The Concertina Museum Collection Ref:C-002.



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Item Type: Concertina

Summary Labels and Serial Numbers End Frets Fingering System Straps and Holding Devices Fret Baffle Action Board Reeds and Reed Pans Bellows Case and Other

Action Board

Action Board Summary: One-piece action and bellows-frame. In 'No 38' the 'action' (the keys, and their associated levers) is mounted on a circular mahogany block, which is extremely similar to the action block used in the three earliest open pallet instruments . But rather than having levers mounted in routed grooves within the block, there are simple wooden levers, pivoted by brass axles, onto wooden supports and connected to the keys by a brass crank.

Action Board Pivot: Wooden U-shaped, with brass axle.

Action Board Levers: Wooden levers with glazed leather hinges, mounted into edges of bellows/action frame.

Action Board Springs: Complex long springs mounted into edge of and across grooves in pallet tops

Action Board Pallets: A major feature of 'No. 38', which places it squarely amongst Wheatstone's experimental instruments, is its unique lever and pallet system that is totally unrelated to any previous open-pallet feature, even to those on a Demian accordion. Furthermore, no other known concertina exhibits pallets in any way similar to this prototype, whose trapdoor-style wooden pallets are hinged into the inner face of the surrounding action frame. Their springs are mounted on the surface of these pallets; these springs are pinned into the upper edge of the action frame (where note- names also are stamped). The pallets are connected the levers with a connecting flap of thin, zephyr-style leather.

Action Board Securing-screw pattern: Trio of wooden cylindrical supports receiving the three screws from handstrap, finger-rest on top-centre fret area.

Action Board Sub-fret-board Supports: 6 felt-padded rectang ular pillars in each corner of the action tray.

Action Board Labels: Every pallet location has a numbered stamp all around the edge of the action tray





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The Concertina Museum Collection

Created August 2009 by Neil Wayne
Last Modified 07 February 2012 by Neil Wayne, Chris Flint, Wes Williams

This page created Tuesday 14 February 2012.