(Photograph courtesy of Reblitz-Bowers Encyclopedia.)

Exterior View of the Harmonist Piano Player Attachment (installed in an upright piano). Publicly introduced in 1899, it was the first automatic musical device offered by Roth & Engelhardt, and branded with the newly organized Peerless Piano Player Company name. The self-playing attachment, or device, could be installed on any upright piano, without, it was said, distracting from the overall appearance of the piano, which could then be played by hand, or automatically. Only the low silhouette spoolbox enclosure was noticeable, with all of the other self-playing apparatus either concealed inside the bottom area of the piano or behind the soundboard. The so-called attachment consisted of a rewind type roll mechanism mounted at far right underneath the keyboard, a 66-note pneumatic stack installed below the keyboard, pneumatics for the piano pedals affixed to the piano floor, vacuum bellows mounted between two back posts behind the soundboard, and an electric motor mounted in the bottom of the piano case. It was anything but a simple attachment that any homebody could easily and quickly install.

(Photograph courtesy of Reblitz-Bowers Encyclopedia.)

Interior View of the Harmonist Piano Player Attachment. Looking into the bottom of the piano case, the motor is right of center and mounted to the bottom floor of the piano case. A belt on the small diameter motor pulley drives a larger pulley that powers a compact 3-lobe crankshaft (to power the vacuum bellows located on the backside of the piano). Installing this requires boring a hole through the soundboard to accommodate the shaft powering the crankshaft unit. At far left, also mounted to the piano floor, is the pedal pneumatic assembly. Above the motor is the 66-note pneumatic stack, that must be properly aligned with each played note on the piano action, and that somehow required providing access openings through the keybed.. It is unknown exactly how the stack interacted with the piano keys or the piano action. For instance, did stack pneumatics push wooden dowels upward, contacting the underside of the keys, causing a note to play, or did they instead bypass the piano keys and interact directly with the piano action? On the floor in front of the piano are an assortment of boxed Harmonist 66-note music rolls.