Picture
An Orchestrion with organ, drum bells and castanet

Glossary of Terms for Cylinder and other types of Musical Boxes

Below are some common terms used to describe the different types of cylinder musical boxes and their parts.
Illustrations are provided for most terms shown. This list of terms is not exhaustive.
​Note: Images of parts are not necessarily from the same mechanism.
Hover your mouse over an image for a description.
​This page is work in progress. More images and terms will be added shortly.

Automaton

A model of a living creature which contains a mechanism to make it move realistically

Barrel

The wooden pinned cylinder of a barrel piano or organ

Barrel Organ

A mechanical instrument which plays pipes or reeds from a pinned barrel

Barrel Piano

​A mechanical instrument which plays piano strings from a pinned barrel

Barillet Movement

Bedplate

The metal base upon which the musical movement is built

Bellows

The mechanism which supplies air to organ pipes

Bridge

A metal bearing or support which can be screwed down to carry a working part such as a spring motor or cylinder
Sometimes known as a Bearing

Book Music

Music punched out on cardboard and folded so that it can be played on a fairground organ, barrel organ and the like

Carillon

A set of bells that can be played mechanically

Cartel

A term given to the larger cylinder music box mechanism

Case

The box or cabinet in which the musical movement is contained

Click or Pawl

The retaining Pawl which bears on a ratchet wheel to prevent the spring from unwinding

Clock Pins

Tapered pins made of brass or steel for keeping parts in place

Comb

A piece, or pieces, of steel cut in the shape of a comb the teeth of which are tuned to play the music of a musical box

Composition

a) A mixture of powdered horn and carbon black which can be moulded into snuffboxes and other items
b) An arrangement of notes to form a tune

Control Levers and Rods

The levers that are used to start/stop the mechanism; change/repeat the tune; instantly stop the mechanism 

Cylinder

A brass tube of varying length and diameter into which steel pins are inserted so that they pluck the teeth of the comb when rotated

Cylinder Arbor

The metal spindle upon which the cylinder revolves
​Temporary image

Cylinder Bridges or Bearings

The brackets at either end of the the cylinder in which the ends of the arbor revolve

Damper

A piece of flat spring steel fixed under the end of a tooth. The damper stops the vibration of the tooth just before it is plucked again to prevent unwanted squeaks 

​Image awaited

Disc Player

A musical box that plays interchangeable discs

Disc

A circular sheet of perforated or punched metal that rotates the star wheel in disc musical boxes.
​Can also refer to the pinned disc of a  Barillet movement

Drive Pin

A steel pin screwed into the great wheel which locates into a slot in the cylinder driving the cylinder while allowing it to slide when changing tunes

Duplex

The movement of a musical box that plays two combs or two cylinders at the same time

Endflap

The hinged piece of wood at the end of a case which conceals the control levers and winder hole in a key-wound box

Endless Screw

A helical gear made of highly polished steel which serve as the shaft of the governor air brake

Endstone

A jewel, usually a garnet, cut with a flat side onto which the top of the endless screw bears when it revolves. It is held in place with a plate and screw

Fan

Another name for the air brake fitted to the endless screw. It can adjusted to control the speed at which the cylinder rotates

Forte-piano

A musical movement capable of playing loud and soft passages. It has two combs. One that plays loud and one that plays soft.

French Polish

A solution of shellac and methylated spirit which can be applied to wood to give a high polish

Fusee

A spirally grooved pulley of varying diameter interposed between the barrel and the drive pinion of a movement for the purpose of converting the varying force of the mainspring into a constant pressure on the movement

Gear Train

A sequence of stepped cogs and pinions which give a connection between the great wheel and the endless screw

Geneva Stop-work

A stop work on the spring barrel which prevents the from being over, or under, wound

Governor

The mechanism which controls the rotational speed of the cylinder

Governor Bracket - sometimes known as the Cock or Crane

The bracket that carries the Endstone jewel

Great Wheel

The toothed wheel at the end of the cylinder arbor that drives the cylinder and governor

Grand Format

A Fat Cylinder (100 mm dia) Grand Format movement

Interchangeable

A movement that has interchangeable cylinders

Instant Stop

A control lever and linkage that allows the movement to be stopped at will. It also serves as a safety mechanism when the movement is not being played

Laminated Comb

A comb which is built up in horizontal layers of metal, each forming a tooth. Used in very early small mechanisms

Leads

A piece of lead attached to the underside of a bass tooth which causes it to vibrate at the desired speed.
​See resonators

Mainspring

The steel spring with provides the motive power for the movement

Manivelle

A cylinder music box that is hand wound rather than clockwork

Movement

The term used to describe the mechanics of a music box

Pianola

A development of the Player Piano in which the self playing mechanism is built into the case.

Pinion

A small gear, usually made of steel, which meshes with the teeth of a larger toothed gear wheel, usually made of brass
The term used to describe the mechanism of a musical box

Pins

The steel projections set into the brass cylinder which pluck the teeth of the comb

Pipe Organ

An organ that plays its music on pipes as opposed to reeds

Platform Movement

Another name for the early radial snuffbox movements known as Sur Plateau

Player Piano

​A development of the Antiphone which uses a paper roll punched with the musical score

Pneumatic Action

Transfer of movement carried out by air in times rather than by levers. Found in Fairground Organs and Player Piano's

Pressure Bar

The bar which holds down a disc so that it engages with the star wheels in a disc musical box

Projections

The points stamped through a metal disc which turn the star wheels on a disc box

Ratchet

A wheel with pointed teeth, fixed to a spindle, which is prevented from turning back by the Click or Pawl

Reed Organ

An organ that plays on reeds as opposed to pipes

Register

The term used to describe the alignment of the cylinder pins to the teeth of the comb

Resonator (see Lead)

A piece of lead attached to the underside of a comb tooth which causes the tooth to vibrate at the desired speed

Return Spring

The spring which pushes the cylinder back to tune one at the end of the set of tunes

Revolver

Run

A run occurs when part of a movement breaks allowing the cylinder to revolve suddenly and at great speed until the spring is unwound. This can cause catastrophic damage to teeth, pins and gears

Safety Check

A device invented by Mermod which puts a brake on the great wheel as soon as the cylinder begins to run

Singing Birds

Snail Cam and Snail Cam Peg

The spiral, stepped cam on which the snail cam peg rests. The adjustable peg is fixed into the end of the cylinder and allows the cam to rotate pushing the cylinder along to play the next tune

Snuffbox

English translation of Tabatieré. ​The clear compressed bone cover over the mechanism allows the mechanism to be seen and keeps the snuff out of the workings.

Stop Work, Stop Arm & Stop Tail

Work: The mechanism on the side of the Governor assembly which slips into a notch in the Great Wheel and checks the Stop Tail.
Arm: The control lever which allows the movement to start and stops the movement at the end of the tune
Tail: A small metal arm which prevents the endless screw from rotating when the movement stops

Star Wheel

Star shaped wheels which are set over the comb of a disc mechanism which pluck the teeth when the projections below the disk engage with them

Sublime Harmony

An arrangement of combs where two or more are tuned to almost the same pitch. A slight difference in pitch causes 'beats' which give the tone of the box real resonance
Picture
A Sublime Harmony Piccolo movement by Cuendet circa 1896

Sur Plateau Movement

Tabatiére

French for Snuff Box. The clear compressed bone cover over the mechanism allows the mechanism to be seen and keeps the snuff out of the workings.

Teeth & Tips

Teeth: The tuned metal 'notes' of a comb OR the outer edge of a gear wheel
TIps: The tapered points of the teeth which are shaped so that they can be plucked by the cylinder pins

Tune Changer

A steel bar attached to the bedplate with a finger that engages with the Snail Cam which it rotates, thus changing the tune

Tune Indicator

A quadrant dial with a pointer which bears on the end of the cylinder and indicates the number of the tune being played

Tune Selector

A manually operated lever attached to the bedplate which can turn the snail cam to change the tune at will

Tune Sheet

The card, usually attached inside the lid by brass pins, on which the tunes played by the mechanism are written. The card sometimes carries the mechanism serial number and gamme number.
The metal discs for disc boxes are sometimes called tune sheets.

Two-per-turn

A type of mechanism with a large diameter cylinder which plays two tunes for every revolution of the cylinder
A few mechanisms play three-per-turn and some Manivelle's play up to six tunes per turn

Wheel

A gear, often made of brass, which meshes with a Pinion, usually made of steel

Wind Chest

The air reservoir in a pneumatic mechanism. It is pumped up with bellows and the air is let into the instrument as required. Pressure is usually maintained by a spring

Winding Key

A key for winding the spring

Zither

This is an instrument, originating in The Tyrol, which is a wooden box over which strings are stretched. The tone of a Zither is imitated on a music box by a "Zither Attachment", a roll of tissue paper held in an open sided tube which can be lowered to touch the comb as it plays
Much, but not all, of the above text has been reproduced from David Tallis's book Music Boxes first published in 1971.
Images are from my personal library, or have been gathered from many internet sites too numerous to mention.
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Site last updated 14th December 2025​
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