Popper's Ohio Orchestrion Flex-A-Tone Demonstration at Siegfried's Mechanisches Musikkabinett

This is a video of the Popper's Ohio orchestrion with all instruments except for the piano and percussion turned off. It is set like that in this video so the sound of the flex-a-tone can be heard loud and clear over the piano. I tried to get the best angles I could of the mechanism that controls it, but the actual flex-a-tone is on top of the orchestrion. The string going upward goes to the part of the flex-a-tone that bends.
The mechanism operates by a series of pneumatics, each with a slightly different travel distance. Strings go from the tip of each pneumatic to a wooden dowel that all of the strings attach to. Depending on which pneumatic is activated, the wooden rod will move more (very low) for higher notes (higher tension) and not much as much (just barely lower than resting position) for higher notes (less tension). The main string that controls the flex-a-tone is attached to the wooden dowel and is wrapped around a pulley pneumatic that generates a vibrato effect.
Since each pneumatic gets progressively larger (and each string gets smaller), only the highest note on the roll is played by the flex-a-tone. The lower notes still activate, but it doesn't do any difference since the wooden dowel is already being pulled farther than it would be if it were just the lower note playing. They are not additive. You can actually see the wooden dowel moving in the video as the flex-a-tone plays.
Popper certainly had some interesting instruments in their orchestrions. I'm not sure that the practical use of a flex-a-tone would be in an orchestrion, but it's a fun little party trick to show off for whoever owned it. Enjoy!

[@misterroehre]

"So lang' nicht die Hose am Kronleuchter hängt"