IMPROVEMENT IN ORGANS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Grainger, of Camberwell, in the County
of Surrey, for the Invention of an "IMPROVEMENT IN ORGANS,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Grainger at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th April 1871.
I, ALFRED GRAINGER, of Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENT IN
ORGANS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to a means of securing the tuning wires of
the reeds in the swell of organs after adjustment, so that the reed when
once turned will remain in accord for a considerable period without the
necessity for the constant adjustment at present required to keep it
in tune.
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For this purpose to that part of each "reed pipe" through which its
tuning wire"
passes I affix a metal collar bored for the passage of
the said wire, and fitted with a thumbscrew working in a radial screw

page_text: hole tapped through the side of the collar. This screw acts as a set or
binding screw to hold the tuning wire securely in position when once
adjusted, and prevent its being shifted by the vibration of the reed, as
is the case at present. A cross cut in the end of the thumbscrew
permits of its being "set" by a long screw driver when placed in
positions not readily accessible by hand.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Grainger in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
GRAINGER, of Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One-thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Grainger, Her special licence
that I, the said Alfred Grainger, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Grainger, 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 Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENT IN
ORGANS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Grainger, 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 performed, 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 Alfred Grainger, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following.statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings,

page_text: is to say) :-
My Invention relates to a means of adjusting the tuning wires of the
reeds in organs, and securing the same after adjustment so that the reed
when once tuned will remain in accord for a considerable period with-
out the necessity for the constant adjustment at present required to
keep it in tune.
For this purpose to that part of each "reed pipe" through which its
tuning wire" passes I affix an adjusting screw surmounted by a metal
collar bored for the passage of the said wire, and fitted with a thumb-
screw working in a radial screw hole tapped through the side of the
collar. This screw acts as a set or binding screw to hold the tuning wire
securely in position when once adjusted, and prevent its being shifted by
the vibration of the reed, as is the case at present.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is an elevation of so much of the reed pipe of an organ as
is necessary to illustrate my improved means for adjusting and securing
the tuning wire; Figure 2 is a horizontal section, and Figure 3 is a
central vertical section of same on an enlarged scale.
a is the reed fitted in a metal block 6, supporting the reed pipe c, and
received in a "boot" fixed in the swell or other part of the organ,
all in the usual manner; d is the ordinary tuning wire passing through
the block b, and pressing with its lower end against the tongue or reed a
to determine the note which the latter will sound when played upon,
the said wire being adjustable to tune the reed as required, as well
known.
My Invention consists in the following means of adjusting and securing
the said wire :-
e is a hollow stem or tube fixed in a vertical position by soldering
or otherwise to the metal block b, and through which the wire d
passes. This tube e is screw-threaded externally, and upon it is fitted
a somewhat longer female screw f, surmounted by a metal collar g,
through which the wire d passes, as shown clearly in Figure 2, and
h is a set screw fitted in a hole tapped in the side of the collar G by
which the wire d is held. The collar g is fitted into the upper end of
the adjusting screw f, which is free to turn independently of the collar,
being connected thereto by one or more pins i fixed in the side of the

page_text: •
screw f, and working in a groove or neck k in the collar g. The
screw fis fluted or has cog teeth on its circumference, as shown in
Figure 2, to enable the screw f to be turned by means of a small rack
rod. The wire being firmly held by the set screw h, which binds it
against the interior of the collar g, as shown, it is evident that by
turning the adjusting screw the wire may not only be shifted up or
down as required to time the reed, but it will be retained in the desired.
position afterwards by the set screw h. Similar devices are applied to
the tuning wire of each reed.
.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of 1
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to
be protected by the hercin-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
means herein-before described of adjusting and holding the tuning
wires of the reeds in organs, substantially as specified and illustrated in
the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Grainger, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One. thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
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