The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-27
FREAKS IN MUSIC BOXES.
Some Of the Queer Shapes They
Come In.
From the Washington star.

rious harmony while you fill your tumbler
and until you set it down again. What
looks like ice in the bottom of it is a con-
| cealment for a bit of machinery that pro-
| duces two tunes. The price of the arti-
Gle music and all, is only $3.50.
After dinner your host offers you a CT
gar You choose one and strike match
on the corrugated surface attached to the
| cup from which you took the weed. At
| once sweet music begins to be heard, the
| striking of the match having released
| the spring that starts It, This piece of
mechanism is wound up by few turns of
the ash receiver, which makes part of
the smoking apparatus described. The
! price asked for such q continuance at the
| shop is 81 So
In the dressing-room provided by your
| entertainer on this same occasion you
may have found a toilet set in box on
| the bureau. When the box was Opene.i
very likely it began to play tune, the
| musical machinery being concealed in the
| lower part of the receptacle. At the CON
| clusiOn of the dinner a fruit plate is set
| down before you. Harmonious sounds
! proceeding from it excite your wonder,
and your hostess explains that the pretty
| piece of china is loaded with melody by
winding it up. 1t plays for five minutes
and has two tunes One can get such
| plates for $40 each.
| If the hostess has occasion to summon a
servant by means of a call bell the instru-
ment responds with a tune. No winding
| is needed in this case, the pushing down
| of the button at the top supplying the
| power to run the mechanism for Ealf a
minute or so. This cOntrivance cost So.
| On the sideboard is water pitcher which
| resem bles the water bottle, having within
| it concealed music box, Adjoining TO
| the drawing-room you venture to look
| inside of a photograph album on the
! center table. On being opened it begins
! to play
On the mantelpiece is a miniature Swiss
chalet, in the front of which appears the
| face of an eight-day clock Every hour
! the timepiece plays a tune, instead of
| striking, hidden music box being run by
! the time-keeping machinery. 1t has six
| tunes. BY the way, clocks are made now
| adays which 90 400 days without winding.
| But their mechanism is exceedingly deli
| cate, and any jar is likely to put it out of
order. However, your attention is with
drawn from the timepiece by your host,
| who offers you pinch of snuff from a
! gold snuffbox.
No, you do not take snuff. It is just as
well, for the snuffboX is not real one.
Your host touches a spring and, the lid of
| the box flying open, out pops little bird
in bright feathers, which MARBLES most
! beautifully for two or three minutes.
! Then it pops back agoin, the lid shutting
upon 1t and concealing 1t from view The
! continuance is quite a complicated one,
the mechanism being as elaborate as that
| of a watch. 1t is run by spring and
! clockwork, with little bellows and
whistle. You cannot buy one for less
than $3.50.
The bird in this case is very small-not
more than an inch long. But you can get
a full-sized artificial sOngster in a gilded
4 cage, which will carol to your hearts con-
tent for the trouble of winding it up. You
| can have a canary, robin, or nightin-
| gale, as you choose. For 500 you can pur-
chase such bird, with a porcelain vase
and imitation flowers, among which the
feathered warbler perches. The mechan-
| ism of clockwork, bellows and whistle is
| the same. Two songsters of this kind
| render melodious the diningroom at
tached to Phil Days gambling house at
! Long Branch
Music boxes have become wonderfully
! cheap of late years. Nearly all of them
are made in Switzerland. Although forty
! five per cent duty is charged on them,
| you can buy one with q single tune for as
! little as 20 cents. For 81 As you can get
| one with three tunes These are of the
! cylindrical pattern, somewhat resembling
| cans of pressed meat in outside appear
| ance. Children have them for playthings
! in the nursery. Their melody is pro
| duced by the continual turning of liOtle
crank. For 81. 60 one can purchase a rect
angular box with four tunes, which goes
! by means of spring, just like big one.
| A very pretty box with eight tunes can
be bought for SIS.
The small cost of labor in Switzerland
renders it possible to produce these
| boxes at such prices. OF course, the
most essential parts of the mechanism
are the roller and the steel comb The
| little pins projecting from the surface of
! the roller catch the teeth of the comb and
make the music. Necessarily. the adjust
| ment of the pins on the roller is a slow
and careful process They have to be
| put in one by one by hand. Women
do this work, the distance of the
| pins being gauged 'by a mechanical con-
! trivance.
The comb is cut out by machine and is
| filed down by hand to the tone required.
| BY the aut omatic shifting of the roller it
is made to serve for several tunes But
not more than eight tunes are put ordi-
narily on one cylinder. The fewer tunes
| the better the tone of the instrument, the
comb being finer. When there are many
tunes, wider spaces must be left between
the teeth of the comb for the pins to pass
through which are not intended to con-
tribute to the music.
One style of music box is made with
two combs for the reason just mentioned.
| This is called sublime harmony" The
volume of sound produced by it is much
greater. Such a box with ten tunes
costs 800 Other styles are called re-
spectively the ''piccOlo,'' the 'tremolo,"
the guitar and the mandolin" &C
cording to the instruments which they
are supposed to initiate. The comb of
the ''piccolo'' has an octave of short and
very fine teeth, giving very high and al
most shrill notes, like the little flute it
counterfeits. These notes, high above
the staff, produce beautiful effect.
The ''tremOlOn has quaver in every
note, like the singing of a third rate
tenor. This is very pleasing to some peo-
pie, though not to good judges of music
Attached to most Of the music boxes now
adays is a device for giving what is called
the either effect" This is simply an ar
rangement for bringing into contact with
the teeth OF the comb strip of tissue
paper Its effects on the notes is very
much like that of a sheet of paper laid
upon the strings Of a piano. 1t is not
pleasing to the educated ear.
The finest type of music box is a com
plete OrchestriOn four or five feet long,
with bellows and reeds. 1t is a complete
orchestra in a box and will fill a large
room with sound having sweet bells and
rolling drums TO help the ensemble. An
instrument like this costs 81 $50 Some
people make the objection that such big
music boxes look too much like collins 10
get over this difficulty articles Of furni-