Requirements:

Poser 6 and up

Departments:

3D Models•Props•Musical
3D Models•Props•Technology

Available Uses:

Standard License

John Hartwig, XIX century inventor of various steam powered machines and equipment, always dreamt of the benefits and improvements steam power could bring to mankind. Unfortunately, most of his products brought just the opposite - death, destruction, and sorrow. These weapons and other military hardware were the most successful & profitable products that Hartwig's Enterprises made.

Ironically, thanks to the commercial success of these products of destruction, Hartwig was finally able to realize some of his dream of bettering the world. These new steam-powered machines were very affordable, making them readily available to almost everyone. Among them, Hartwig designed a number of multi-instrument music machines which were produced during the last decade of the XIX century.

The most popular of these music machines was the Orchestrola - a portable steam-powered instrument combining an organ, trumpets, drums & cymbals. The Orchestrola, as well as other similar instruments from the same series, was based on a vertical tubular boiler with an inner furnace and a long stack to create the proper draft. Steam generated by the boiler was guided into a circular steam distribution chamber, routed to individual calibrated pressure tanks, and finally into the instruments themselves. In addition, it was used to transmit signals from the keyboard and other controls. Each instrument could then be played directly by the operator or through a simple mechanical programming device.

The Orchestrola became very popular in many circuses, military bands, and thanks to its affordability, even street musicians.