(Photograph courtesy of Dana Johnson.)

This long neglected Chicago Electric #181586 Model EL-1 keyboard style coin piano awaits restoration. The instrumentation is piano with mandolin attachment. It has the usual stack installed by Smith, Barnes & Strohber, which is similar to a Standard Player Action, and below the keyboard is the standard Monarch Tool & Mfr. Company spoolbox and pump.

(Photograph courtesy of Dana Johnson.)

Art glass in Chicago Electric #181586 Model EL-1 keyboard style coin piano. This geometric glass design seems to be typical for the Model EL-1 keyboard style coin pianos by Smith, Barnes & Strohber.

(Photograph courtesy of Dana Johnson.)

The coin entry slot in Chicago Electric #181586 Model EL-1 keyboard style coin piano. The control knob located several inches below the coin drop slot is labeled "Auto...," with the word underneath worn off from fingers rubbing against it while twisting the knob. From the coin chute/magazine photograph in the next pane below it can be observed that there are two tubing connections to the control knob, suggesting that it is a simple on-off control for something like the mandolin attachment.

(Photograph courtesy of Dana Johnson.)

Coin chute and accumulator mechanism (magazine) in the Chicago Electric #181586 Model EL-1 keyboard style coin piano. Stamped into the cover plate casting within and at the right side of the magazine is the number 632, and underneath it is "E.M.N. Co." The operation of the magazine is quite simple. When a coin falls through the magazine it strikes a lever that trips a latch allowing the spring loaded ratchet wheel to advance or rotate one tooth or position. A small pneumatic (only partially visible) in the top part of the magazine housing pulls the ratchet wheel back one tooth or position when a music roll perforation at the end of a tune passes over the tracker bar. When the ratchet wheel is fully returned to its starting point a pin in the side of the wheel presses on a lever that opens the electrical knife switch at the left side of the magazine housing and below the small pneumatic. The accumulator can deal with up to about twenty coin drops and play an equal number of tunes. A pair of electromagnets (connected to battery powered wall boxes) can trip the magazine in lieu of a coin drop in the piano itself.

(Photograph courtesy of Dana Johnson.)

View of the "Tone Modifier" in the Chicago Electric #181586 Model EL-1 keyboard style coin piano. The large pneumatic mounted at the right end and top side of the valve chest (or stack) operates a slide valve inside the chest that is used to variably restrict the air flow out of the chest, thereby controlling its vacuum level. The music volume of the instrument depends upon the vacuum level; the higher the vacuum level the louder the music. The medium sized pneumatic above the tone modifier, and that is mounted on the side of the piano case, lifts the hammer rail to impart a degree of softness to the music.

(Photograph courtesy of Dana Johnson.)

This internal view of the left hand portion of the stack shows how the "tone modulator" (loudness control) works in Chicago Electric #191446 Model EL-2 keyboard style piano. At far left is a wooden slider valve (or regulator valve) that controls the vacuum level in the stack, which in turn modifies the volume of the piano. The rod attached to the slider extends upward through a close fitting felt bushing and on upward to a wood block attached to the movable end of the large regulator pneumatic. This movable leaf is attached to an adjustable tension spring; the more spring tension the louder the music. When at rest the slider valve is fully up and open. When a vacuum builds within the chest the regulator pneumatic begins to collapse, whereupon it moves the slider valve down against increasing spring tension, while simultaneously increasingly restricting the flow of air out of the chest. As the air flow is more and more restricted the vacuum level decreases until a balance point is reached between the spring tension pulling the regulator pneumatic up and the vacuum level trying to pull it down. For more information on this valve chest see the Chicago Electric image pane for Standard Player Actions.

(Photograph courtesy of Dana Johnson.)

View into the bottom part of Chicago Electric #181586 Model EL-1 keyboard style coin piano. At left is a Monarch Tool & Mfr. Company vacuum pump, and at right is a Monarch spoolbox, common to most Smith, Barnes & Strohber coin pianos.

(Photograph courtesy of Dana Johnson.)

The rotary vacuum pump in Chicago Electric #181586 Model EL-1 keyboard style coin piano. This pump is a typical Monarch Tool & Mfr. Company four-lobe pump with a vacuum reservoir mounted on its topside. Durable resilient, self-contained, and easy to maintain the rotary design was also used by other coin piano manufacturers during the 1920s,

(Photograph courtesy of Dana Johnson.)

Monarch Tool & Mfr. Company spoolbox in Chicago Electric #181586 Model EL-1 keyboard style coin piano. This is the standard rewind type roll mechanism used in Model EL keyboard style pianos, and in the cabinet models with the exception of later Casino models that were originally equipped with Nelson-Wiggen components.

(Photograph courtesy of Dana Johnson.)

Metal coin collection lock-box in Chicago Electric #181586 Model EL-1 keyboard style coin piano.

(Photograph courtesy of Art Reblitz.)

Chicago Electric #187405 Model EL-2 keyboard style coin piano. This handsome Model EL-2 (Smallwood collection, circa 1970) is just one of several coin pianos stored in a narrow corridor, making acceptable picture taking a challenge. Nevertheless, this photograph provides a sense of the piano and shows the colors of the glass not apparent in the black & white catalogues of the day. The upright piano to its left is a Peerless Elite coin piano with mandolin attachment.