(Photograph courtesy of Durward Center)

Figure 2. This illustration of a Welte Style 10 Pinned-Cylinder Orchestrion is from an undated catalog. All the illustrations in the catalogue are engravings, with the case styles suggestive of a period around 1880. Although the catalog is incomplete, there appears to be ten different styles, numbered 1 through10. The brief descriptions seem to be quite similar to the later pneumatic orchestrions.

(Photograph courtesy of Durward Center)

Figure 3. A Welte pinned-cylinder machine from 1883. It has a 56 key cylinder and is operated by a clockwork mechanism powered by a large weight suspended from the rear of the case. The brass trompet pipes have the typical radiating pattern as found in many orchestrions of this era. The cylinder on this type of instrument could be made with multiple tunes or with one long arrangement that would be spirally pinned and require eight or more revolutions to complete. The cylinder is changed by sliding it out the left side of the case. This organ was originally sold to a buyer in Calcutta, India. In recent times, it has traveled to England, then to Maryland and Illinois in the US, and then to Japan—a well traveled instrument.

(Photograph courtesy of Durward Center)

Figure 4. This is a 67 key pinned-cylinder Welte orchestrion from circa 1890. Also weight driven, this organ still has its original ten cylinders stored in matching cabinets. Its pipe specifications are quite similar to the later Style 5 pneumatic machines. The case is of walnut and the original glass is acid etched in three different textures which slightly obscures the visibility of the brass pipework. Its original home was in France.