I don’t think many would have heard of Pyrophone which is a rare musical instrument that we can see these days. The musical notes in a Pyrophone is produced by explosion or similar forms of rapid combustion. A Pyrophone is thus known as Fire/Explosion organ or Fire/Explosion Calliope. Georges Frederic Eugene Kastner, son of Composer Jean-Georges Kastner invented the Pyrophone around 1870. Rapid combustion, heating or similar is carried out by burners in cylindrical glass tubes to produce light and sound effect in Pyrophone.
Design of Pyrophone
The design of the Pyrophone is somewhat like this – a flame of Hydrogen gas is introduced within a glass tube capable of vibrating. The Hydrogen gas combines with the Oxygen gas inside the tube and it burns in small quantities. The combustion of Hydrogen and Oxygen produces a series of slight explosions or detonations. The amount of the gas required for the combustion is introduced from the bottom of the tube in an appropriate quantity, it is possible to create sound vibrations.
Pyrophones are usually powered by Propane gas. But Gasoline powered Mobile Pyrophone units are also built. Hydrogen Pyrophones are often made using upside-down glass test tubes as combustion chambers.
Read more about Pyrophone here and here
Disclaimer: Published for public awareness and collected from various sources.
