A piston valve is a device used to change the pitch of a brass instrument; three or more piston valves can be found on trumpets, tubas, and the like.
An alternate to the piston valve is the rotary valve.
The first piston valve instruments were developed just after the start of the 19th century. The Stölzel valve was an early variety. In the mid 19th century the Vienna valve was an improved design. However most professional musicians preferred rotary valves for quicker, more reliable action, until better designs of piston valves were mass manufactured in towards the end of the 19th century. Since the early decades of the 19th century, piston valves have been the most common on brass instruments.
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