The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-11-25
A Monster Organ-It Can be Heard
.r. Mile.

zette of that city, has now been engaged
for nearly two years experimenting,
with view to building an immense or
gan at his private residence. The man.
sion, with surrounding grounds, occupy
an entire block in the western section
of the city, and, as generally known,
are beautifully laid out and magnif-
Gently adorned with all that wealth and
cultivated taste can suggest. During
Mr.. Winans's summer sojourns at New
port he has attached to his residence a
house in which his experiments are con-
tinued. During the ensuing winter an
organ will be built at Newport, under
his direction, which will be one of the
largest in this country, and will be
placed in a building expressly con-
structed for the purpose.
When the instrument is being per-
formed upon, the music, it is stated,
will be heard distinctly for nearly a
mile. But, large as this viii be, the
monster organ which Mr.. Winans will
have constructed in Baltimore will
greatly exceed it in dimensions and
| power. The building in which this or
gan will be built is situatedin the north
western angle of Mr.. Winans's spacious
grounds, within a short distance of the
wall at the western boundary of the in
closure. 1t is built of brick, and the
entire structure will be used for the case
of the organ. The dimensions of the
main organ-room are as follows:
Height from floor to ceiling, 40 feet;
area of floor, 81 feet 6 inches by a feet.
| There is another apartment two stories
in height, the first of which will be used
for two tanks, which will be described
hereafter, and in the second the great
sweil-pipes of the organ will be put.
This apartment will be known as the
swell-hOuse. f........- s..... ..-....- -..-
The main organ-house is pierced by
two large double windows on the north
and south sides, each by feet in size
of these windows, the upper one of
which opens out on the roof of the
swell-house, and the other, several feet
lower, comes just beneath the roof, and
opens into the swell-house. A row of
heavy Stats is before the latter window,
which can be opened or closed at pleas
ure from below Directly opposite this
window, which is intended to regulate
the sound from the swell-hOuse, is a
similar window opening into the audi
ence-rOom. By means of these Slated
windows the music can be made soft
and low or made loud and deep. When
the window in the swell-house is closed,
the sound will appear as though at a
distance, and the gradual opening of the
Stats will, as it were, bring it nearer,
producing charming effect. When it
is desired to have the music heard
through the grounds and in the neigh
| bOrhOOd the windows can be opened
and the melodious sounds will be dis
tinctly audible for mile. Closing the
heavy iron shutters upon the windows
will confine the sound in all its power
within the compass of the Organ-rOOm.
The organ-pipes, between 5000 and
| 1000 in number, will range in size from
81 feet high and feet by 2 feet inches
in diameter down to pipe few feet in
length and about one-fOurth of an inch
in diameter. There will be five banks
of keys, each operating q separate set
of pipes as follows: The choir organ,
the swell, the solo, and the high-pres-
sure. The number of stops will exceed
| 200.
The air-supply for the organ will be
| by means of a new process, which is the
invention of Mr.. Winans. Instead of
the old blowing apparatus, the wind is
supplied from tanks which con-
tain over 200 cubic feet of air each, which
| is forced into the tanks by means of a
pump, and is again forced into the or
gan by the weight of the heavy iron
tanks, which operate upon the same
principle as gasometers. The tanks are
surrounded by water, which prevents
any leakage of air, thus obviating the
difficulty Of preventing the leakage that
is so often met with in the old bel
lows method of organ-blOwing. Only
one of the pipes has been placed in po-
sition, and the size may be better un-
| derstoOd when it is stated that it is near
ly as large as an ordinary-sized CHM
ney, and towers above a mans head af-
ter the fashion of a telegraph pole. All
the larger pipes will be constructed of
wood. They will be arranged in rows
with the small ones near the performer
and the rest rising tier after tier to the
| larger ones. This enables the observer
to have all the pipes in view at once
of course, excepting those in the swell
room, which, as before stated, is sepa-
rated from the main organ-room.
Among the experiments which Mr..
| Winans has been making is one for the
purpose of determining the exact amount
of time which is lost between the in
stant of touching the key and the pro-
ductiOn of the sound. This result is
arrived at by an ingenious device, of
which Mr.. Winans is the author. Two
| pencil points, arranged in such posi-
ton that one is operated by the key and
the other by the valve in the pipe. A
white disc is set in motion, running at a
uniform rate of speed, and, upon the
key being touched, the pencil with
which it is directly connected will strike
the periphery of the disc and make a
small dot. As soon as the action of the
key is communicated to the valve, the
other pencil is allowed to strike the disc,
making dot slightly back of the other.
By ascertaining the rate of speed at
which the wheel is running and the dis
tance of the dots apart, the exact dis
tance between the touch of the key and
the response can be determined.
Thus far Mr.. Winans's work upon the
organ has been only experimental, and
he has not yet fully determined upon
the time when the actual work of con-
struction will be commenced, but his
experiments have been so thorough
that the space of a few months is all
that will be necessary for the compile
ton of the organ when once begun.
When completed, Mr.. Winans' organ
will be the largest in America.
The largest organ in the world is at
Albert Hall, London. 1t contains 1873
stops and upwards of 10000 pipes, all
of which are of metal. 1t was built by
Henry Willis in 1870. There is another
of Mr.. Willis's organs at st. Georges
Hall, Liverpool, which has 100 stops
and 5000 pipes. The largest organ in
America is in Music Hall, Boston. 1t
has four manuels, eighty-nine stops, and
1900 pipes.
The other large organs in this coun-
| 1,-1- NTH from . 60O IN a 000 mines and