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This instrument is a carillon which uses 8 bottles instead of bells.
It was built with Meccano pieces by M. Roger Charnoud, from Lyon (France).
An electric motor provokes the rotation of the cylinder, on the surface of which are implanted screws, according to the score to play.
When a screw grips one of the 8 levers, a hammer strikes the corresponding bottle.
To select one of the 7 tunes, the cylinder shifts slightly sideways.
To tune a bottle, water is added or emptied.
It is said that such carillons were made in the XIXth century.
They were soon forbidden, because the bottles were filled with wine, and the tuner usually slept completely drunk before having finished his task.
