Early and Late Seeburg Rewind Boxes

(Photograph courtesy of Art Reblitz)

Early style rewind box with mechanical latch. The upper right corner of the pneumatic has a small metal plate that catches in the hook when the pneumatic collapses. The rewind signal in the roll triggers the rewind valve in the back section of the rewind box, collapsing the pneumatic, and the hook holds it shut during rewind. The heavier diagonal bar screwed to the right corner of the pneumatic lifts the roll drive shaft, engaging the rewind gears in the transmission. (Seeburg B #44,649, made in 1911.)

(Photograph courtesy of Art Reblitz)

Back view of the latch bar and “play” pneumatic on the back of an early style rewind box. When the “play” signal near the beginning of the roll triggers the play valve in the back section of the box, it collapses the horizontal pneumatic, pulling on the latch bar and unlatching the rewind pneumatic in front. When the latter falls back open, it pulls the roll drive shaft back down, putting the transmission gears back into “play”. (Seeburg F #54,160, made in 1913.)

(Photograph courtesy of Art Reblitz)

Late style Seeburg rewind box. The diagonal bar screwed to the upper right corner of the rewind pneumatic lifts the roll drive shaft when the pneumatic collapses, as in the early rewind box, but the rewind valve latches pneumatically, holding vacuum in the pneumatic all through rewind and eliminating the need for a mechanical latch. (KT Special #159,898, made in 1924.)

(Photograph courtesy of Art Reblitz)

Back view of late style rewind box. As in the earlier system, there are two valves in the box, one for rewind and one for play, with their pouch channels connected to the two small connectors on top of the box. The smaller pneumatic is fed from the rewind valve. The bigger pneumatic on the back is normally held shut by a hinge spring, and the valve on its finger normally closes a channel teed into the rewind pouch channel. When the rewind signal occurs in the roll, the small pneumatic collapses and its wire pulls the bigger pneumatic open. This lifts the valve pad away from the channel, locking the rewind valve on pneumatically. At the end of rewind, the bigger pneumatic collapses, closing the channel, and allowing the main rewind pneumatic and small rewind lock pneumatic to release. (KT Special #159,898, made in 1924.)