link piano and organ company
compliments of the smith american organ and piano company: 531 tremont street, boston, mass .
compliments of the smith american organ and piano company: 531 tremont street, boston, mass .
home prints compliments of the smith american organ and piano company: 531 tremont street, boston, mass .
compliments of the smith american organ and piano company: 531 tremont street, boston, mass. :: prints
pipe organ rolls: link also made pipe organ music rolls for the company' s
link c sharpe minor unit organ .
these music rolls have a completely different tracker scale than do the coin pianos rolls, and include many tracker holes for controlling various ranks of pipes. link pipe organs and rolls are not included in the link piano company database. these rolls are generally labeled as endless - roll self - playing organ music for link orchestral pipe - organ. a man by the name of roberts arranged link organ rolls along with bill sabin. at least some of the self - playing organ music was shown as
improvised by william d. sabin .
smith american organ company - - pictorial works. children in advertising - - pictorial works .
the senior ed liked what he saw, for he purchased the firm, changed the name to the link piano company (later the link piano and organ company), and from then until the firm went under in the late 1920' s proceeded to ship their instruments all over the united states .
about this time, the unit theater organ began to appear in the larger motion picture theaters in place of piano accompaniment. and, in 1914, the link company built its first automatic theater pipe organ. this consisted of a piano with the keyboard attached to two cabinets containing four ranks of organ pipes and a four - roll automatic player. the piano could be played manually, or the whole combination could be controlled by buttons from the film operator' s booth .
central southern new york state might be called the birthplace of modern organ building. for centuries pipe organs were used only for church and concert work. it took the inventive ideas of robert hope - jones, owner of an organ building company in elmira, ny, to free the organ from its bondage as a solemn church instrument and start it on its way to becoming the modern unit orchestral theater organ .
the frank beeman organ company of binghamton was probably the oldest in this area. although not parlicularly successful in the theater organ field, the company was one of the outstanding builders of church organs, to which it applied some of the new techniques developed through hope - jones' pioneering .
over the next 18 months, link worked in his father' s piano and organ factory' s basement to create a machine that could mimic the experiences of flying an airplane without ever leaving the ground. link applied the principles he had mastered in building fine organs to the design of his new flight training device. the pilot trainer' s stubby wooden cockpit fuselage was mounted on organ bellows that link had borrowed from his father' s piano factory. an electric pump drove the organ bellows that allowed the trainer to bank, climb and dive as a pilot operated the controls in the cockpit .
in march of 1916 the link piano company had an orchestral organ on display. the organ as described ,
is entirely automatic in its operation, three tracker - boards being provided so that the pictures may be followed accurately at all times. one of the most important features of this instrument is the fact that the person operating it may be located in another part of the theatre, a set of push - buttons enabling the operator to control the three tracker - boards at will .
by the 1920s link marketed a line of unified, electro - pneumatic theatre organs, which were marketed nationwide through distributors, but were never important in the music trade. these pipe organs were manufactured mainly for the mortuary and theater trade, although some were made for private home use as well, and were marketed under the name
link c sharpe minor unit organ .
by the mid 1920s the link piano and organ company had expanded its coin piano line and was turning out about 300 coin operated pianos and a dozen or more theater pipe organs per annum .
back in huntington, indiana, during the early 1900' s, shaft brothers piano company, a small company, headed by george t. link, was manufacturing and selling pianos to the automatic musical company of 183 - 185 water street, binghamton. this company went into receivership in 1910, and mr. link' s son, edwin a. link, was designated by the creditors to go to binghamton to operate the company. the links with their two sons, george t. link and edwin a. link, jr. , moved from huntington to binghamton that same year. mr. link, sr. , operated the company very successfully for several years and later purchased it from the creditors. he changed the name to the link piano company. during this period, the business consisted chiefly in the manufacture of various models of automatic pianos or coin pianos (presently known as nickelodeons because they were coin - operated), extremely popular in the ice cream parlors and bars of the day .
charles wellman was an early piano roll arranger for automatic musical company, who in the 1908 binghamton city directory was listed as a musician, and in the 1915 directory was listed as a
music cutter .
his stint as arranger and / or
music cutter
was apparently before and during the formative days of ray deyo' s association with the automatic musical company, and later its successor, the link piano company .
automatic musical company endless rolls: automatic musical company rolls are the predecessor to the link rx and c type music rolls, and they both used the same basic note scale and tracker bar layout. link rx and c rolls will play on an automatic musical piano, and vice versa, however there are some minor differences. early automatic musical company rolls do not use the expression controls (tracker holes # 1 and # 2) commonly encoded into late automatic musical rolls and all link rx and c rolls. expression in the early automatic musical company instruments was limited to piano soft and sustaining pedals. it is unknown whether automatic musical company cut music roll on premises, or not, but it is known that at least some of the early rolls were arranged and cut by the u. s. music company, chicago, illinois .
click here for a facsimile link piano company instruction sheet. this instructional information on the use and care of link coin pianos consists of the text from an original link flyer that has been re - set in a similar type font and formatted to closely resemble the original document. the textual information is courtesy of dana johnson .
ed' s funeral services were private for the family, but his importance in the community required greater in the way of a means for individuals to pay their respects, so' two memorial services were held in the sears - harlcness' hall where the organ resides - one on a saturday for employees of the link company, and one on sunday for friends of the family. at each service, there were remarks by a local clergyman, comments about ed' s life by one of his close friends, and then - of all things, a theatre organ recital by searle wright who is a professor of organ in the music school of the state university of new york, a man who actually had received his first lesson at age 12 on the organ from ed himself, and on that very same organ !
there is some confusion as to the final close - out sale of the link piano company assets. the 1932 binghamton city directory lists both the link piano company and aviation school at the water street building. referring to the article mentioned above in the november - december, 1932, issue of the presto it is stated that all factory contents had been liquidated. but did this refer to the assets of both the link piano company and the aviation school, or just for the link piano company? perhaps substantiating that a liquidation sale did occur within 1932 is something in the writing' s of the late lyle martin, whereupon he observed that link music roll rx15416 had a deo label on the box and it had tunes from late 1932. if ray deyo began perforating music rolls under his own name by late 1932 then he must have acquired one of the link roll perforators when the link piano company plant was closed out, or maybe a perforator was merely given to him before the sale, after the company had given up pursuing any further business activity. but in the march 29, 1933, issue of the binghamton press is successor notice for a
public auction of the link piano company .
in bold letters ,
everything must be sold; building must be vacated in the next few days .
it may be that the first
finale
sale in 1932 cleared out assets of any persistent value used for piano and organ manufacturing, such as metal and woodworking machinery, while the second and really finale sale in 1933 cleared out anything remaining within the building, so that it would be clean and vacated .
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as larger and more elaborate movie palaces were built and more versatile organs were demanded, the link theater organ grew in size and complexity. george theron link, ed' s older brother, became general manager of the link company when his father retired as president. in 1925, the link company was fortunate in acquiring as art adviser on its staff, the most famous theater organist of the day, c. sharpe minor, feature organist at grauman' s million dollar theater, the first super - movie house in los angeles. under mr. minor' s direction, a new line of unit theater organs was designed and built, which incorporated many new stops and a new approach to toning. his concerts throughout the country on the new link c. sharpe minor unit organs brought new fame to the link company .
c. sharpe minor also achieved renown by organizing his own road show around a portable link unit organ. housed in six large cases, it could be moved from one city to another and set up very quickly. a three manual organ with 8 ranks of pipes, it was elaborately staged with velvet curtains and a console heavily set with sparkling, diamondlike jewels. accompanying the show were dancers, singers and various vaudeville acts. the following photo is of c. sharpe minor, edwin a. link, sr. , and lucile mead at the installation of the two - manual residence - type organ at the mead home in laguna beach, ca .
john a. marquette, of detroit, michigan, conducted business under the name of marquette musical company, also known as the automatic orchestra company, and sometimes used the trademark name of
marcola .
the company was known to have reconditioned and sold various american made coin pianos. under the marcola brand the company produced at least two cabinet style orchestrions, maybe more, but only two such instruments are known to exist as of this writing. curiously, the marcola orchestrion was made by taking an intact automatic musical company (forerunner of the link piano company) keyboardless piano with pipes, stripping off the doors and top, and then fitting the instrument inside a much larger case fitted with colorful art glass panels. the identity of the true manufacturer was concealed by fastening a cast iron plate over the automatic musical company, binghamton, new york name cast into the piano plate, with the covering plate showing the automatic orchestra company, detroit, michigan as the builder .
in 1965, he had fitted the local cultural center with, large (3 / 10) link pipe organ that he had installed in binghamton' s capitol theatre as a young man, having purchased it back when the building was demolished he wanted the new generations to be aware of the beauties of theatre organ music, and since that time many famed artists have performed on it .
click here for the factory location and key personnel timelines, which is in pdf format. the timeline information is a product of the tireless research by charles (rusty) king and glenn grabinsky, who are both enthusiastic fans of the link piano company and its colorful history. the accompanying photographs that adorn the timeline pages are courtesy of rusty king, with one due to the further courtesy of the broome county library. the timelines presented offer a linear comparison of factory locations for the automatic musical company and link piano company, as well as timelines for louis h. harris, for george r. thayer (inventor and mechanical genius), for george raymond deyo (music arranger), for george theron link and his son edwin albert link (senior), and lastly for matthew j. kennedy, all key people in the history of link coin pianos .
for years mr. goolman has been at work on this invention. the harris player piano company is headed by louis h. harris, and mr. goolman is an officer. mrs. harris and others from new york are also interested. h. c. haggerty of endicott, an officer of the' international time recording company, is also in the company. as a result of this new invention an expansion of the present company, or the creation of an entirely new company, is in prospect .
changing link endless music rolls: for information on how to change endless music rolls in link coin pianos please click here to go to changing a link endless music roll, a pictorial demonstration by rusty king .
we at piano organ depot sell hallet davis pianos. hallet, davis & co. can trace its origins to the year 1835. it was among the oldest of the historic boston piano companies. many world - famous pianists have chosen hallet, davis & co. as their favorite piano. the world - renown composer franz liszt played on one at the great paris exposition in 1867 .
from the comments by ed link, jr. , and the fact that he even remembered mr. marquette and the marcola brand, it seems plausible that at least a few link pianos may have been bought and then converted into marcola machines. but this is just unconfirmed speculation, because the only marcola machines known to exist as of this writing were built using stripped down automatic musical company instruments, before edwin link took over the assets and operation of the company .
ed was born and raised into the coin - op piano business, for his father was involved with the schaff brothers piano company in huntington, indiana - and occasionally today a schaff piano can be seen with a decal under its lid specifying conditions of warranty, affixed with the signature of edwin a. link (sr .). when ed (jr .) was 5 years old, his dad went to binghamton, new
george raymond deyo was the talented chief music arranger of link music rolls. as a young man he attended a local music conservatory and in 1908 began working for the automatic musical company as an assembler, while still a student at the conservatory. for the next few years he apparently worked as both a musician and as an assembler for automatic musical, but by 1916 he had become a full time employee of the link piano company .
from 1916 up until 1933 mr. deyo arranged most of the link piano music. the organ rolls were arranged by william sabin, an experienced musician who had played with john philip sousa’s band. after the link plant closed in march of 1933, ray deyo acquired at least one of the three link perforating machines and continued to supply link rx music rolls under the “deo” label. business decreased steadily and eventually the perforator was scrapped and the remaining rolls burned as firewood. the last known “deo” roll is no. 10547, a 10 - tune roll issued in 1937, with tunes that seem to be qrs piano roll arrangements but with expression and mandolin and / or xylophone controls added by mr. deyo. link aviation was off to a slow but steady start in 1936 and mr. deyo went to work there, along with some of the other former link piano company employees. somewhere in the binghamton university archives is an article by ed link where he writes about the formative days of the link aviation company, selling a trainer or two to the us army, a few to the us navy, and one here and there to aviation schools. one of the first big orders was six machines to the japanese government, which turned out to be a mistake, but no one foresaw world war ii at the time .
the primary information that went into building up the link piano company database was gathered over a period of many years by charles w. (rusty) king, art reblitz, and dana johnson, friends and longtime link history buffs, collectors, and experts in restoration of various automatic pianos and orchestrions. whenever these men had access to an automatic musical company or link piano or orchestrion they recorded certain mechanical and historical details of interest. many other people, listed under acknowledgments in the introduction to the registry, also submitted information to art reblitz. the result of their dedicated effort is presented in an orderly, easy to read format in the report offered below .
link rx and c rolls (61 playing notes – endless): link rx and c rolls used a common tracker scale, and they could be played on all link coin pianos that were not orchestrions. instruments using rx and c rolls include keyboard styles r, c, and e, as well as keyboardless (cabinet) styles 2, 2e and 2ex. link rx rolls tended to feature toe - tapping piano arrangements of popular music suitable for public gathering places, while c rolls include classical arrangements .
when the wurlitzer company bought out hope - jones and moved the business to tonawanda, n. y. in 1910, the southern tier by no means lost its organ - building trade. a number of small companies, some with hope - jones trained men, had sprung up in new york state, including several in binghamton. these companies, devoted to church organ building, recognized the increased potential of the new techniques and soon modernized their practices and voicing techniques to take advantage of the new flexibility .
trade card with image of a child seated playing a drum framed by foliage and a flower. text on verso gives a 531 tremont st. address for the smith american organ and piano co. which was founded in 1852. gift of charles e. mason, jr. 1981. # 8164 .
the earliest instruments had “automatic musical co. ” cast into the piano plate, while the link piano company’s trade - mark decal was on the piano' s fallboard, but any reference to the former automatic musical company soon changed as old pre - link stock was used up. link vigorously promoted the endless roll as an advantage and successfully used this format up until the end of coin piano production in 1929. other coin piano manufacturers, in contrast, generally preferred the rewind type of roll transport, mainly due to the ease of quickly changing music rolls. about 80% of link’s sales were to route operators, who found the endless mechanism to be simpler and easier to maintain, and there was no unproductive pause while a music roll rewound. for the non - technically oriented owner of a restaurant or other public place changing an endless roll was a clumsy and often very time consuming process in dealing with the pile of looped paper, especially when comparison to what was required to change rolls on a rewind - type instrument .
link simulation and training is a systems integration organization that specializes in delivering and supporting training systems and equipment that enhance operational proficiency. link has major operations in arlington, tx; binghamton, ny; orlando, fl; broken arrow, ok; and phoenix, az .
in march of 1901 the brothers benjamin and louis h. harris (sales agents for roth & engelhardt, of st. johnsville, new york), along with frederick root goolman (an inventor and technician who had formerly worked for roth & engelhardt) formed a partnership that was soon to become the automatic musical company of binghamton, new york (the forerunner of the link piano company). goolman immediately began development on the self - playing xylophone (actually a misnomer, because the device played metal bell bars, not wooden xylophone bars). in 1902 and 1903 the instrument was marketed nationwide, but it was soon realized that the device was a commercial failure. goolman was then asked to develop a coin operated piano and in 1904 the company' s
reliable
keyboard style coin operated piano had been perfected. it was a marketing success and became the mainstay product of the company. goolman patent # 917, 288 for the reliable self - playing piano in pdf format .
most link aficionados agree that ray deyo’s musical arrangements on link piano rolls are superb, and some of the best arranged and snappiest sounding pieces to be heard on coin operated pianos. particularly on the later rolls, deyo used the link expression system (far advanced from most other coin piano systems) to add even more gusto to his evolving repertoire of syncopation and rhythm patterns. he had a knack for really making the xylophone “talk” by using intricate runs and trills specifically tailored to this particular instrument. this was accomplished through the use of clever arranging techniques, as well as by making expert use of the advanced accenting system found in later built link pianos. moreover, link used a reiterating xylophone with an action timed to repeat at a slightly slower rate than was the case for xylophone actions used in some other coin piano brands. the link system was fast acting, such that a single perforation on the music roll would make a link xylophone beater strike the bar only once, while a longer, sustained perforation would cause the vibrating sound as long as the piano note held its tone .
success was immediate. in january of 1914 matthew j. kennedy announced that he would be the vice - president and general manager of the link piano company and would have entire charge of the western business of the company, with branch offices and wholesale warerooms on the third floor of the wexford building in chicago. two instruments, a style o and a style r, were set up in the new display room, where prospective customers found the instrument to be very attractive. a january advertisement described the link coin - operated piano as
the missing link in electric piano construction .
link adopted as its signature trademark four links of a chain with one letter of the name within each link .
we selected this trade - mark ,
said m. j. kennedy ,
because we believed it to be original and easily remembered and because there have been four big links in our success—our four piano styles. they have been the basis of the business we have attained. perhaps the most popular of the quartet has been our style r. the reasons for its popularity are easily understood when all of its distinctive features are known... .
however some mystery remains here, because this revealing music trade review article of april 4, 1914, makes no mention of the three other piano styles making up the so - called
link quartet .
an example of the link trade - mark can be seen by clicking on the thumbnail image at above left .
this history of automatic musical company and link is abbreviated from the much more detailed history in the forthcoming guide book of coin - operated american pianos and orchestrions by reblitz and bowers. a work in progress, its availability will be announced on the home page of this web site and other mechanical music resources .
because of these improvements. the unit orchestral organ gained great popularity during the era of the twenties when the great motion picture houses were being built. in those days of the silent movies, an organ was a must for any self - respecting theater. at the same time, there was an increased demand for organs in private homes since they were now more colorful in tone and capable of playing not only classical, but also popular music .
in 1911, his holiness, pope pius x selected a hallet, & davis & co. piano for the vatican, and awarded the hallet, & davis company a gold medal in recognition of the beautiful qualities of the instrument .
as ed link remembered, ray deyo arranged all of his master rolls on a drawing board. in later years this seems to have led to the idea that deyo did not or maybe could not play the piano. recently, however, it was discovered that he was organist for the binghamton elk’s lodge (on a wurlitzer organ), suggesting that he could indeed play keyboard instruments quite well .
despite link’s use of the term “marimbaphone, ” most pianos with that instrument featured a xylophone tuned an octave higher than its associated piano notes, as in the seeburg k and e. a few cabinet - style links, however, did have a marimba instead of a xylophone. the marimba featured heavier bars, and it was tuned an octave lower than the standard link xylophone, or to the same pitch as the associate piano notes .
through his ideas of electrification, pipe unit construction, flexible stop tabs instead of draw knobs, and a convenient arrangenment of stops in a horseshoe shape above the keyboards. hope - jones made it possible to reproduce the many beautiful and bright tones of the full symphony orchestra as well as the more somber tones of the church organ. his most important contribution was definitely his system of pipe unification. until then each manual could play only a limited number of basic pipes or
ranks .
by utilizing an intricate system of relays and switches, he made it possible to play every rank from every manual at many different pitches. in other words, a unit organ of six ranks could achieve greater variation than a straight organ with more than 30 ranks .
around 1910 the automatic musical company was in dire financial straits and facing bankruptcy, essentially due to an unsettled patent infringement lawsuit, a serious downturn in sales following the 1907 panic, and other in - house factors. the company had been buying many of their pianos from the schaff piano company, located in huntington, indiana, who through a generous extension of credit had effectively become an investor in the company. finally unable to pay their bills, a committee of creditors appointed edwin a. link, then president of the schaff piano company, as receiver and asked him to go to binghamton and see if he could save the company from complete ruin .
e. a. link to binghamton ,
was the headline for an article in the music trade review of july 16, 1910 :
binghamton, n. y. , will have a new resident shortly, as e. a. link, now of the schaff bros. co. , huntington, ind. , is about to settle in the former city as manager of the automatic musical co. the schaff bros. co. are said to be interested in the automatic musical co. , and the change will probably not affect in any way the policy of the huntington concern .
their choice of edwin a. link was a logical one, because his duties with schaff, including upper level management, had at one time encompassed checking on suppliers and maintaining quality on the production line, a combination of skills that made him an ideal person to attempt a rescue of the automatic musical company .
in october of 1905, the binghamton press reported that the company had
just placed an order with the brewer - pryor piano company, also of this city, for 1, 000 pianos to be delivered within the present year. another order for 500 additional instruments to be supplied within the year has also been placed with another manufacturer .
who this other
brand x
piano manufacturer was is unknown. however, it is known that over the years amc did purchase pianos from both schaff and haddorff (and these two concerns were amongst the creditors at the later 1913 bankruptcy proceedings), and there are extant amc specimens built around either a schaff or haddorff piano. curiously, there are currently no known surviving amc instruments with a piano attributed to the brewer - pryor piano company, albeit due to the paucity of surviving amc machines this apparent lack proves nothing. nevertheless, the newspaper article continued by proclaiming that
the business of this company has grown so rapidly that it is fast becoming one of the most important factors of this city’s industrial growth .
ed link' s contributions to enhancing pilot training and making aviation safer around the world are extraordinary ,
said jim dunn, president of l - 3 communications' link simulation and training division .
as a visionary 75 years ago he recognized the tremendous value a ground - based flight trainer could bring in improving the skills of both new and experienced pilots. by inventing the first pilot training device and continuing to make significant contributions throughout his aviation career, ed link spawned the creation of what today is a multi - billion dollar simulation industry .
link' s odyssey in becoming the
father of flight simulation
began in 1927 when, at the age of 23, he began working for his father at the link piano and organ factory in binghamton, ny. he built pianos and tuned organs, a job that required a thorough knowledge of the pumps, valves and bellows that directed the air power within the instrument. it was during this period that link, whose passion was aviation, began to wonder if he could create a training device that could give pilots the skills they would need to safely fly .
building a piano is a demanding and precise art. it is a task based on knowledge and experience, and on the devotion of the builders to an unswerving ideal - never to compromise quality .
binghamton, n. y. , will soon have a new industry if present plans of the harris player piano company go through. these plans call for a capitalization of $ 500, 000 and a plant employing from 300 to 500 skilled workers .
link serial numbers: a 4 - digit rubber stamped number about 5 / 8
high, located somewhere between the bass and tenor sections on the pin block or plate. on very late pianos it is on a wood backed brass plate that is attached to the inside of the case. on link rebuilds of earlier automatic musical company instruments the link serial number was stamped on a piece of paper that was then glued under the schaff number. unfortunately, many of these pasted on link numbers have been lost due to one reason or another .
here are links to the main pages of our site. piano depot used pianos we sell quality refurbished used pianos
york, to see what he could do to protect the interests of a group of creditors for the binghamton automatic musical company, a firm which purchased pianos from mid - west piano - makers, and who then installed all the music - roll mechanisms and coin slots and noise makers, for re - sale to
route operators .
in late 1906 the automatic musical company was incorporated by louis h. harris, fred r. goolman, frederick p. ackerman, and samuel h. harris of binghamton, n. y. , with capitalization of $ 250, 000. 00. then in july of 1908 louis h. harris was amongst the incorporators of yet another company, the automatic music operating company, with a capitalization of $ 20, 000. 00, and whose purpose was
the purchase and sale of all kinds of automatic instruments and everything connected with them .
it was also noted that the company would act as selling agents for the automatic music company, also of binghamton, n. y. , with branch offices to be located in the principal cities of the country .
the bass coupling in early instruments was enabled by means of pallet valves mounted above and actuated by the piano keys. later, link did away with the pallet valves and used the type of reverse pouch valves common in many late link keyboard pianos. the appropriate stack valves for the coupled low octave were tubed to their corresponding reverse pouch valves on notes an octave higher to play the coupled piano octave notes. the few orchestrions with pipes built after this change continued to use the earlier pallet valve system for coupling .
three brands of electric motors have been observed to date in link coin pianos: westinghouse, robbins & meyers, and holtzer - cabot, in roughly that chronological order, but with some overlap. it is possible that the earlier automatic musical company used westinghouse motors, and link continued using them for a while after the acquisition of certain automatic assets. the other brands were probably used later due to price competition .
automatic musical company' s unique mandolin attachment: normally when a collector thinks about a mandolin attachment what comes to mind is a curtain made of bellows cloth or leather strips with a metal tab or hollow brass tube fastened to the end of each strip. when this
curtain
of strips is lowered in front of the piano hammers the metal tabs or tubes hit the pianos strings producing a tinkling sound reminiscent of a mandolin. thus the mandolin attachment has come to be generally known is a simple adornment to a piano that produces what can be characterized as an effect representing the playing of one or more mandolins. but not so for the automatic musical company, who took a completely different and novel approach. the mandolin piano, introduced in 1906, is a prime example of the company' s effort to bring forth what may be the only true free - standing mandolin plucking or strumming device installed in a coin piano, one that was not dependent upon the normal piano action and strings for the mandolin effect. please click on the image at right for detail about this amazing and clever invention .
the automatic musical company conducted business out of several locations during its business lifespan. the first location was at 96 state street, the next at 53 chenango street, and the third at 22 - 26 henry street, all in binghamton, new york. the chenango and henry street buildings have since been demolished. but the final and most elaborate factory location for the automatic musical company, and later its successor, the link piano company, was located at 183 - 185 water street, also in binghamton, new york. with a footprint of 44 by 100 feet the four - story masonry building facing on water street (frontage exposure), dwight street (a side street between water and center streets), and center street (rear access) is thought to have started out as the bundy time recorder / international time recorder company building, or at least the building was occupied by these companies as early as 1900. in 1908 ownership of the building was changed to that of the automatic musical company, and at some point between 1908 and 1912 a brick extension of some 17 feet was added to the top of the structure, making it into a six story masonry building .
but, alas, the stalwart efforts of louis h. harris, a founding force in the automatic musical company (predecessor to the link piano company) and other companies was to come to a sudden end. in the march 1915 issue of the music trade review was this notice: death of louis h. harris .
louis h. harris, manager of the harris piano player co. , binghamton, n. y. , died suddenly last week at his home in that city in his fifty - seventh year. he had just returned from his office to his home and was found dead on the floor by his wife, who shortly afterwards entered. he is survived by his widow, two brothers, samuel harris, and benjamin, and one married sister who resides in syracuse .
in the meantime, louis h. harris was apparently undaunted by previous business troubles. in the presto of january 8, 1914, was this headlined notice :
new instrument for the movies: company being formed at binghamton to make operator act as piano player .
announcement in the music trade review of the upcoming february 14, 1913, receiver' s sale for the automatic musical company' s assets .
very often a few pictures of the old and rather dilapidated multi - story masonry factories where band organs, coin pianos, and orchestrions were once manufactured are included in historic articles and books, but seldom if ever is the actual physical layout of the factory mentioned. what kind of work was carried out on the various floors, and how did they move the heavy stuff around? while doing some research at the broome county library, rusty king came across some revealing sanborn fire insurance maps that related to the 183 - 85 water street. binghamton, new york, multi - story brick building housing the automatic musical company, and later its successor, the link piano company. the floor use was described as follows :
automatic musical company, predecessor of the link piano company, and several other coin piano manufacturers at one time or another made use of endless music rolls. there were advantages and disadvantages compared to the typically predominate rewind music roll system. some advantages of endless rolls were, first, there was no out of service period while a music roll was rewound, sometimes very slowly, whereby an endless music roll was always ready to play at the drop of the next coin; secondly, the music roll transport mechanism was mechanically much simpler and cheaper to build; and thirdly, from the music roll arrangers point of view no tempo adjustments to the music were necessary, as was the case for rewind type music rolls. for the rewind system the paper speed over the tracker bar increases as the music winds onto and piles up on the take up spool; there is no such problem with endless rolls. probably the greatest disadvantage of endless rolls is dealing with the unfurled wad of paper that has to be dealt with when changing music rolls. in contrast, for the rewind system the music roll is always constrained between the music roll spool and take up spool, and when rewound it is easy to lift out the old music roll and put in another. automatic musical and link piano company coin pianos seem to have been sold mainly to route operators, who were more or less steeped in the use and care of endless rolls and therefore had little trouble using them .
in 1906 the mandolin piano was put on the market. the mandolin effect was obtained very differently than was the case for pianos built by other coin piano manufacturers in that instead of the usual mandolin rail (that dropped down between the piano hammers and the strings) the mandolin piano had a separate attachment with its own mandolin strings and sound box. the device, patented august 2, 1904, was essentially independent of the piano and consisted of a mechanically operated set of 31 pluckers that strummed a pair of strings, there being 31 pairs of strings, beginning with c sharp (key # 41 on the keyboard) through g (key # 71). the whole thing, pinblock, soundboard, and plucker assembly was mounted in an elaborate, well designed casting that was mounted in front of the mid - range portion of the piano. a small round - belt driven crankshaft provided the oscillating motion for the individual pluckers .
early link piano models continued to utilize the moving finger conveyor device invented by george thayer, circa 1908, while employed by the automatic musical company—the forerunner of link. by the time the link piano company was formed in 1913, and took over the assets of automatic musical company, it was a chain - driven paper - pusher device consisting of a series of retractable metal fingers (not fixed like shown in the original patent) that pushed what sometimes looked like an impossible mess of looped paper, so that it would feed from one end of the horizontal storage bin to the other. but this complicated chain and finger arrangement, although it possessed great gadget appeal, was soon dispensed with altogether, because it turned out to be quite unnecessary. the late harvey roehl told the story about how he had tried to track down george thayer (inventor of the horizontal endless music roll system) and finally found him in a bar. at first thayer did not want to talk about the old days, but then he went on for a couple of hours on that very subject. thayer related the story of a piano being tested in the factory when a shear pin broke and the paper - pusher stopped. no one noticed at first, but they soon discovered that the music sheet loops would advance perfectly well through the storage bin of their own accord, and do so without the aid of the paper - pusher device .
a few link a roll orchestrions also had a treble octave coupler that could be turned on and off by lock and cancel holes in the roll. this added a very bright sound to portions of the music .
link vacuum / pressure feeder pump: most other brands of coin pianos have the pneumatic stack mounted above the keyboard. in link pianos, it is below. this placement leaves too little room for the usual type of box pump used by other manufacturers. to fit in the smaller space, the link pump has a novel design with four non - hinged feeder bellows moving straight left and right, guided and held parallel by metal rails. link pumps were consistently similar from 1913 up to the end of coin piano production in 1929. at least some of the larger orchestrions with trapwork have been observed to have pump bellows that are slightly larger by about 1 / 2 inch as compared to other link coin pianos. probably the most pronounced and visible change over the years was the move from a round belt pulley system to a flat belt drive system, of which both types had an idler pulley to keep the belt tight .
today, link simulators are providing training for pilots and aircrews on some of the world' s most advanced military aircraft. link has built simulators for aircraft platforms including the b - 2, f - 117, f / a - 22, f / a - 18, f - 16, c - 130, t - 45 and a wide range of attack, reconnaissance and transport helicopters .
in the spring of 1914 link introduced its first photoplayer, which used only one roll mechanism. improvements were soon made and the standard mp (movie player) model consisted of a piano, violin pipes, flute pipes, harmonium, and chimes, with a side cabinet that held two endless music roll mechanisms, one with popular tunes and the other with classical music. by means of a panel in the projection booth the music could be switched from one roll to another, in keeping with the action on the movie screen. by december of that year the company announced a new instrument for use in motion picture theaters that would consist of an upright piano with a pneumatic stack, and a large side cabinet containing four link endless roll mechanisms, with each roll containing a different type of music to fit different types of scenes: romantic, fast music for chase scenes, classical, marches, and so on. the instrument was also to be equipped with a distance control box by which the operator of the film could control the piano as to tempo, volume, or music roll selection. during the frantic 1914 - 1915 heyday of photoplayer production the factory worked overtime to meet sales needs, with coin - operated piano production taking a backseat interest .
aftermarket kahlmen reed box: mr. c. kahlmen had a shop in elizabeth, n. j. his main business was the repair of and building of new high quality accordions. during the 1920s he was also a wurlitzer dealer, who operated wurlitzer and link coin pianos up and down the chemical coast (the new jersey side of the arthur kill, which is the waterway between staten island, new york, and new jersey). kahlmen made vacuum operated reed boxes and installed them in link style 2 pianos, possibly as an alternative to xylophones. link coin pianos with a kahlmen reed box (or harmonium) installed are quite rare .
the first floor is where finished coin pianos were packed and crated up for shipment, and then shoved out onto the shipping dock where they could be loaded onto some sort of local cartage. because the factory was not near any railroad spurs any long distance shipping would have required a local cartage service to interface with the nearest railroad siding or station. the second floor was the assembly area, so pianos from a supplier, such as schaff piano company, only had to be lifted to the second floor, where the various automatic mechanisms were installed. the third floor housed the machinery for metal and woodworking, which suggests that the equipment installed was of relatively light duty, i. e. , no heavy stamping presses, for instance, otherwise the sheer weight and vibration would have seriously strained the structural components and integrity of the building. the fourth, fifth and sixth floors were for handwork on various components, which were for the most part relatively light in weight and easy to transport to the lower second floor assembly area. finding a notation regarding tobacco storage on the sixth floor of the link factory was indeed a surprise, but there were reportedly a couple of cigar factories in the immediate area, and so it seems as though the link piano company was renting out surplus top - floor storage space by 1926.
the link piano and organ company was an american manufacturer of pianos , orchestrions , fotoplayers , and theatre pipe organs . during the early 1900s , george t. link was managing a small firm named shaft brothers piano company , which manufactured and sold pianos to the automatic musical company of binghamton , new york . when the automatic musical company went bankrupt about a decade later , george 's son , edwin a. link , sr. , became employed by the creditors to go to binghamton and operate the company . the links , with their two sons , george and edwin jr. , moved from huntington , indiana to binghamton that same year . edwin sr. was successful at turning the company around , and later purchased the company from the creditors , then changing the name to the link piano company . for a period of time , the business primarily focused on making player pianos and orchestrions . the star theater , which was the oldest movie house in binghamton , was the first to use the link automatic piano to provide music for its silent films . as larger and more elaborate movie theatres were built , and more versatile organs were demanded , the company began manufacturing theatre pipe organs . at this time , the company 's name was expanded to the link piano and organ company . the company produced about 130 theatre organs , before going out of business around 1932 . ed link used the bellows technology from the automatic piano in his link trainer flight simulators . 
the link piano and organ company was an american manufacturer of pianos, orchestrions, fotoplayers, and theatre pipe organs. during the early 1900s, george t. link was managing a small firm named shaft brothers piano company, which manufactured and sold pianos to the automatic musical company of binghamton, new york. when the automatic musical company went bankrupt about a decade later, george's son, edwin a. link, sr., became employed by the creditors to go to binghamton and operate the company. the links, with their two sons, george and edwin jr., moved from huntington, indiana to binghamton that same year. edwin sr. was successful at turning the company around, and later purchased the company from the creditors, then changing the name to the link piano company. for a period of time, the business primarily focused on making player pianos and orchestrions. the star theater, which was the oldest movie house in binghamton, was the first to use the link automatic piano to provide music for its silent films. as larger and more elaborate movie theatres were built, and more versatile organs were demanded, the company began manufacturing theatre pipe organs. at this time, the company's name was expanded to the link piano and organ company. the company produced about 130 theatre organs, before going out of business around 1932. ed link used the bellows technology from the automatic piano in his link trainer flight simulators.
the link piano and organ company was an american manufacturer of pianos, orchestrions, fotoplayers, and theatre pipe organs. during the early 1900s, george t. link was managing a small firm named shaft brothers piano company, which manufactured and sold pianos to the automatic musical company of binghamton, new york. when the automatic musical company went bankrupt about a decade later, george's son, edwin a. link, sr., became employed by the creditors to go to binghamton and operate the company. the links, with their two sons, george and edwin jr., moved from huntington, indiana to binghamton that same year. edwin sr. was successful at turning the company around, and later purchased the company from the creditors, then changing the name to the link piano company. for a period of time, the business primarily focused on making player pianos and orchestrions. the star theater, which was the oldest movie house in binghamton, was the first to use the link automatic piano to provide music for its silent films. as larger and more elaborate movie theatres were built, and more versatile organs were demanded, the company began manufacturing theatre pipe organs. at this time, the company's name was expanded to the link piano and organ company. the company produced about 130 theatre organs, before going out of business around 1932. ed link used the bellows technology from the automatic piano in his link trainer flight simulators.