Kaleidophon

Found this last night when I was looking for a present for Joe (character in my novel) to take his son in 1896.


 Mechanically operated Percussion Instruments

 

Automated percussion instruments manufactured in Leipzig mainly consisted of children’s toys. Boys’ and children’s ensembles mainly used mechanically operated bell lyres (portable glockenspiels) and small, crank operated drums in order to produce automated march rhythms and drum rolls. These bell lyres and automated drums completed small marching bands and could be operated by any child regardless of their skills in drumming and music reading.

Leipzig manufacturers of glockenspiels and their product names with start of production:

1896	Uhlig, Schwerin & co	Kaleidophon
1906	Leipziger Musikwerke EUPHONIKA	Glockenspiel

Leipzig manufacturers of mechanically operated drums with start of production:

1903	Meinel, Ottomar
1904	Apollo Musikwerke
1905	Herkules-Musikwerke

Also found this much earlier, when Joe was buying Fanny Stevenson a birthday present:

This is the first Swiss Army Knife, although it was called something else back then.

I've learned many things in researching this saga. The 1890s marked many milestones: the first popular use of silk underwear by women, the start of popular use of the bicycle, the first colored magazines (done by hand),
Magic Lantern shows put on all over the place, the streamlining of the photographic process.