Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1911-01-19

lost is 9fUOOO ana OT9dNiSt T1aS ! W.
Invaluable Assistants In Two EIec
trio Motors Of Twenty three Horse
power-Several Tone CoIors Pro-
duced For First Time In History.
The great organ which is being in
stalled in the Cathedral of st. John
the Divine is approaching completion
When it is actually finished New York
will be richer in great organs than any
other city in the world Four years
were required for its construction.
In the opinion of Ernest NJ. skinner.
the builder of this and other famous
Instruments. the cathedral will pos
sess the browning achievement SO far
in organ building. In the number of
stops this organ is slightly smaller
than few other Instruments.
But in point of completeness" says
Mr.. Skinner. both as regards tone
color and volume, it will have no SUI
perior in the world and possibly no
equal. There are no compromises or
authorizations of any sort or descrip-
ton.
New Colors Are Used.
Several tone colors appearing in this
instrument are used for the first time
in the history of organ building, and
nothing has been left undone to make
it Il great work of art"
There are people to whom this talk
of n great work of art" will mean
To-, 81, -,
costing $4,000, that it has between
G.GOO and 1000 pipes. that the largest
of these is Il great wooden conduit
thirtytwo feet long and that the
smallest is thin reed of tin not even
SO large as Il lead pencil.
These are the people whose mouths
will open in astonishment if told that
IN reality three organiSts must work
together to make the big instrument
speak. The real organist is Miles Far
row, but he would be powerless with
out his two assistants. the same be-
ing Il fifteen horsepower electric mo-
tor operating the southern division Of
the instrument and a seven and a half
horsepower motor for the northern di-
vision. These two divisions are placed
one on either side Of the chancel or
choir of the cathedral and fifty feet
above the main floor.
Proportions Are Vast.
Each division occupies the space of
q good sized house. and each is packed
with ranks on ranks of pipes, zinc,
composition and wooden. The largest
is the thirty-two foot pedal bombarde.
the only one of its kind in the world
except the one in the College of the
City of New York. 1t is said that in
Westminster abbey there is an orga l..
pipe siXtyfour feet long, laid hori-
Zontally along the ceiling OF the choir
loft. The thirtNtwo foot pipe up at
the Cathedral of st. John the Divine
gives the Same' tone because it has Il
siNty-fOur foot stop.
1t is curious fact that these square
wooden organ pipes are tuned to i
pitch just an octave higher than the
note they are intended to give. \
wooden plug or stop with handle
on 1T is then put into the end of the
pipe, with the consequence that the
pitch is lowered just one octave In
this way the thirty foot pipe is made
to give the note Of an unstopped one
sixty-four feet long.
Parts Are Curiously Named.
All the wooden pipes are made of
pine. Some of the metal pipes are Of
zinc, others of a composition of lead
and tin. The difference in the amount
of tin causes astonishing variations in
the quality Of the vibration of the pipe
and consequently of the rone it gives.
The names OF the different parts uf
a pipe are interesting For instance,
| the air is forced in Through il hole. in
the pointed toe of the pipe goes
| through the tiue Uhe slit cut III the
| side' and strikes the lip. In some
| cases ii then hits the beard "a metal
cylinder attached just below the open
he) and rebounds against the lip, pro-
ducing Il double vibration. There is
also Il tongue. and the uppee part is
called the barrel
Every one hats seen the player on
an old fashioned pipe organ fevershty
pushing in and pulling out stops while
with one hand he hangs on to the keys
so that there shall be no blank hiatus
in the music. Things are indeed diff
ferent with this latest organ.
There are thirty-three possible COM
binatiOns of stops that can be secured
by simply pushing the ivory pistons
distributed between the manuals.
Push one piston and out jump all the
stops of the desired combination. Push
another and a totally different group
ing of stops instantly takes place.