Talk:Music box

History

Although the earliest known mechanical musical instruments predate music boxes (see timeline below), the original snuff boxes date back to the 18th century. They were tiny containers which could fit into a gentleman's waistcoat pocket. The music boxes could have any size from that of a hat box to a large piece of furniture, but most were tabletop specimens. They were usually powered by clockwork and originally produced by artisan watchmakers. For most of the 19th century, the bulk of music box production was concentrated in Switzerland, building upon a strong watchmaking tradition. The first music box factory was opened there in 1815 by Jérémie Recordon and Samuel Junod. There were also a few manufacturers in Bohemia and Germany. By the end of the 19th century, some of the European makers had opened factories in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

The cylinders were normally made of metal and powered by a spring. In some of the costlier models, the cylinders could be removed to change melodies, thanks to an invention by Paillard in 1862, which was perfected by Metert of Geneva in 1879.^{[citation needed]} In some exceptional models, there were four springs, to provide continuous play for up to three hours.^{[citation needed]}

The very first boxes at the end of the 18th century made use of metal disks. The switchover to cylinders seems to have been completed after the Napoleonic wars. In the last decades of the 19th century, however, mass-produced models such as the Polyphon and others all made use of interchangeable metal disks instead of cylinders. The cylinder-based machines rapidly became a minority. There were many variations of large music machines, usually built for the affluent of the pre-phonograph 19th century.^{[citation needed]}

The term "music box" is also applied to clockwork devices where a removable metal disk or cylinder was used only in a "programming" function without producing the sounds directly by means of pins and a comb. Instead, the cylinder (or disk) worked by actuating bellows and levers which fed and opened pneumatic valves which activated a modified wind instrument or plucked the chords on a modified string instrument. Some devices could do both at the same time and were often combinations of player pianos and music boxes, such as the Orchestrion.^{[citation needed]}

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, most music boxes were gradually replaced by player pianos, which were louder and more versatile and melodious, when kept tuned, and by the smaller gramophones which had the advantage of playing back voices. Regina produced combinations of these devices. Escalating labour costs increased the price and further reduced volume. Now modern automation is helping to bring music box prices back down.^{[citation needed]}

Collectors prize surviving music boxes from the 19th century and the early 20th century as well as new music boxes being made today in several countries (see "Evolving Box Production", below). Inexpensive, small windup music box movements (including the cylinder and comb and the spring) that add a bit of music to mass-produced jewellery boxes and novelty items are now produced in countries with low labour costs.^{[citation needed]}

Many kinds of music box movements are available to the home craft person, locally or through online retailers. A wide range of recordings and videos of historic music boxes is available on the web.^{[citation needed]}

Timeline

1760s: Watches are made in London by makers such as James Cox which have a pinned drum playing popular tunes on several small bells arranged in a stack.^{[citation needed]}

1780: The mechanical singing bird is invented by the Jaquet-Droz brothers, clockmakers from La Chaux-de-Fonds. In 1848, the manufacturing of the singing birds is improved by Blaise Bontems in his Parisian workshop, to the point where it has remained unchanged to this day. Barrel organs become more popular.^{[citation needed]}

1800: Isaac Daniel Piguet in Geneva produces repeating musical watches with a pinned horizontal disc operating radially arranged tuned steel teeth.^{[citation needed]}

1811: The first music boxes are produced in Sainte-Croix; an industry which surpasses the watchmaking and lace industries, and rapidly brings renown to the town. At this time, the musical-box industry represents 10% of Switzerland's export.^{[citation needed]} 1865: Charles Reuge, a watchmaker from the Val-de-Travers, settles in Sainte-Croix. He is one of many artisans making pocket watches with musical movements of the traditional calibre.^{[citation needed]}

1870: A German inventor creates a music box with discs, therefore allowing an easier and more frequent change of tunes. It is also the golden years of automata. Already known in Egypt, they will be improved to become real works of art.^{[citation needed]}

1892: Gustave Brachhausen, who had been involved with the manufacturer of Polyphon disk music boxes in Germany, sails for America to establish the Regina Music Box Company in New Jersey. Regina, whose boxes are renowned among collectors for their tone, becomes a success and some 100,000 are sold before sales cease in 1921.^{[citation needed]}

Early 20th century: The invention of the phonograph, the

First World War and the economic crisis in the '20s bring down Sainte-Croix's main industry and make the luxury music box completely disappear.^{[citation needed}

]

Between the two world wars most of the Swiss companies converted to the manufacture of other products requiring precise mechanical parts. Some went back to making watches, others were eventually responsible for the famous Bolex movie cameras and the Hermes typewriters. Some simply sold out to Reuge.^{[citation needed]}

Located near Lake Neuchâtel, Reuge is one of the last of the Swiss survivors making music boxes of all sizes and shapes, with or without automatons in a modern style with clear acrylic sides to see the mechanical operation. They have branched out widely from their original cylinder offerings over the years, and now offer traditional-looking music boxes with removable metal disks for around 1,000 euros, with each disk costing in the neighborhood of 14 euros. The higher range boxes with removable cylinders and small assorted tables made of fine woods can cost up to 34,000 euros. They also sell several models of clear acrylic paperweights with a music box movement inside, for a minimum of about 250 euros. They have, however, discontinued the smaller movements. Old Reuge music boxes are worth thousands of dollars but even so, cannot be compared to the fabulously large and highly complex music boxes which were produced in nineteenth-century Switzerland by legendary makers such as Nicole Frères or Paillard. Since approximatively 2007 Reuge developed a strong business in the world of "bespoke" customized pieces for leaders in business and politics.^{[citation needed]}

cellular phone companies, for use as ring tones. The company is an industrial concern which also makes magnetic and hologram card readers, appliance components, industrial robots and miniature motors of all kinds.^{[citation needed}

]

The Porter Music Box company of Vermont produces steel disc music boxes in several formats. They offer clockwork, spring-wound models as well as electric ones. They stand out by their continuing production of discs, with a selection of about a thousand tunes. The discs can also be played on many antique music boxes bearing the Polyphon and Regina brand names.^{[citation needed]}

The small 18-note musical movements are now being made almost exclusively in countries with low labour costs such as China and Taiwan. Many of these productions are used in mobiles, children's musical toys, and jewellery boxes.^{[citation needed]}

Coin-operated models

In Switzerland, coin-operated music boxes, usually capable of playing several tunes, were installed in places such as train stations and amusement parks. Some of the models had a mechanism for automatically changing the metal disks. These were, in a sense, the precursors to jukebox. However, they soon disappeared from their intended venues and were displaced by the jukebox, which could produce a greater variety of sounds and full songs rather than warped fragments.^{[citation needed]}

Because most of the coin-operated music boxes were built for rough treatment (such as slapping and kicking by a customer), many of these large models have survived into the 21st century, despite their relatively low production quantities. They are sought by collectors who have the space for their large cabinets.^{[citation needed]}

Parts

• The bedplate is the relatively heavy metal foundation on which all the other pieces are fastened, usually by screws.
• The ratchet lever or the windup key is used to put the spring motor under tension, which is to wind it up.
• The spring motor or motors (two or more can be used to make playing times longer) give anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more of playing time.
• The comb is a flat piece of metal with dozens or even hundreds of tuned teeth, or 'reeds', of different lengths.
• The cylinder is the programming object, a metallic version of a punched card which instead of having holes to express a program, is studded with tiny pins at the correct spacing to produce music by displacing the teeth of the comb at the correct time. The tines of the comb 'ring', or sound, as they slip off the pins. The disc in a disc music box plays this function, with pins perpendicular to the plane surface.
• Multiple-tune cylinders have more than one set of pins intertwined on the same cylinder, with, for example, the B pins for a second song lying halfway between the B and C pins of the first song, etc. Offsetting the cylinder slightly relative to the comb brings the different set of pins into contact with the teeth, thereby playing an alternate piece of music. Many modern music boxes will have as many as four sets of pins intertwined, with a mechanism automatically shifting the cylinder from one song or movement to the next.^{[citation needed]}