Tipu's Tiger - Part 2

Tippoo's tiger is a musical automaton made as the toy of Tippoo Sultan it contains on organ, pipe and bellows mechanism and a keyboard. I have a very simple tiger tune from South India which I thought it would be appropriate to play on the Tippoo keyboard. The Tippoo keyboard is a series of buttons and it lacks the black sharps that one associates with a piano, therefore when playing this tiger tune you have to be very careful with placing your intervals. The other problem with the tiger as it stands today is that the handle which operates the bellows has been added later and in fact obstructs the keyboard when you're playing it, therefore if the handle cannot be turned you need the assistance of somebody operating the bellows by another mechanism from the back.

Neither mellifluous nor now particularly awe inspiring as sounds go, the tiger's tone and volume may have been rather roughly adjusted when a German bomb caused extensive damage in the second world war. The continuing health of the mechanical marvel is now the responsibility of the conservation staff at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

John Kitchin and Nick Umney

The inside here with the top removed shows the bellows for the 'roar' and the bellows for the music.

So how does this work the John?

The bellows are operated from the handle via the crank, the crank has a worm gear which operates a wooden cog, which if I take these front bellows away you'll be able to see.

Oh, I see, yes, so that turns that around

Yes, and this operates on the lug here

That lifts that up and when it gets to the long one it falls off the end

Yes, that's right

And then continuing the mechanism through you've got the two connecting rods from the crank, the first one operates the bellows here underneath, you've got the main reservoir bellows on top here Nick, which then will blow up these bellows, which you can feel.

I see

And if I revolve this you can see how the under bellows are moving

That rod goes through into his chest and that works the bellows for his wail

That's right, that wail makes him shout.

The sound for that is coming from his head so it's nothing to do with the organ part of it at all?

Nothing at all

The condition of the piece, the actual bodywork is very fragile, having been damaged during the Blitz in the war, the mechanism on the inside, a lot of that has been redone and is in relatively good condition but weak.

Tippoo's tiger was a thing of macabre amusement but his tiger symbol also adorned his weapons of war. Some of his troops were clad in tiger stripe uniform and much of the military equipment carried exquisite tiger motifs.

These firearms were for the sultan's own use, an impressive pair of pistols with tigers carved on their locks such items are now keenly sought by collectors.