Looking Inside the Philipps Modell 3 Paganini
(Photograph courtesy of Ken Goldman)
From top to bottom the Paganini Modell 3
Geigen Piano is a marvel of skilled mechanical engineering and
musical perfection. From vacuum and wind-pressure feeder bellows
at the bottom, all the way up to the carefully crafted pipework
at the top, the complexity of the Paganini's interconnections
and mechanisms can be easily overlooked, unless one pauses a
moment to truly examine and appreciate the instrument. Now fully
erected and proudly situated in the Goldman music salon,
probably the most obvious and eye-catching feature is the
centrally located set of duplex roll changers, which afford a
long and uninterrupted repertoire of refined music before any
music rolls need be changed. The roll changers were, no doubt,
an essential attribute for the music connoisseur who demanded an
enjoyable evening of uninterrupted violin music with expressive
piano accompaniment. Other mechanical and musical attributes of
the magnificent Paganini Geigen Piano are detailed in the image
panes that follow. |
(Photograph courtesy of Ken Goldman)
In this interior view of the lower part of
the Paganini the two distinct groups of feeder bellows (pumps)
are visible. At the bottom is the vacuum pump, with three
side-by-side sections, each of which contains a top and bottom
bellow, making up a set of two bellows per section and a total
of six bellows for the complete pump. Above, and a bit shorter
in length, is the two side-by-side bellow wind-pressure pump,
for a total of two bellows for the complete pump. The vacuum
pump has two reservoirs, one on top and one on the bottom, one
of which provides a modest vacuum to sound the harmonium reeds,
the other then providing a much stronger vacuum to power the
piano, secondary pipe chest valves and all control functions.
The wind-pressure reservoir is located on top of the
wind-pressure pump, and is used exclusively to feed the
pipework.
For the vacuum pump, the six vacuum bellows are divided into
three side-by-side sections, with one double acting set at the
front, one set in the middle, and the third at the rear. Each
double acting set consists of an upper and lower bellow fastened
to the same movable center board, so that with each stroke of
the crankshaft a vacuum is first developed in the one bellow, as
the opposing bellow is exhausted, and then vice-versa. With
three sets of double acting vacuum bellows a large volume at a
fairly constant vacuum level is developed, the flow somewhat
equalized due to each crank on the crankshaft being offset by 90
degrees. The piano, harmonium, and all control functions are
vacuum powered.
The two wind-pressure bellows are single acting, I.e., one
bellow per movable board, but their operation is offset by 90
degrees for a more or less constant flow of air. Because of the
pressure reservoir and various regulators the pressure feeder
generates a sufficient volume of air pressure to allow the pipes
to speak clearly and with even tone. |
(Photograph courtesy of Ken Goldman)
This interior rear view is of the bottom
section. At bottom the back side of the vacuum and pressure
feeders are visible. Above the feeders is the main stack (or
wind-chest), with the individual motor pneumatics and vertical
stickers that contact the piano action whippens clearly visible.
At the right side of the main stack is a built in register
section that controls piano expression and the harmonium, but
the only visible indication of this is the tubing manifolds with
metal tubing that reaches out and makes connections with other
parts of the mechanism. To the rear of the roll changers (and
above the main stack) is the tracker bar lockout pouch board
that extends from one side of the case to the other. A tube from
each of the 130 tracker bar positions, on each tracker bar,
feeds into the lockout pouch board, which serves to determine
which tracker bar is active and functional. Above the lockout
pouch board is the speed adjustable wind-motor that provides the
rotational torque necessary to drive the music rolls forward for
each of the two roll changers during their play cycle. |
(Photograph courtesy of Ken Goldman)
Immediately above the duplex roll changers
is the support shelf for the pipe chest and wind-pressure
regulator. When the tremolo is active the wind-pressure
regulator's movable top board is shaken (by the tremolo action
mounted to the side of the case just above it) to induce a
tremolo effect in the pipework. The 44-tone vacuum played
harmonium is visible behind the pipes and is fastened to the
back side casework structure. The pipework consists of two ranks
of violin pipes, one rank of flageolet pipes, and a short
high-octave set of violin pipes, although in the above
photograph it is very difficult to discern the layout and number
of ranks. At the right side and built into the pipe chest are
the ventil and quick change valves that control the various pipe
ranks, and further to the right are controls for the tremolo
operation, swell shutters and harmonium. Once activated the
tremolo gradually increases in speed to a maximum value, and the
swell shutter control can be set to slow or fast operation, and
a position stop can be set to 1/2 open or full open mode. |
(Photograph courtesy of Ken Goldman)
This interior view looking down on the
pipework helps to show the odd pipe rank layout utilized in the
Modell 3 Paganini, a layout not easily recognized from a frontal
view alone. Notice that there are 29 wooden (pouch type) valve
blocks spanning the width of the pipe chest, the length of each
valve block approximately matching the depth of the chest. Each
block is bored with toe holes in which the toe of individual
pipes are fitted. Each of the lower 19 valve blocks (starting at
far left) represent one musical note, i.e., each pipe inserted
into that block being of the same musical note, albeit possibly
with one of the pipes being of a higher pitch. The top ten valve
blocks differ in that they each hold pairs of pipes representing
two consecutive musical notes, the pipes in each pair standing
side-by-side. The chest base, upon which all of the valve blocks
are screwed, contains four wind channels, each one being for a
different pipe register. Whether, or not, a particular pipe on a
valve block speaks depends entirely upon whether the wind
channel under that pipe is pressurized. Each wind channel is
controlled by a separate ventil valve. Behind the pipework is
the 44-note vacuum played harmonium.
Of possible
interest, the two pneumatics that control the ventil for the
flageolet pipes are partially visible to the right of the
highest pitch pipes. The bottom pneumatic is connected to the
flageolet on-off register control, while the top one is
connected to the flageolet quick change control. Both pneumatics
serve exactly the same function, to lift the ventil that
pressurizes (and/or conversely vents) the flageolet wind
channel. The enclosed quick change ventil for the high octave
violin pipes is directly behind the flageolet control.
The pipework ranks consists of what might best be described as
four rows of pipes. The front row consists of 39 loud violin
pipes, with the top 20 pipes arranged in pairs sitting
side-by-side. The second row consists of 39 soft violin pipes,
with an offset or jog toward the front of the pipe chest at the
thirteenth valve block, and with the top 20 pipes arranged in
pairs sitting side-by-side. The third row (beginning at the
offset for the soft violin rank -- the thirteenth valve block)
is made up of 27 flageolets, with the top 20 pipes arranged in
pairs sitting side-by-side. The flageolet pipes look very much
like regular violin pipes, but they are voiced differently and
each flageolet has a nodule hole midway along the speaking
length. Only a few pipes in the fourth and back row are visible,
a rank that consists of 12 very short high-octave violin pipes
arranged in pairs sitting side-by-side. Please refer to the pipe chest layout drawing located on the Paganini's main
page for additional information. |
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