Player piano
device · 1895 · Electric age
A piano that plays from a perforated roll.
What it is made of
- Perforated piano roll — has part. Perforated paper with the tune recorded on it.
- Tracker bar — has part. Holes let air through to the valves.
- Bellows — has part. Pedal bellows create suction.
- Pneumatic pushers — has part. They press the keys when signalled by holes.
Principles and materials it uses
- Program control of a machine — uses. The tune is recorded on a perforated roll.
- Music notation — uses. The rolls encode notes.
- Wood — is made of. The case is wood.
- Paper — is made of. The program is a perforated paper roll.
History: what it evolved from and what it influenced
- Barrel organ — evolved from. A paper roll replaced the pinned cylinder.
What it is a kind of
- Piano — is a kind of. A piano.
Things built in a similar way
- Jacquard loom — works like. A perforated medium controls a machine — a weaving one in one case, a musical one in the other.