Making a Coin Drop


We had an instrument ready to go into our self tour no charge area.   The instruments that play there use a quarter coin to make them play one song.   The Cremona C that was destined to go there, had no coin drop mechanism.   Commercially available ones are way too expensive for our budget, so we decided to make one.   The design is not ours.   It is patterned after our Johnson Nickelodeon, which was built in 1908.

The good thing about this design, is that with some wood, a table saw, a few scraps of copper and some time, it costs almost nothing out of pocket.

You route out the wood to fit the coin, make the two copper parts, one fixed, the other moveable and you are in business.

The coin slides down the slot until the copper parts trap it and at that point the coin itself completes the circuit and starts the instrument.

When the song finishes, the moveable copper part is slid over and the coin is released, breaking the circuit and stopping play.

Of course you have to make a pneumatic to work the moveable piece and get it all to work freely.

The next step is to mount it into the instrument and get the coin to drop onto and into the switch area.

FACT SHEET FOR CREMONA J

What Is It?

The Cremona Model J orchestral style was built in Chicago, by the Marquette Piano Company, about 1915.   This was the largest orchestrion built by Marquette.

How Rare Is it?

There were fewer than 20 made.   How many survive is unknown.

How Does It Work?

The music is contained on a paper roll with holes punched in it, designated as style M, which normally contains 10 songs.   The punched holes are "read" by a vacuum control system, that in turn opens valves, allowing the compressed air  to enter the selected pipes and play music.   The vacuum and compressed air are supplied by wood and leather bellows pumps driven by a crankshaft, which is turned by the electric motor in the bottom of the instrument.

The M Roll controls the piano, mandolin rail, bass drum, snare drum, flute pipes, violin pipes, triangle, tympani and xylophone.

What  Is It Worth?   What Did It Cost?

In 2004, one sold for $37,000 on eBay.   The 1915 selling price is unknown, but it was probably in the $1800 range.

Where Has It Been?

Its original location was at the Salt Air Amusement Park in Salt Lake City, UT.   It was then owned by someone in Casper, Wyoming.   Jake bought it from the third owner, George Schubert, in Gering, Nebraska for $4000.

Background Information

The Marquette Piano Co. started in Chicago, building piano actions but about 1915, expanded to building complete instruments, thus becoming one of the first American firms in this industry.   Until 1907, J.P. Seeburg worked for them until founding his own company.

Sold under the Cremona name, their major production was between 1905 and 1920.   They built high quality machines with interior parts highly finished, even though not visible.

Our Stewardship

Jake wanted instruments to play and was not hesitate to bypass "unnecessary" features to that end.   There was a booster pump added; but many of the "unnecessary" features such as treble soft, piano volume and xylophone were bypassed.   We have rebuilt the piano stack, reconnected the original pump and activated the other bypassed features.   After three attempts to get the xylophone playing, we have been only partially successful in this regard.

An Early Cremona

This is a Cremona style C Nickelodeon, serial number 17268, built in Chicago by the Marquette Piano Company about 1905.   Cremona is an Italian town famous for violin and other stringed instrument production.   Perhaps this is why Marquette used this name for their piano based instruments.

This was one of the earlier Cremona styles and was also sold by the Piano Player Mfg. Co. as Rhapsodist style B.   Thus quite a few may survive in collections today. 

The music is contained on a paper roll with holes punched in it, designated as style A, which normally contains 10 songs.   The punched holes are "read" by a vacuum control system, which controls the piano and mandolin rail.    The vacuum is supplied by wood and leather bellows pumps driven by a crankshaft, which is turned by the electric motor mounted in the bottom of the instrument.   The roll drive is also located in this area and is a well designed system, more durable than many of the competitors.

We have no information prior to 2011, when this instrument was donated to us by Joan Hick, who donated it as the executrix of her brother Robert Sabo's estate.   Robert had started the restoration before he died and Joan wanted the work to be completed, with the instrument available to be viewed and played for the public.   The machine was delivered in many pieces and it was not until 2012 that Joan found the original stained glass and delivered it to us.   All the piano action parts beyond the 65 notes played by the A roll were missing and had to be reproduced from our "junk pile".    Most of the case had been stripped for refinishing, which we did not complete.   The carriage lamps were missing and a grant from one of our Board members paid for their reproduction.

We completed the necessary work and moved it to the first floor in 2013.


Background Information:
The Marquette Piano Co. started in Chicago building piano actions but about 1905 expanded to building complete instruments, thus becoming one of the first American firms in this industry.   Until 1907,  J. P. Seeburg worked for them until leaving to found his own company.

Sold under the Cremona name, their major production was between 1905 and 1920.   They built high quality machines with interior parts highly finished even though not visible, using a lot of mahogany for the wood parts.