wiring pianola

18:26 Nov 4, 2007

This question was closed without grading. Reason: No acceptable answer

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Electronics / Elect Eng

English term or phrase: wiring pianola

Hi folks.

I am trying to 'americanize' a British translation. This has to do with electrical troubleshooting some sort of earth-moving machine. Here is the context:

"In tracing the fault from the symptoms displayed you will be directed to make measurements using a multimeter and to refer to a special type of wiring chart known as a wiring pianola. These instructions are intended to as a guide to cover the use of a typical multimeter."

This is what I have to deal with. It continues with using the probes at various points. NOWHERE else in the text does it use 'pianola.'

What the heck am I dealing with here? Over 30 years working in electricity and I have never heard of it.

Thanks, especially if you can point me to a source.

jccantrell KudoZ activity Questions: 193 (none open) (14 closed without grading) Answers: 5057 United States
Local time: 22:10

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

3 +3

'wiring chart for dummies'

Alexander Demyanov

wiring pianola

Jennifer Levey

typo of some sort

Will Matter

fault finding chart

JohnGBell

Brainstorming...

Tony M

Discussion entries: 13

jccantrell

United States

ASKER

Note to ALL

15:15 Nov 7, 2007

I want to thank everybody who took the time to read and comment on this question. I did not get what I wanted: some sort of definitive answer. All the comments were good, but none gave me the confidence to present it to the client. Thus, I just noted the wording and said that I (and a whole load of other folks) had never heard of it. Let the customer deal with it.
Thanks again!

Jennifer Levey

Chile

22:59 Nov 4, 2007

Off topic: Vitaly Kisin wrote: "a propos: English IS a Germanic language". That's debatable! Ask Julius Caesar and Henry IV among others...

juvera

22:09 Nov 4, 2007

www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/oldnews3.htm The connection to your text seems to be the comparison of the simpleness of the operation, or following a pre-determined chart - like the pianola follows the roll to produce the desired tune.

juvera

22:04 Nov 4, 2007

The connection is: the pianola is a semi/automatic musical instrument, therefore easy to "play". "The Pianola was invented in 1895, although it was descended from a whole line of roll-operated musical instruments that stretched back to the mid-1870s."

Ken Cox

21:42 Nov 4, 2007

Alexander may well be onto something with the idea of 'simplified', as in a 'simplified wiring chart' (perhaps something like the London Underground maps).

Ken Cox

21:41 Nov 4, 2007

Unfortunately, as will said a serious mistranslation is quite possible, and 'a special type of wiring chart known as' may be a translator's interpolation. The make(r) of the equipment might point toward the original source language. ...

jccantrell

United States

ASKER

19:12 Nov 4, 2007

However, the text is talking about a wiring "chart" known as a wiring pianola, not the wiring itself. Also, it appears that they are using this to help the technician find the root cause of the problem.
@Vitaly: yeah, I know that, but it may have been Dutch or Swiss German, too.

Vitaly Kisin

19:04 Nov 4, 2007

Believe me, I only sent it once! bloody bug. Now, error is very unlikely, rather wiring that resembles the innards of a pianola acquired the name.

Vitaly Kisin

19:01 Nov 4, 2007

a propos: English IS a Germanic language

Will Matter

United States

19:00 Nov 4, 2007

Your suggestion of 'decision tree' might be possible. Still working on solving this problem..... ;0) Suspect that the root cause is a serious mis-translation somewhere along the way as opposed to anything else.

Vitaly Kisin

18:55 Nov 4, 2007

a propos: English IS a Germanic language

jccantrell

United States

ASKER

18:52 Nov 4, 2007

will,
I *believe* that is was German. However, the agency sent NO supporting documentation at all, seeing as it was only English to English (HA!). As a result, I am sort of guessing, but I have edited enough to guess from some of the structures that it was at least a Germanic language.

Will Matter

United States

18:32 Nov 4, 2007

Do you know what the original language was before it was translated into English? That might give us a helpful clue.

Answers

5 mins confidence:

typo of some sort

Explanation:
Looks like a serious typo to me since here's what a pianola is http://www.pianola.com/ I'll bet it's 'wiring panel' or something similar, both context and usage would seem to indicate that that is so. I'm not entirely sure so I'm marking this with medium confidence. HTH.

Will Matter
United States
Local time: 22:10
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: As a player piano followed a defined script for the notes, could this be a "decision tree?"

3 hrs confidence:

fault finding chart

Explanation:
I agree that a "wiring pianola" is a non-existant term. I too have never heard of the term in 30 years of electrical engineering. (it also gets zero google hits except for this page). The next step is to work out what could reasonably be said in this context, so here goes...

"In tracing the fault from the symptoms displayed you will be directed to make measurements using a multimeter and to refer to a fault finding chart.

JohnGBell
Local time: 08:10
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

3 hrs confidence:

Brainstorming...

Explanation:
This is purely guesswork, but hey, we all seem to be brainstorming here, so I'll throw it in FWIW!

You know those pianolas use a kind of 'punched card' system to store the note data? Well, maybe this is some kind of special overlay that you place on the circuit diagram, which pinpoints the actual measuring points to use your multimeter on, directly linked to a set diagnostic procedure? In fact, it might even be related to a similar template for taking the measurements on an actual PCB, for example.

Just a thought, in case it triggers any ideas...

In any event, best of luck!

Tony M
France
Local time: 07:10
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 304

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

'wiring chart for dummies'

Explanation:
Let's consider this dictionary article (see definition 3):

Pi·a·no·la /ˌpiəˈnoʊlə/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[pee-uh-noh-luh] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
1. Trademark. a brand of player piano.
–noun
2. (lowercase) Bridge. a hand, as a laydown, that is very easy to play.
3. (lowercase) something that is very easy to do or accomplish.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2007-11-04 22:12:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Basically, "simplified wiring chart".

Alexander Demyanov
Local time: 01:10
Native speaker of:

Russian
PRO pts in category: 12

4 hrs confidence:

wiring pianola

Explanation:
Leaving aside the nice intellectual exercise triggered by this term, it seems to me that the answer to the question *as posed* is simple: there is no difference in terminology between UK and US English, so forget it and move on.

In any case, the term 'wiring pianola' is defined in the source text: "a special type of wiring chart' - and we can assume that it is the usual in-house terminology adopted by the equipment manufactuer for this type of chart. It doesn't matter what is actually is, what it looks like or even how it works - the simple fact is that the manufacturer calls it a 'wiring pianola'.

That's the manufacturer's (bizarre) choice so live with - in both UK and US English.

Jennifer Levey
Chile
Local time: 01:10
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 28

Notes to answerer

Asker: Ah, but I am to 'mericanize it and if it contains a term that I do not know and cannot find, I at least need to let the client know. So, I want to make sure that it was not just a gap in *MY* knowledge, but rather really an unknown term.

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