Improvements in Apparatus for Admitting and Controlling the Wind in Various Parts of Organs and other Wind Instruments.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Dec.,
1888
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Sept., 1889-Accepted, 19th Oct., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Admitting and Controlling the
Wind in Various Parts of Organs and other Wind Instruments.
I, JAMES JOHN WALKER of 27 Francis Street in the county of Middlesex Organ
Builder do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR ADMITTING AND CONTROLLING THE WIND
ORGANS AND OTHER WIND INSTRUMENTS to be as follows:-
IN VARIOUS PARTS OF
This invention relates to certain methods of controlling the admission to, or the
withdrawal of the wind from the various parts of the Organ or other wind Instrument.
To carry this into effect, the compressed or exhausted air, is made to pass through a
passage or tube of a suitable flexible material the compression or expansion of which
is controlled either directly by the key, pedal, or drawstop action or by suitable
mechanism connected thereto, or in connection with a suitable train of pneumatic
levers or electric action. Hereafter in speaking of the action of the Organ or Wind
Instrument I intend it to include the above mentioned.
The flexible tube is placed over, under or on either side of a stationary bed, as may
be convenient in each particular application of my invention, situated in a convenient
position to the particular part of the action to which it is connected.
allowed to oscillate,
At times I employ two or more flexible beds, either of which
being hinged or jointed in a convenient manner, so that being controlled by a spring
or springs or by a suitable wind friction, supplying sufficient resistance, the one or
other may be opened or closed at any angle they may describe when controlled by the
action. The flexible tube is placed at any convenient position in relation to the beds.
At times I make an air passage in one or both of the beds and control the admission
or withdrawal of the air by compressing or allowing the expansion of the flexible
tube connected by suitable means so that the bed or beds oscillate under control of
the wind or spring friction and the action, and a result precisely similar to the last
example is obtained.
At times I enclose the whole of the above apparatus in a suitable wind chest and
place a hinged pallet upon the flexible bed controlled by springs as above mentioned
so that the necessary opening and closing of the air passage takes place at any
suitable angle of the beds and sometimes I make the bed to slide instead of oscillating,
in which case I place either a flexible tube or a hinged pallet, the compression or
expansion or the opening or closing of which is caused by the action through suitable
mechanism: the tube or pallet may be placed at an angle to the bed if required, and
is so arranged that one spring of peculiar construction supplies the necessary pressures
both to the sliding bed and the compression of the tube or the closing of the hinged
pallet. In cases where it is necessary to control both the supply and the exhaust of
the air I duplicate the above described arrangements and place two or more flexible
tubes in suitable positions to each other, so that the action causes a movement, that
may be controlled in one direction by a suitable spring or friction, in an oscillating
pallet or compressor that will alternately compress or close or open one or other of
the tubes, connected to the supply and exhaust, as required, and this arrangement is
applied in the same manner as in the above mentioned instances, with either fixed,
oscillating or sliding beds either within or without a suitable wind chest.
connection with the above I employ suitable stops, generally adjustable to determine
the precise moment at which I require the above mentioned compressions or
5 expansions to take place.
In
From the above description it will be apparent that I can apply my invention to
ment of the action of the Organ or wind Instrument where it is desirable to

page_text: control the action of the wind either directly by means of the keys, pedals or draw-
stop action or in connection with the electric or pneumatic actions.
Dated this 1st day of December 1888.
GEORGE WILLIAM BUDD,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Admitting and Controlling the
Wind in Various Parts of Organs and other Wind Instruments.
I, JAMES JOHN WALKER of 27 Francis Street in the county of Middlesex Organ
Builder 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 :-
This invention has for its object an improved method of controlling the admission
to, or the withdrawal of the wind from the various parts of the organ or other wind
instrument. The compressed or exhausted air is made to pass through a passage, or
a tube of a suitable flexible material, the opening or closing of which passage or
the compression or expansion of the tube is controlled either directly by the key
pedal or drawstop action or in connection with a suitable train of pneumatic levers
or electric action. Hereafter when I use the term 'action' of the organ or other
wind instrument I intend it to include the above mentioned key pedal drawstop
pneumatic and electric actions. The flexible tube, or the passage is placed over under
or on either side of a bed, that may be either stationary sliding or oscillating, in
which latter case I term it a flexible bed, by which I mean a bed which though rigid
in itself has one of its ends hinged or jointed to some other convenient part of the
instrument The flexible beds, being controlled by a spring or springs or a suitable
wind friction supplying sufficient resistance may be made to move through any
required angle, and the hinged stop or pallet that controls the action of the wind, by
opening or closing the passage or allowing the compression or expansion of the
flexible tube, and which is itself hinged or jointed to the bed, or to some convenient
part of the instrument, may be made to perform its required work at any desired
angular position of the flexible bed-Similarly in the case of a sliding bed, the
hinged or jointed stop or pallet may be made to act at any required part of the
traverse of the sliding bed, and in this case the stop or pallet is hinged or jointed to
the sliding bed. I usually employ thin leather or kid for the construction of my
flexible tubes but any material that is not liable to harden or crack may serve for the
purpose.
-When
A reference to the drawings in which like letters represent like parts will help to
explain the construction of my invention and its application to any required part of
the Organ or wind instrument where it is desirable to control the action by means of
the wind. Figure 1 is a side elevation showing the flexible bed a, controlled by the
spring k, hinged at the point ; above the bed is placed the flexible tube c, connected
at either end to a tube of metal or other suitable material d, d, above which again is
placed the flexible stop or pallet b carrying a stop or compressor n, the flexible
pallet b, is jointed or hinged to the frame of the instrument ff at the point m-
the key of the organ is depressed or the connection with any part, such as the draw-
stop action at 9, is moved or drawn out the pallet b, moves, until it comes in contact
with the screw e, which is adjusted to allow sufficient movement to the pallet that
the tube c, may be expanded by the wind, after which any continued movement of
the key or action in the same direction causes the parts 6 and a to move together-
When the movement ceases and the action or key commences to return to its original
position, the part a is held at rest in the position in which it has arrived by the
spring k, whilst the part immediately returns to its contact with the bed
the control of the spring o, compressing the tube c, and cutting off the supply of wind
from the speaking or other part of the organ with which it is connected-the
a,
under

page_text: continued action of the spring o, then causes the flexible bed a, and its attachments
and the pallet b, to return to rest in its original position ready for any fresh move-
ment of the action-Figure 2 is a plan of Figure 1 and shows the apparatus and its
general form when arranged to fit within the width of the keyboard of the organ or
other wind instrument-Figure 3 is an elevation of a duplicated arrangement of my
invention, whereby the tubes c c¹ are alternately compressed and expanded―The
flexible bed aa a being made in three parts, against two of which the tubes cc¹ are
compressed, the third part carrying the air passage within it; the action in this case
is similar to the last, for any movement given to the hinged stop b, causes it firstly to
compress the tube c' as shown, and afterwards continued movement in the same
direction, causes the part of the flexible bed carrying the air passage and with it
its connections, to rise and the bed being controlled by the spring k, any movement in
the opposite direction at once causes the stop n to compress the tube c and thereby
allow the tube c¹ to expand, and continued movement in the same direction causes the
whole apparatus to return to rest under the control of a spring conveniently placed as
in the last example-Figure 4 is an elevation showing the flexible bed a hingei to
the floor of the wind chest at 1, and in this case I find that a hinge made of one or
more pieces of leather is convenient and allows sufficient movement to the bed and I
usually employ a hinge made in this manner-The bed has an air passage e made
within it, somewhat similar to that in Figure 3-The flexible pallet b, is hinged or
jointed to the bed a, at m, and its action is controlled in the first instance by the
connection g, from the action which causes the pallet b, to move, opening the
passage c, and then to come in contact with the regulating screw e, after which a and b,
continue to move together-any movement in the contrary direction causes the
pallet b, to come in contact with the bed a, closing the passage c (a being held as
before by the spring k) after which the parts a and b, move together under the control
of the spring o-In the illustration the apparatus is shown enclosed in a wind chest.
Figures 5 and 6 are elevations showing the applications of my invention with sliding
beds The part of the beds aa against which the flexible pallets b, b, work I make
preferably of an angle of 45° in order that one spring o, o, may perform the double
action of closing the pallet or stop and of causing the bed to slide and return to its
place I may however employ a different angle in certain cases, when I may use one
or more springs for the purposes above mentioned-b, b, are the flexible pallets or
stops, that in Figure 5 compresses or allows the expansion of the tube c, which is in
reality an air passage outside the bed, and that in Figure 6 opens and closes the air
passage e made in the bed itself-The action of both these arrangements are precisely
similar to those previously described; that is, the connections g, g, under control of
the action causes the flexible pallets b, b, to move first on their hinges or joints m, m,
until they come in contact with the screws e, e, after which continued movement in
the same direction causes the beds a, a, to slide as required-movement in the
opposite direction allows the pallets to close, at once compressing the tube in the case
of Figure 5, and closing the air passage in Figure 6, after which the whole apparatus
returns to its original position-the springs o, o, constructed in the manner shown
perform the double function of closing the pallets b, b, and causing the beds
a, a, to
slide as above described. The air passages d, d, are so arranged that they are always
in communication with apertures in the bed or base on which the beds slide, to allow
the admission or exhaustion of the air in whatever position the sliding beds may stand
when the pallets b, b, are caused to open or close. Figure 6 shows the apparatus
enclosed in a wind chest, as in Figure 4.
Throughout the illustrations the apparatus is shown of the form in which it would
be applied to an organ or other wind instrument within the width of the keyboard
and therefore the plan Figure 2 will serve to show the general form of all as shown
in plan.
I vary the dimensions of the different forms of my apparatus as may be required
for supplying or exhausting larger or smaller quantities of the wind, as the various
sizes of the pipes or the weight of the particular part of the action to which it is
applied, may require-I employ in connection with the various arrangements of my

page_text: invention, suitable pads or stops to prevent noise in the parts and also to prevent any
risk of derangement from the rapidity of the movement that may sometimes be given to
the keys or other action by the performer-It will be seen from the description and
drawings of my invention that it is applicable to any wind instrument having keys or
any mechanical equivalent.
It is quite immaterial whether the tube or passage is placed above the bed as shown,
or on either side or below it, the precise position I determine by the circumstances of
its application, and at times, in cases where suction and pressure are used I duplicate
any of the above described arrangements-I employ my invention to work various
parts of the organ where it is desirable to control the action such as the swell,
couplers or composition pedals, as well as the drawstops, pipes and reeds as above
described, connecting them with the electric pneumatic or other suitable action as
may be required.
The great advantage of my invention is, that I can cause an unfailing noiseless
and rapid response of the action to the movements made by the performer and that
the sounds desired commence and cease almost simultaneously with the action of the
keys in either direction, affording a great assistance in playing rapid passages and
also abolishing the appreciable loss of time by the parts of the ordinary action in
returning to their normal positions.
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. The use of a flexible bed in connection with a flexible tube in an organ or other
wind instrument in manner and for the purposes substantially as above described.
2. The use of a flexible pallet in connection with an air passage cut in a flexible
bed in an organ or other wind instrument in manner and for the purposes sub-
stantially as above described.
3. The use of a flexible pallet in connection with a flexible tube on a sliding bed
in an organ or other wind instrument in manner and for the purposes substantially as
above described.
4. The use of a flexible pallet in connection with a sliding bed having an air
passage cut in it, in an organ or other wind instrument in manner and for the
purposes substantially as above described.
5. The use of any of the above arrangements in duplicate in an organ or other wind
instrument in manner and for the purposes substantially as above described.
Dated this 31st day of August 1889.
GEORGE WILLIAM BUDD,
Agent for the Applicant.