1855: A patent is issued for the steam-powered calliope.
Joshua Stoddard, a beekeeper and sometime inventor from Worcester, Massachusetts, was the recipient, although the instrument already existed in other forms before he staked claim with his own version.
The calliope works by forcing steam (or, later, compressed air) through a group of large whistles. Various sounds are produced according to each whistle's size and shape. The operator can control the timing and duration of the sound, but not tonal subtleties or volume. The whistles are tuned to a chromatic scale and generally have a range of two octaves.
The earliest instruments -- one example dates from 1832 -- used locomotive whistles.
Calliope comes from the Greek goddess of the same name, one of the nine muses and a daughter of Zeus who possessed a particularly good set of pipes that she used to inspire the epic poets.
A detailed description of Stoddard's calliope exists in the book, Player Piano Treasury, by Harvey Roehl:
In fact, the calliope is occasionally referred to as the steam piano or steam organ. The inventor of the air-driven calliope, Norman Baker, christened his instrument the calliaphone, a name that was later registered by a specific manufacturer.
Stoddard envisioned his calliope as an eventual replacement for the church bell, but the idea never took hold. Instead, the instrument began turning up in places where a supply of steam was already available: steamboats (obviously), carousels (which were often steam-driven) and circuses (where steam drove the traction engines and supplied electricity under the big top). With the coming of piano-player technology in the early 20th century, the calliope's human operator was replaced by the music roll.
Calliopes still exist, and some are in playing condition, although most are non-functioning museum pieces. That didn't stop Tom Waits from composing "Calliope," a track for his 2002 Blood Money album, written for trumpet, toy piano and calliope. Waits himself played the calliope (as well as the toy piano). The Beatles used recorded calliope music as background in "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite."
The largest calliope in existence, containing 44 whistles, can be found aboard the Mississippi Queen, a steamboat currently laid up in New Orleans. The Queen, herself the second-largest steamboat ever built, is a stern paddle-wheeler launched in 1976.
Source: Player Piano Treasury, Wikipedia
Photo: Corvair Owner/Flickr
See Also:
