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Pip′ing.


1. (Harness.) A leather covering to a trace-chain.

Mechanism of the “piping Bulfinch.”

2. In a musical toy,—the “piping bulfinch,” — on touching a spring the bird is caused to jump out of a box, move its wings and beak, and seemingly [1714] pipe a tune. The sound, however, is not emitted by the bird, but comes from a concealed pipe operated by mechanism similar to that shown in the figure.

An endless screw a, turned by hand or clock-work, rotates a toothed wheel carried by the cylinder b, which is set with studs arranged like those on the cylinder of the musical box or barrel-organ, so as to play one or more tunes, by means of two jointed levers c d operating a piston in the pipe to produce the required notes; air is supplied to the pipe by a bellows e worked by an eccentric on the endless-screw shaft.

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Bulfinch (1)
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