This section is from the book "The Home Cyclopedia Of General Information", by Charles Morris. Also available from Amazon: Home Cyclopedia of Necessary Knowledge.
[O.E.] A large tube with tight skins over the ends, beaten to accompany music - a kettledrum has a metallic hemisphere, and a single piece of skin to be beaten ; the tympanum or stretched membrane in the inside of the ear ; a broad wheel on a revolving shaft, round which a belt is put to drive another wheel.
 
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