IMPROVEMENTS IN ORGANS AND OTHER WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Frederick Stidolph, of Ipswich, Organ
Builder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORGANS AND OTHER WIND
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS."
Sealed the 5th June 1860, and dated the 22nd December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Frederick Stidolph
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd December 1859.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK STIDOLPHI, of Ipswich, Organ Builder, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORGANS AND OTHER
WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," to be as follows:-
The Invention consists, firstly, of an arrangement and construction of the
sound board and wind chest, dispensing to some extent with the use of sound
bars by using a separate pallet for each pipe or for more than one pipe, and
with or without the use of slides, the wind holes being made directly under
each pipe or otherwise, and extended above or below the scale of key-board or
other fixed scale.
Secondly, of an arrangement of pipes by extending the scale of any or every
stop of the pipes one or more octaves, or to a greater or less number of notes
above or below the scale of the key-board, where existing or other fixed scale
in organs, barrel organs, and other instruments the pipes are kept in position
by a projection or projections or the foot beneath the stay-board.
Thirdly, in an arrangement of pallet and apparatus connected therewith; the

page_text: pallet is suspended at one end by a wire or by a strip of leather, india-rubber,
or other material, or by other joint, and it is acted upon by a tracker or other
instrument in a parallel line or nearly so to the working surface of the pallet,
such tracker or instrument passing through or being attached to an arm
affixed to the pallet at a right or other suitable angle.
Fourthly, the Invention consists in the use of india-rubber springs for
pallets, rollers, pedals, bellows, and swell actions, in organs and other musical
instruments; also in the use of a spring acting on the roller connected with
the pull downs by a sticker or other means to each pallet, such spring to close
the whole of the pallets in connection with the roller, and also in constructing
such roller of one continuous piece of wire or of other material producing the
arms and centres in one piece with the other parts of the roller.
Fifthly, it consists in the application of india-rubber washers, or washers of
other material, in combination with the nuts on pull downs, trackers, or.
stickers, such washers working against the tracker plate or perforated portion
of sound-board or wind chest, above and below the perforation, so as to close
round the orifices whether the pallet is open or closed, thus diminishing the
amount of wind loss, also in the use of a diaphragm of india-rubber acted
upon by pressure or otherwise on one side to give motion to the action on the
other side to act as a spring and prevent loss of wind.
Sixthly, in the application of an action to the organ, harmonium, or other
instrument by which the performer will be able to act on any, either, or
every note of the octave, sub-octave, super-octive, or any note or notes in the
scale of the instrument, affording the means for producing an almost infinite
variety of changes and combinations in the tones of instruments, and the same
consists of two or more stickers to cach note or key acting on one or more
rollers or backfalls, such stickers passing through or attached to two separate
sliding rails, shifting either sticker action to allow of being used separately or
combined by the employment of slots cut in under surface of keys or by other
means.
..
Seventhly, in certain reciprocating and coupling action enabling the per-
former to couple two or more rows of keys together. This action consists of
a backfall rail or roller board capable of being raised or lowered or otherwise
shifted by a stop or pedal, the backfalls or rollers being acted upon by a roller
and sticker or tracker or other means in connection with the pallet or other
part of action, or by a fixed backfall rail or roller board and shifting sticker or
tracker or continuous roller and shifting sticker or tracker, such sticker or
tracker being acted upon by sticker or tracker belonging to the key roller
board, or otherwise connected with key action..

page_text: Eighthly, in placing of the coupling and other actions inside the wind chest
in order to economize space, also in obtaining several tones or notes from one
pipe (by means of orifices, valves, plugs, and other appliances) thus economizing
space previously occupied by several pipes, at the same time obtaining the
same number of notes from a less number of pipes, also in arranging the
pedals to fold into the instrument or seat when not in use.
Ninthly, in an arrangement of the wind supplying apparatus or bellows by
placing it or them separate from the organ inside the seat occupied by the
performer or other seat, and acted upon by moveable cushion or top to be
blown by hand or foot, either fixed or capable of being attached or detached
at pleasure by means of wind trunk and thumbscrews, flexible elastic joint, or
other means, such wind trunks to fold up into the seat or into the organ when
not in use.
Tenthly, in the use and application of labels of different shades of colour,
and different sizes, to the draw stops, to indicate the greater or less amount of
depth and power of tones afforded by each and every stop, and also an
arrangement of a key formed with a transverse angular groove cut in the
bottom of key acting on a wedge balance kept tight by india-rubber or suitable
spring, and having guide pin fixed in the key working in a slotted rail below,
preventing the key from rising on the balance pin and rendering it less liablo
to be affected by damp.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Frederick Stidolph in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FREDERICK STIDOLPH, of Ipswich, Organ Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Frederick Stidolph, Iler special licence that I, the said
George Frederick Stidolph, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George Frederick Stidolph, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter, during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of

page_text: Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORGANS AND OTHER WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Frederick Stidolph, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Frederick Stidolph, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a section of part of a sound board having a recess C formned
in it, and a smaller passage c leading to one of the organ pipes. Over tho
recess C there is a pallet B, which covers the recess, and such pallet is
mounted on a lever A. The pallet B is constantly pulled on by the vulcanized
india-rubber spring D. By this arrangement the recess C is made in
the sound board, and the ordinary construction with sound bars is dispensed
with.
Another part of my Invention consists in extending the sound board and
pipes to a greater extent than the key-board, and by preference twelve notes,
although other number of notes may similarly be added to the sound board;
such extension may be made at either end of the sound board. By these
means, combined with suitable interposed mechanism, I am enabled to cause
each key of the key-board to produce a note an octave higher or lower than
the note proper. to the particular key, and such key may, when desired,
act so as to open both pallets of the two pipes or only one of the pallets,
according as one or other of the back fall rails is raised for the time out of
the way, both of the back fall rails being made moveable in a similar manner
to that heretofore practised when only one of the two back fall rails has been
moveable.
The arrangement of mechanism, which is by preference interposed between
the keys and the pallets for carrying out this part of my Invention, is shown at
Figure 2, although other arrangements may be used. A is the key, B the
sticker, C is a back fall acted on by the key A, and D
is a tracker at the

page_text: other end of the back fall C, by which motion may be given to either or both
of the back falls E and F by means of the nuts G. The back fall rails, which
carry the back falls E and F, are each capable of being raised into the
positions shown by dotted lines, and when either of them is so raised the
tracker D will not act on the back fall carried thereby. One of the ends of
cach of the back falls F comes directly under one of the ends of each of the
back falls E, so that the same tracker may pass through them, but their
opposite ends are at a distance apart equal to twelve notes supposing that tho
sound board is extended so as to have twelve additional pipes. The ends of
the back falls E and F, which are at a distance apart, are connected so as to
act on the pallets of their respective pipes. Figure 3 shews a plan of the
back falls E and F for one key, and it will be understood that the grooves in
the back fall rails for the back falls E and F respectively will be cut to incline
in the directions indicated in Figure 3.
In order to obtain a reciprocating action between two sets of key-boards and
their respective pallets I add the following arrangement shown at Figure 4 in
addition to the combined parts shown at Figure 2. G' is one of the keys of
another key-board corresponding with the key. A of the before-mentioned key-
board; the pallet II bas a sticker H', which, when its pallet is opened, acts
on the back fall I, which is coupled to the back fall J, and which can by the
tracker K be made to act on either of the pallets acted on by the key A,
according as the tracker K is connected to the pallet acted on by the back
fall E or F. And in order to act by the key A another back fall L is intro-
duced, which on depressing the key A will by the tracker D act on the back
fall L, and such back fall L will, by reason of its being connected to one of
the back falls of the key G, act on one or both of the pallets actuated by the
key G.
Another part of my Invention consists in applying (in constructing organs)
rollers, each made of one piece of metal, by preference of wire, bent into the
forms desired. Figure 5 shows a roller made according to this part of my
Invention, wherein it will be seen that the wire is bent so as to form the
required axis X together with the proper arms Y, Y. By these means the
rollers used in constructing organs and other musical instruments may be
placed closer together as they occupy less space than the old ones made of
wood; or in place of producing the arms by bending a wire or metal rod,
rollers of metal may be cast or otherwise formed in one piece of metal...
Another part of my Invention consists in the application of vulcanized
india-rubber in order to prevent the loss of wind where the trackers pass into
and through the wind chest. Figure 6 shews the section of a sound board

page_text: where a tracker passes through it. D is the tracker, and d is a vulcanized
india-rubber cupped disc which is fixed to the sound board around the tracker,
and to the tracker, so that when the tracker is raised it will extend the cupped
vulcanized india-rubber by which the wind will be prevented passing, and when
released the india-rubber will act as a spring to bring back the tracker; or in
place of the cupped form of india-rubber above described, discs of vulcanized
india-rubber of proper thickness may be employed where the tracker passes into
and out from the sound board, the discs of india-rubber being kept in contact
with the sound board by suitable nuts or otherwise on the tracker, the elastic
discs being so arranged that one will at all times be in contact, so as to prevent
the passage of wind. The key G, it will be seen, in place of acting on a pin at
the end as heretofore, rests intermediate of its length on a wedge-formed
support N, and is retained thereon by a vulcanized india-rubber spring O, or it
may be by other form of spring. The action in Figure 4, excepting the
key G and first back fall is shown to be arranged within the wind chest, by
which space is economised.
Another improvement consists in obtaining tones or notes from one pipe of
an organ by having openings at distances apart, covered or closed by valves,
thus applying to organs the principle heretofore used in the construction of
flutes and other wind musical instruments. Those pipes of an organ to which
this part of my Invention is to be applied are each made of a length to produce
a given or desired note when used in its whole length, and then it has openings
made at intervals for obtaining sharper and sharper notes, according as the
openings are made at greater and greater distances from the upper end of the
pipe. And cach opening is, when the pipe is to be used in its whole length, to
be closed with a suitable valve or slide, which when the note due to the length
of pipe where the opening is made is to be sounded, is to be opened, but, as
before stated, it is to be kept closed when the note to be sounded requires a
greater length of pipe; these slides or valves may be opened by a peddle or
otherwise. Figure 7 shows a plan of part of the stay-board of an organ, and
Figure 8 is a transverse section thereof and part of a pipe therein, and it will
be seen that the opening through which the pipe passes is notched out on one
side, and the pipe has a projection of metal at P, hence when the pipe has
been passed through the stay-board, and turned partly round, the pipe will be
retained from rising. Although the action described with reference to
Figures 2, 3, and 4, has been spoken of only as applied to organs it will be
evident that it is equally applicable to harmoniums and barrel organs.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is,

page_text: First, the mode of constructing the sound boards of organs, as described in
respect to Figure 1 of the Drawing.
Secondly, I claim the extending the sound boards of organs and applying
additional pipes thereto combined with suitable mechanism interposed
between the keys and the pallets, as described with reference to Figures 2
and 3.
Thirdly, I claim the application of the combined apparatus or action
described with reference to Figures 2, 3, and 4, to organs and other musical
instruments.
Fourthly, I claim the mode herein described of constructing rollers for
the action of organs and other musical instruments described with reference to
Figure 5.
Fifthly, I claim the application of vulcanized india-rubber as herein
described for preventing the loss of wind and to act as springs in constructing
the action of organs and other wind musical instruments.
Sixthly, I claim the mounting keys of organs and other keyed musical
instruments on wedges, and using springs as described with reference to
the key G in Figure 4; and I also claim the placing of the action of an
organ and of other wind musical instruments in the wind chest as herein
described.
Seventhly, I claim the constructing of organ pipes with several openings
and valves or slides so as to be enabled to obtain several notes from one organ
pipe.
And, eighthly, I claim the constructing the stay-board and pipes of an
organ, as described with reference to Figures 7 and 8.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Frederick Stidelph, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
G. F. STIDOLPH.
(L.S.)