MagneBell by Shulmeric: An Adventure in Figuring out WTF this is

I saw this thing at goodwill for $50, and I was intrigued. I saw it played Fidelipacs as well, which I heard about in this video:

There was a big clock on the front, it appeared it plays at certain times. My mom who plays in the church bell choir said Shulmeric was a bell maker. Anyway, I move on, as $50 was too expensive. I research it more, it apparently is for replacing a bell tower in a church with speakers. It either plays bells off tapes, or there may be actual bells inside it amplifies, im not sure, ill find out when I open it up. Anyway, I go back there, and tell myself if it is cheaper than $25, ill buy it. It is $30, so I buy it.
Got it home, and now to figure out how to play a tape and or bells with it. Ill post more as I do.

 

So, I got it home, and fired it up. Nothing happened. Then I saw a switch labeled "Power Failure Reset". Alas, when I press that, I hear the motor spinning. However, the capstan doesn't spin. Probably bad belts, they are 50+ years old now. I open it up, and bad belts it is. Opening it up, it appears Shulmeric took an off the shelf 100w PA amp, a standard tape player, and some timer clock thing (It has a serial number and such), and stuck them together in one big box.

Next step, order belts.


Overkill seeming motor. 0.5A at 120v???? This thing uses 60w? Why???

 

Not sure, could possibly be the "fake" power, you know, out of phase.

 

I really started tearing this thing apart, and damn this thing smells bad. I guess 50 years of dust and must add up. Anyway, I pulled out the amp and clock/timer. Both seems to be off the shelf parts. So this is a big box with some off the shelf parts all combined to make a substitute for church bells.

Beefy transformers

There is a handwritten date of 1978, but that's probably of a service. There is a 62 there too, that seems more likely.

 

I just got my replacement belts though, took it apart, cleaned it up, replaced the belts, and it works great!! It has a fair amount of wow and flutter, and may be playing a bit too slow, but mostly works. The timer also does not work, but if you turn the hands manually, it does play at the set times, and stops playing when moved off of that time. It also has 7 different tapes of bells, I have only tested one. Overall, it mostly works though, and is pretty cool! Very big...

 

Finally got it completely working.
Timer/clock used a weird gear catch thing that used a magnet. Magnet had worn out, so I dremeled it off (burning magnet smells bad) and glued a new one on. Now works completely.
Here is video of it playing: