What instrument is this cylinder for?
Does anyone have an idea for what instrument this cylinder was made: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290265295343&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123 A strange pinning pattern, no? Perhaps for the use of automata on a clock?

a few years ago I did see something exactly like this in some art exhibition - a piece of concept art alluding to old barrel organ technology with some pretentious artistic aspiration or another. Looking at the pins I doubt they are meant for a regular musical performance. Either it's some pretentious exhibit piece or is a pretentious performance art thing where someone had the novel idea of pinning an old barrel in this conceptual manner and fitting it back in an old piano to see what it sounded like. Probably had a small plaque blathering on about "a fusion of old and new technologies and a physical and aural exploration of the ...." yada yada - you get the idea. Arts Councils love giving money to people to do this sort of junk and it's surprising how many aspiring nobodies have er...exactly the same novel concept idea each single academic year. In the mechanical music pianola world we are often assailed by art students annually coming up with mechanical music ideas all of which are stale and pointless. Thinking back I've had people contact me wanting to : - punch a piano roll with pictures then play it back to see what it'd sound like in an art installation - punch out in morse code on a piano roll the names of 180 people who died on some transatlantic ship that went to in 1882 then play it back to see what it'd sound like in an art installation - punch out on a piano roll three works by Bach back to front and superimposed then play it back to see what it'd sound like in an art installation - various combinations of the above etc ad infinitum with each newcomer thinking they're the first to "explore" this idea ever....then play it back to see what it'd sound like in an art installation :roll: Failing all that it's clearly not for anything musical in the conventional sense.

Well this looks like a barrel for a roller stlye street organ, or a barrel piano barrel.

yes, if you think a pear looks quite like an apple, I suppose it does look like a barrel organ cyclinder.... :roll: Maybe it's a rolling pin for puff pastry AMICA Convention souvenir biscuits. Or (while I'm in rolling pin mode) maybe is used to make a pattern to emboss, say wallpaper or something like that. The non-linear shapes are in-filled so this might make sense....

How rude, I said it "Looks" like a roller organ barrel I didn't say it was.

I'd say you're on to something with the idea of printing or embossing a repeating pattern, probably for wallpaper, see figure 8 on this page these cylinders seem to be popular items to make into lamps. Justin, if you will notice it has bars rather than wires (something I've never seen on a barrel organ), those bars run on a diagonal, making it essentially impossible for them to operate a note in any sensible way, and there is no gear on the end, as would be common to an organ barrel. Not to mention the bizarre pattern and infilled shapes. To be honest, it doesn't look much like an organ barrel, even on casual inspection. Cheers, Roger

Well, thanks for the suggestions! My grandfather used to be a painter, and I showed him the photograph and he immediately thought of a roller to apply a pattern onto wallpaper, so I guess you might be right, Roger! A cylinder for a musical instrument seems almost impossible, indeed!

At first, I thought it was a sort of graining roller, but it's obviously not. I think the clue as to it's usage must lie with the row of pins which go around the circumference at either end of the barrel. Even so, it would be interesting to cover it with ink, and roll it along a long piece of paper. Perhaps it will print out the secret of the Davinci code!!

It is either a 'flock' or embossed wallpaper printing roller. when producing flock papers the metal pattern on the cylinder is coated in varnish and then applied to the roll of paper. As the paper passes along the machine it is covered in finely cut fibres of wool or cotton which adhere to the varnish. Once the surplus is dusted off the pattern is revealed. See the bottom of the page at www.history-magazine.com/wallpaper.html for the type of machine which used these cylinders. If used in a barrel organ it would've probably only played Paper Roses... :D