Posted by Rob P-M on June 19, 2002 at 14:02:12:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Hi-Pitch / Lo-Pitch / A440 - When?? posted by DOUG on June 18, 2002 at 21:18:21:
The 'donut tube' is a common nickname for York's patented (1910) high pitch/low pitch attachment. Typically, a high pitch horn would come with a second set of slides (or at least a second main tuning slide) to put it into low pitch. A hassle, as the slides could get damaged or lost and were annoying to carry around.
York (in 1910 or so) came up with a neat solution. they added a circle of tubing in the main tuning slide branch that had a slide which could be inserted two ways. One way cut out the extra circle tubing and had the horn in high pitch, the other way added the circle of tubing and put the horn in low pitch. Additionally, the three valve slides were scored to indicate where the should be pulled out to (as a starting place) for low pitch.
The idea was neat and worked well: you always had your high/low pitch slide with you and could easily adapt. Our community band has an old York BBb (not one of the famous large horns, but a good player) with this device. You can also see pictures of it in some old York catalogs.