AN IMPROVED COMBINATION ORGAN AND HARMONIUM
Year: 1884

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I JOHN JONES (trading as Jones & Co.) of 21 and 22 Bridge Street in the City
and County of Bristol, Organ Builder, Harmonium and American Organ
Manufacturer also at the "Bristol Organ Works" Broad Plain in the City and
County of Bristol, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for "AN
IMPROVED COMBINATION ORGAN AND HARMONIUM" 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 the combination of an organ of the American or free
reed kind and a harmonium, the two instruments together constituting an
instrument of two manuals having the exhaust or American organ quality in the
upper or swell manual and the pressure or harmonium system in the lower or great
organ, the object in view being to obtain effects of contrast of quality in the tones
(such as are produced in large church organs) for the better study of classical or.
concerted music and to enable those who possess a harmonium of superior quality
to combine with it the means of producing the delicate shadings of tone and
combinations only possible with the exhaust system.
To this end, the Invention consists in such a construction of organ which may
be designated an attachment organ, that while in itself a perfect instrument it may
be placed on the top of and attached to a harmonium (or other similar instrument)
of corresponding size and be coupled or combined therewith so that the two form
but one instrument of two manuals which may be coupled or played on separately
according to the effect to be produced, the bellows of both instruments being
worked by the same pedals. It also consists in the peculiar arrangement of the
bellows and reed which are situated high up above the head of the performer,
whereby the effect of distance is more accurately rendered and greater resonance is
obtained besides other advantages, such as greater freedom from damp.
In order that my Invention may be more readily understood I have illustrated
it in the accompanying Drawings forming part of this Specification, and will
proceed to describe it in detail with reference thereto.
"
a.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the two instruments combined. Figure 2 is
cross section of the combined instrument showing so much of the stop action as is
necessary to illustrate the connection of the two instruments. Figure 3 is a detail
of the stop action. -Eigure 4 shows a modification.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all these Figures.
For the sake of distinction, I have shown in dotted lines the mechanism of the
ordinary harmonium and in full lines the mechanism of the organ adapted to be
coupled therewith as above described.

page_text: The frame work A and supports for the different parts of the organ may be
varied and would be constructed .in various sizes to suit the different sizes of
harmonium on which it will be placed making the side cheeks of the frame which
support the cornice to shift beneath the latter to the necessary extent.
This frame work forms part of the case and supports the bellows and sound
board which together with the reeds are placed in the cornice. or head of the
instrument and therefore high up above the head of the player and for the sake of
simplicity, in the horizontal position shown, but for larger kinds the bellows only
may be placed horizontal, the sound board being vertical. B is the sound board
with the reeds and swells similar to the American organ. C is the reservoir of the
bellows with inside spring to create an inward draught through the reeds on the
system known as the "exhaust." D are the feeders for exhausting the reservoir
and connected by a web D* passing over guide pulleys or by rods to the feeders of
the harmonium, whereby motion is transmitted from the latter to the former the
down bearing or weight of the harmonium feeders being utilized to overcome or
lift the feeders of the organ, the ordinary return spring on the organ feeder
assisting the upward stroke of the harmonium. The power requisite for blowing
is thus but little more for the combined instrument than for the harmonium when
used alone. Any suitable arrangement of bellows may be used for the organ but
that above described and shown in the Drawing is preferable.
It will be unnecessary to describe the mechanism of the harmonium as no change
is made in the instrument except that the top of the case is removed to admit of
coupling the organ therewith as hereafter described.
E are the manual keys of the organ which act on levers e¹ supported by &
balance rail e and connected by trackers e³ with the unison and octave levers e* es
which are connected to the respective pallets by the plungers e. The levers e✶ to
the unison are fulcrumed on a balance rail, and the levers e to the octaves, on an
eccentric roller g which is connected to the stop by the arm g' and wire or rod g²
whereby it may or may not be placed in such a position as to form a fulcrum or
balance rail for the levers es to rock upon so as to bring the coupler into action or
render it inoperative as desired. The two instruments may be coupled in octaves
either
up or down.
H indicates the manual keys of the harmonium, which besides acting on the
harmonium action in the ordinary way, act on levers f connected at their opposite
ends to the trackers e³ and which rock against an eccentric roller f' when the latter
is brought by means of the stop action (shown separately in Figure 3) into the
position shown in Figure 2, and when the levers fare thus rendered operative, the
key levers H of the harmonium are coupled with the notes of the upper organ or
swell. I is the coupler of the swell to great organ.
Figure 4 is a cross section of a combined instrument showing the arrangement of
the parts in an organ of the simplest kind adapted for attachment to a harmonium
of a smaller and cheaper description than that shown in Figure 2, and in which the
harmonium keys instead of rocking on a balance rail at the middle are pivoted at
the backends and move the levers fin the opposite direction to that in the former
arrangement, the upper manual keys E being also connected directly to the
trackers e³ instead of through the levers e' as before. The trackers are therefore
moved upwards instead of downwards as before and act directly on their respective
pallets, instead of through the levers e¹ e5 of the previous arrangement, the
disposition of the sound board being modified to suit the circumstances of the case.
The working of the bellows is the same as in the other arrangement.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1 The construction and arrangement of the parts of an organ substantially as
herein described and shown in the respective Figures of the Drawings, whereby it is
adapted to be placed on top of and combined with a harmonium and to constitute

page_text: therewith a single instrument of two manuals having the exhaust system above
and the pressure system below as specified.
2nd The combination of an organ on the exhaust system with a harmonium on
the pressure system, the manuals of the two being adapted to be coupled or played
on separately, substantially as shown and described.
3rd In a combined instrument composed of two distinct instruments, a
harmonium and an organ superposed as herein described, the connection of the
bellows of the two instruments so that the one will assist to work the other and
both be operated by the same pedals substantially as shown and described.
4th In an American organ the arrangement of the bellows and reed in the cornice
of the instrument for the purpose of producing the effects herein described.
Dated this 7th day of July A.D. 1884.
JOHN JONES,
By his Agents,
A. M. & Wm Clark,
53, Chancery Lane.