, England, and again in April 1914 at the Corn Exchange, London.

pistonola_regunit1.jpg (70 kb)
Roll motor regulator mounted on the side of the case.

pistonola_rollmotor1.jpg (55 kb)
Four-piston roll motor

pistonola_feeders1.jpg (72 kb)
Feeder pistons and spring-loaded reservoir (center)

The mechanism is ingenious, being the smallest player action ever devised. In place of banks of large pneumatic motors it has a single tier of pistons for the note-striking and four in line for the roll-drive motor. Even the feeders are pistons, and the reservoir is a spring-loaded piston. Valves are ball-bearings. By the 1920s Boyd were producing a more conventional player piano.

pistonola_2pistons.jpg (14 kb)
Only the largest (action) piston is graphite, diameter is 1/2".
The smaller pistons for the primary and secondary valves are brass.

26 February 2000

Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info

Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2008 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

Pay via Amazon
Amazon Honor System

Please do not use
the anonymous option!

Translate This Page

. .