Welte Style 3 Cottage Orchestrion
Case Variations

Welte Style 3 Cottage Orchestrion in Zaharakos Confectionery.

(Photograph courtesy of Durward Center)

Figure 22. Welte Style 3 Cottage Orchestrion in Zaharakos Confectionery, Columbus, Indiana, USA. This instrument is the last Welte orchestrion to remain in its original commercial location. It was built in 1908, has the full automatic rewind roll frame and is electrically powered. The clock is not original to the case.

Welte Style 3 Cottage Orchestrion still in its original location.

(Photograph courtesy of Durward Center)

Figure 23. Another Welte Style 3 Cottage Orchestrion still in its original location. It is in the residence of Asa Packer in the town of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, USA. This Welte was weight driven and manually rewound. The Packer house is open as a museum and the Welte is played by tour guides.

Welte Style 3 Cottage Orchestrion is in a custom oak case.

(Photograph courtesy of Durward Center)

Figure 24. This next Welte Style 3 Cottage Orchestrion is in a custom oak case and originally came from an English manor house. This is the first to be fitted with a semi-automatic roll frame. This type of roll frame shuts off at the end of the roll. The operator must then move a lever which turns the organ on, the roll then rewinds back to the beginning and shuts off automatically. This type, and the later full automatic roll frame, were only found on electrically powered organs.

Welte Style 3 Cottage Orchestrion from the 1880s.

(Photograph courtesy of Durward Center)

Figure 25. The final Welte Style 3 Cottage Orchestrion shown here dates from the 1880s. This organ was in Australia, but its original home is not known. Indications are that this was originally a pinned-cylinder organ. The first clue is the divider in the middle of the doors in front of the roll frame, common to cylinder organ case design. Many interior components have been rearranged. It is probable that Welte converted this machine to paper roll operation. The work was done well and with components of a design found in later Welte instruments of around 1910. The roll frame is the full automatic type, and the snare drum uses a vacuum reiterating beater. The conversion also required the addition of a vacuum pump, pneumatic stack, and wind motor to power the forward movement of the music roll.

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