Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1870-11-30
Cabinet Organs.

ded cabinet and parlor organs generally
as well as harmonious, melodeons, SER
aphines, de-, are an American invention.
fn the possession Of the Mason d Ham,
lin Organ Company is the original pat
ent, dated November IL, 1918, and
signed by James Monroe. President;
John Quincy Adams. Secretary of State;
and " lliam Writ, Attorney General of
the United States, granted to Aaron
Merrill Peaslev. citizen of the United
States for a new and useful improve.
ment in organs which is described as
consist NO lin substituting in place of the
pipes, usually called reed pipes, a plate
of metal or any other fit substance, Ia
which are number of holes of proper
form. in each of which is fitted piece
of brass. or any other elastic substance
capable of vibrating so rs to produce q
tone These are made TO vibrate either
by force or exhaust bellows. The des.
cription is so full and explicit as to leave
no doubt that instruments of this class
were before unknown, and the fact seems
thus established That the invention was
American End rot European, as has been
commonly supposed.
Mr.. Peasley seems to have reape lit.
tie benefit from his invention. for it was
nearly twenty five years before the instru
ment acquired any popularity or remu
nerative sale. This doubtless arose from
the fact that the tones of the new nstru-
menl were Of such poor quality.
Ii was not until about twenty five
years since that this defect was remudied.
At that time Mr.. Emmons Hamlin, now
of the Mason d. IIamlin Organ Co., but
then quite young man, and work
man at the bench, and who seems from
what he has since accom- plished to have
had genius for the construction Of mus
ical instruments, discovered that by Civ
ing to the reed or vibrator peculiar
twist and bend. the quality of the tone
was greatly modified and improved -
Considerable experiment led to the de-
velopment Of the art OF voiclng reeds, as
the process is termed. which has since be.
come uBiversa! amoug makers, and
which has undoubtedly been The chief
means of so improving these instruments
as to render them worthy Of their pres
ent popularity. From this time progress
was was rapid. The instrument, which
had somehow dropped its proper name,
organ, and come TO be known By va
rious fanciful names. as seraphine, har
monium, melodeon, &c, had acquired
sufficient meri; TO attract popularity and
use, so that q considerable demand arose
This naturally stimulated efforts for fur
Their improvement and for number of
wears scarcely month has passed with
out the grant of some patent in connec
ton with organs They have become
the most popular among instruments
played by key board 1t is estimated
from internal revenue returns that30, 900
of these instruments were sold in this
country last year, while The whole sale
of pianofOrtes did not much exceed
10000. The reed organ has come to be
of so much real excellence and capacity
that it enjoys its best appreciation among
those of most II usical cultivation, and
no longer finds use, merely because of
its moderate cost. 1t has become an
artistic instrument
Others having zeal for improvement in
this instrument have become assncated
with Mr. Hamlrn, and have undoubtedly
been chIctlv Instrumental IN this progIe>s.
We have already alluded To the genius
which Mr. Hamin SEEMS 10 have in the
construction of musrai Instruments -
Tins hss been illustrated rec 'nt.y 10y the
productions, as a matter of personal graf
lficatioD solely, and not with any business
purpose. of several victims, which are
said by virtuosos to be of extraordinary
excellence. and to need only age To rank
with productions of the old masters. who,
1t has supposed, had left 40 worthy sic
ces>nrs in their art Ore Bull and Theo
dore Thomas are among those who have
recognized the merit nf Mr.. Hamin
victims.
Under the name hdrmoniHDaS, reed
organs acquired great popularity, ani are
very extensively manufactured IN Europe,
where. indeed, it has been suppos d that
they originated, as has been said. But
it is confessed that the American organs
are superior in most important respects,
and this is so evident hat they now find
q quite extensive demand abroad, al
though the greater cost of labor here
compes com petition at very great disad-
vantage with European makers. The
exporta:i, IN of the Mason & Hamlin or.
gans this } ear will approach in amount
100000. AT the Paris Exposition it
received one of the three grand prizes
for this general class of musical instru-
ments.
But it is not probable that the cabinet
organ has yet reached its widest popular
itv. Not only from it's intrinsic excellence,
but also because of the wide range in
capacity and price, it IS likely to find
more and moro extensive use. For $50
a good though quite small organ is
obtainable, and the prices range all the
way from this moderate sum to thousands
of dollars.
The eleven States that in 1861 declar
ed their secession from the Union, had.
10 1860, population of 9.l04, 32l. By
the census of 1870 their aggregate popu
lation is lO,0l0,557. This shows an
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