experiments with transposition mechanisms

[Deleted member 48]

A Swiss accordion workshop is experimenting with some DIY accordion kits for starters.
One of their ideas is the so called Akkordoline:

http://www.akkordeonwerkstatt.ch/akkordoline.htm

The idea is to have the reeds mounted in a sort of circular way, on a turning disc. There is very little info, and no video (yet) to present this curiosity. So it is difficult to get an idea of all the parts and the possibilities.
They have conceived it as a sort of accompaniment only accordion, that can play in all keys of the circle of fifths, by using the idea of a rotating plate and prefixed openings, based upon math intervals. The player can choose how many buttons to push on the left (?) side, if major, minor, 7th, 9th (?) chords are desired.

Downpage this website is a slideshow of photos, one of the photos is showing the green coloured Akkordoline (looks like a English concertina, but less buttons/keys):
http://petermhaas.de/1553/
A few lines about the Akkordoline are in the texts on this website

I am keeping an eye on this, but I hope more information on this fascinating idea will become available.
One of the questions I have is, could this technique of the rotating reed plate be built in melodeons, accordions, ... To get a compact free reed bellows music instrument that can play in many/all music keys?

 

[TomBR]

Interesting stuff. A while back the thought came to mind of a duet concertina with 12 sided bellows like a Lachenal Edeophone, the obvious connection being rotation of the bellows and reed cells relative to the action to give total transposition in all 12 degrees. A release/locking mechanism would probably be needed.

I'm sure it'll never be built, but amusing to speculate.
(Alternatively why not just learn to play the thing properly as so many others have done! )

 

[Deleted member 48]

The idea of a transposition mechanism built into accordions is not new.
In 1867 France Neveux made one:
Once read about this accordéon transpositeur, made by Alexandre Neveux in 1867, and patented in 1872.
For the first time seen some online photos of this instrument in the French médiathèque, Paris:
http://mediatheque.cite-musique.fr/masc ... leByID.asp
Neveux Alexandre, Paris, 1867
Description: En Sol - Clavier transpositeur

good pics of the accordéon transpositeur:
http://www.europeana.eu/portal/nl/record/09102/_CM_0936278.html
The right side photos show the names of the notes. You can click to enlarge the photos.

There is also a 19th US patent of similar slide bar mechanism in an accordion. It was a 2-row, 16-key accordion. But it had more reed cells inside. The bar/shift mechanism allowed to slide up and down by semitones or something like that. Same ideas like the Neveux slide bar.

The intention of instruments like the Swiss Akkordoline is to get rid of the bass machinery rods and levers, and only use 12 left hand reeds, with 12 openings + a rotating plate. A clicking mechanism to lock for 1 key wouldnt be too difficult to make.
What if one could combine the rotating plate in the left/bass side, with a common bisonoric right hand melody side in a B/C melodeon, or a unisonoric chromatic, etc etc...

 

[Deleted member 48]

I now remember it was the 1871 US patent by William D. Edgar, a slide mechanism for a Janko style accordion keyboard. A 2 row whole tone layout on the accordion. That was the US patent I was talking about in my previous post in this topic.
Very clever design !

See the drawings of the layout and accordion in Google patents online:

Improvement in key-boards for musical instruments
US 119335 A

Last year a lookalike accordion was online for sale in France. I let it pass, and as you can imagine, I already regret not having contacted the seller.