There are numerous violin playing machines in the Sanfilippo Collection. Here we detail the operations of a Chicago-made, Mills Novelty Company Violano Virtuoso, with one violin. (There are double violin Mills models as well.) The sound does vary a bit as I pan the camera in tight for close up details and out again. The rosin cake in the square holder that I mention at the beginning of the video, upon rewind, drops down onto the rotating playing wheels to provide the wheels with a bit of grip on the steel strings, same way a real violinist rosins their bow. The rotating wheel is the bow in this case. With more than 70 patents on this machine, it is an engineering marvel, playing a familiar, lovely song you will surely recognize.
