What do you get when you combine music, jet engines and curiosity? The Turbinophone!
The Turbinophone is an award-winning interactive art installation that allows you to play music with a jet engine. It is made out of a J79 turbojet engine compressor. Prior to singing musical tones, this engine used to scream across the sky in an F-4 Phantom, propelling the aircraft to speeds over 1400 miles/hour (Mach 2+) using 17,000 pounds of thrust.
To play the Turbinophone, you can drop steel ball bearings into the top of the engine. As they fall into the engine, they strike the blades, which ring like tuning forks. As the ball bearings make their way down through the engine, the blades get shorter, and the pitch rises.
The Turbinophone was first exhibited at Burning Man 2013: Cargo Cult. It was located deep in the desert, where curious participants discovered how to play this instrument.
The Turbinophone also made an appearance at Maker Faire Bay Area 2014, where it won a Best in Class award.
The Turbinophone is now on public display at the Oakland Aviation Museum, where you can play it in a hangar surrounded by historical aircraft.
