The Boston Musical Instrument Manufactory, arguably one of the most important brass instrument manufacturers in the United States from the mid- to the late 19th-century, was formed in 1869 by the consolidation of Graves & Co. and E. G. Wright & Co.

This particular valve trombone model is depicted among the orchestra instruments in the Boston Musical Instrument Manufactory catalog of 1874; however, valve trombones such as this one were also used in brass bands. An undated fragment of a Henry G. Lehnert catalog also shows a similar-looking rotary valve tenor trombone.

Body: Nickel-silver-plated brass body and nickel-silver bell. Single-looped body and double looped bell; S-shaped leadpipe; main tuning slide at foot; valve segment; small conical coil; conical bellpipe; conical/hyperbolical bell; overlapping tab seam; French rim.

Valves: Three side-action, string-operated rotary valves. Spiral-spring return mechanisms; reciprocal driver pivot in the shape of a figure 8, with cork buffers stopped by two pins. Internal slide tubing. Windway: third, second, first valve.

Accessories: none

Sounding length: 2670 mm; internal diameter, leadpipe: 12.4 mm; bore diameter (inner valve slides) 13.18 mm; bell diameter: 182 mm.

Go to Checklist of Side-Action, String-Operated Rotary Valve Instruments

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