Orchestrion

Orchestrion [orchestra], automatophone imitating the orchestra, played by organ pipes controlled by perforated cards, pinned cylinders, or similar devices, of late-18th-c. invention. The idea, if not the name, is a good deal earlier: Athanasius Kircher in the 17th c. describes what was probably the first orchestrion. During its heyday in the 19th c., large orchestrions had up to 40 registers and 12 cylinders. Smaller but elaborately finished ones were supplied to private homes, with as many as…