Improvements in Pipe or Reed Organs and like Musical Instruments.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application. 13th Nov., 1990-Accepted, 17th Jan., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Pipe or Reed Organs and like Musical
Instruments.
I JAMES BAILLIE HAMILTON of 14 Upper Cheyne Row in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My invention relates to pipe or reed organs and like musical instruments and
has for its object to provide efficient and realy means to connect or disconnect the
various ranks or stops of the instrument with the key board by means of the main
action rods.
In the case of a pipe organ these action rods are generally horizontal and in the
case of a reed organ they are generally vertical.
In all cases each stop is furnished with its own separate series of valves and
the connection with the action-rod is according to my invention, effected by an
intermediate lever.
I use by preference a lever for each stop, each said lever being centered or slung
upon the main action-rod itself, one end being connected to the valve and the other
en being acted upon or not as bereinafter described according to whether the
particular stop to which it belongs is on or off.
My invention applies equally to " pressure" or exhaust wind have represented
it as applied to pressure wind."
Figure 1 shews a straight lever and
Figure 2 shews a bent or "bell crank" lever for the purpose described.
The connection or disconnection of the ranks or stops is effected by opposing
or not the natural action of the ends of the levers which are disconnected with the
valve.
In the case of Figure 1. this is effected by a hinged board or obstructor a controlled
from the stop action through the rod d operating a cam the regulation being
effected by screw butions e borne upon one end of the lever a centered as 2 to the
action rody the other end of the said lever bearing on the valve as shown. When
the cam is in the position shewn, on the action rod y rising the button c being
obstructed by the board or obstructor a the valve is opened. If however the cam b be
turned up clear of the board a the said board is raised by the spring a² and the valve
is not operated.
In the case of Figure 2 the hinged board or obstructor a is actuated directly from
the stop action through the rod d, regulation being effected on the pull wires e by the
button e. The board a on being pulled down by a spring or springs a² is limited in
its descent by the screw button represented on the block z. The projection a³ from
the board a bears on one end of the lever a centered at a to the action rod y the said
ever in this case being a bell-crank lever the other end of which is connected to the
alve by the wire e.
In the case of Figure 3 the connection is effected by the action of a continuous
cam roller which is controlled from the stop action rod d as in the case of
Figure 1 the regulation being effected as in Figure 2 and a similar lever a being
ised.
Figure 4 shews in sectional elevation and Figure 5 in sectional plan a "solo action"
which is obtained by subdividing a roller cam 63 so that each action rod y and levera
as its own can the whole series of cams being "strung" upon an axis or mandril
with washers between.
The cams are furnished with arms and front and back so as to be
shaped.

page_text: The cams overlap each other in the direction required by means of bent pins 9 (one
of which is shewn separately in Figure 6).
Consequently if any cam be moved on its axis all the rest of the cams will move as
a solid roller in the direction in which the "overlap" is imposed which overlap may
be in either direction as desired.
By slightly inclining the pins q towards the axis the torsion of the whole series may
be preserved or lessened or increased.
Attached to each action rod y is a spur » which affects not its own cam 6³ but that
of its adjacent note in the same direction as the overlap.
Consequently if any action rod y be moved by the key its own note is not
thrown out of gear but all the rest of the series in the direction of the overlap are
thrown out.
Thus the extreme note of any chord is the only one that can sound on such a series
and it will be a bass or treble solo according to the direction of the overlap.
The arm of the bent lever or square is shaped or hollowed at . so as to
facilitate the throwing out of gear and the cam 63 can be furnished with an antifriction
wheel L.
In order to recover the cam into its original position after deflection by the key I
employ a straight lever a (such as that at Figure 1) centered on the action-rod
above the cam 63 and attached to its back arm by means of a slight springs (and
itself controlled by a cam as in Figure 3).
This springs offers no appreciable resistance to the deflection of the cams 1,3 as
long as the action-rod y is at rest but wherever the action-rod is moved the spring
is thrown into an increased state of tension sufficient to return the cam ³ into position
against the resistance caused by the valve spring were it not retained by the over-
lapping system.
By this means any note of a chord already depressed will regain its speech on
becoming the extreme note of that chord and will not require a second touch from:
the finger.
Figure 7 represents the section of so much of a two manual and pedal organ as is
necessary to illustrate the application of the foregoing methods and the corresponding
parts are marked with the same reference letters. In the "great organ" the method
represented in Figure 2 is employed the swell organ" having an ordinary valve
worked by a "sticker
or push action which is the action adopted throughout this
figure and in Figures 1, 2 and 3.
ני
The pedal action (one rod of which is shown at w) can exercise an independent
control of the upper stop of the great organ by an inverted form of the arrange-
ment Figure 3 having an independent pull wire in connection with the valve as
shewn.
The "swell-organ valve can have an independent control of the lower stop
of the great organ by having also an independent pull wire in connection with it as
shewn.
Another application of the straight lever mounted on the action-rod as in Figure 1
is shewn in connection with the main pedal action rod was affecting its relation with
either of the two key boards thus enabling one single row of pedal-action-rods w
to affect its own notes as well as those of the inanuals.
Figures 8 to 12 represent various mechanical equivalents for the devices herein-
before described and shewn. In all these figures a pull down wire is supposed to he
employed.
Figure 8 shows a "tumbler" action, short stickers 12 grooved into a continuous
roller being employed a sticker being used for each note whereby the levers a which
hold the valve are thrown in or out of the control of an intermediate lever n acted
upon by the block y² on the main action rod y.
Figure 9 shews the levers or squares centered in a beam m which is slung on a
carrier m² centered at m³ so that when in the position shewn it leaves the arm of the
lever in connection with the valve by the wire e undisturbed by the movement of
the block y on the action rod y but when the beam m² is moved by the cam roller b³

page_text: is acted upon by the block y² on the main action rod y and the valve is
opened.
Figure 10 shews an elongated button e² attached to the pull wire e connected to
the valve which button and wire are thrown up or down by the jaws of a continuous
5 hinged board a² the pull wire e rises and falls in a slot m³ in its own square arm or
lever and the square arm is shaped into an inclined plane me so that when the
buttons are raised there is no contact of the lever a with the button e and the note is
consequently not sounded.
Figure 11 shews in plan the "pull rod" and Figure 12 in sectional elevation an
arrangement wherein a continuous rail a' is used slotted as at m³ for each pull rod e
furnished with anti-friction wheels e³. The rail is shaped into an inclined plane me
so that when the pull rod y is depressed the projection y² bears on the lever e and
the wheel e runs down the inclined plane m and the valve is opened. The rail a*
is hinged and when it is thrown into the position shewn in dotted lines there is no
opposition to the wheel e³ and the pull-rod e does not recede when depressed by the
action rod y and the valve is consequently not opened.
In all the figures corresponding parts are marked with the same reference letters.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. In pipe or reed organs or like musical instruments the combination of levers
carried by the action-rods themselves one arm being connected to the valves and the
other ends being acted upon by an obstructor brought or turned into the obstructing
position when the stop is to be brought into action.
2. The several arrangements or alternative arrangements as hereinbefore described
nd illustrated severally in Figures 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the accompanying drawings.
3. The connection of the stops of one manual with the keys of another by the
foresaid means (as well as the connection of one manual to another) as illustrated in
Figure 7 of the accompanying drawings.
4. The subdivision of the obstructor so as to produce a solo-action as described
ith reference to Figures 4 and 5 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 13th day of November 1890.
.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.
Agents.