In about 1812 the Munich court timpanist Gerhard Kramer designed a mechanism that attached all the screws to a master screw so that the skin tension could be altered by means of a single handle or pedal. The machine drum, which made rapid tuning possible, had arrived. Rotary-tuned machine timpani were also developed which were retuned by giving the bowl a turn. The disadvantage of this method was that the spot on the vellum which must be struck to achieve the best sound (beating spot) changed its position.
The pedal drum was invented in the 1870s by C. Pittrich in Dresden and is now the standard orchestral kettledrum. By operating a pedal, energy is transferred along drawbars, which run up the shell either on the inside or the outside, to the hoop over which the vellum is stretched and alter its tension. A tuning gauge gives a rough indication of the compass and a handle is used for fine-tuning. Since the beginning of the 19th century rapid retuning during playing has been required by composers more and more often. This demand was a result of chromaticization, which began at the turn of the 19th century, and was one that the new pedal drums could meet with ease.