Song by Irving Berlin, 1924
The Mills Violano Virtuoso is a coin operated self-playing violin and piano machine. It plays a paper roll that encodes the information for a 44 note piano and violin. Unlike many other mechanical musical instruments that operate pneumatically with air pressure, the Mills Violano is entirely electrical, using solenoids operated by contacts made by electrodes through holes in the paper roll. First patented in 1905, the machine in this video was built in the early 1920's and fully restored to like-new condition in 2006.
