Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: tubes

A postcard parody of a membership card for the "Down and Out Club" and an advertisement for the Powers Photo Engraving Company, "fastest engravers on earth." Down and Out Club of the United States of America No.: Back number. Date: Not yet but soon. This is to certify that after a thorough examination Mr. R. G. Brubaker has been elected a member of the Down and Out Club of America. His usefulness being gone is subject to the Skidoo Treatment. A. Hasbeen, president. To the woods. Not yet but soon. Walla-walla. 23 skidoo. Copyright 1906 by the Powers Photo Eng. Co., Fastest Engravers on Earth, 154 Nassau St., N.Y.

A machinery photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Although this real photo postcard shows what looks like a complicated Rube Goldberg contraption , it actually appears to be some sort of elaborate one-man music machine. The postcard dealer who sold this to me described the scene simply as a "pipe organ player at keyboard," but upon closer inspection I was able to identify a number of other musical instruments--a guitar, string bass, and bell, for instance--among the pulleys, belts, tubes, and pipes (mouse over the image to see my tentative identifications of some of the instruments). Although this unique machine seems to be related to the fairground organ , orchestrion , or some other type of mechanical musical instrument , I haven't been able to uncover any specific information about it or the man playing it. Has anyone else ever seen anything like it? Update: See The Mighty Nelsonian (One-Man Music Machine Mystery Solved) .

A postcard parody of a membership card for the "Down and Out Club" and an advertisement for the Powers Photo Engraving Company, "fastest engravers on earth." Down and Out Club of the United States of America No.: Back number. Date: Not yet but soon. This is to certify that after a thorough examination Mr. R. G. Brubaker has been elected a member of the Down and Out Club of America. His usefulness being gone is subject to the Skidoo Treatment. A. Hasbeen, president. To the woods. Not yet but soon. Walla-walla. 23 skidoo. Copyright 1906 by the Powers Photo Eng. Co., Fastest Engravers on Earth, 154 Nassau St., N.Y.