IMPROVEMENTS IN ORGANS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Stuttaford, of No. 18, Eversholt Street,
Bedford New Town, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ORGANS."
Sealed the 19th July 1864, and dated the 25th January 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the 'said John Stuttaford at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
January 1864.
I, JOHN STUTTAFORD, of No. 18, Evershott Street, Bedford New Town, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ORGANS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in organs. In organs as at
present constructed it is common to employ apparatus for coupling together
two or more notes, say, an octave apart, or it may be some other interval, and
when the coupling apparatus is in use, and a key is depressed, it not only
opens its own valve or pallet, but also the pallet corresponding to another
note an octave or other interval off. This coupling apparatus is, however,
inconvenient, as it is complicated in construction, and also. because.it: makės
the touch of the organ heavier when the coupler is in action than it is ät othér
times. Now according to my Invention I avoid the complication caused by
the coupling apparatus, by placing the pallets.in close proximity to the keys,
so that a sticker or rod may communicate the motion directly from the key to
the pallet, and I so arrange the passages that when a pallet ris'topened. the

page_text: wind
passes into two or more channels leading to pipes corresponding with
notes at intervals apart, thus if the effect to be produced be similar to that
obtained by the ordinary octave coupler, each pallet when opened admits the
air to two passages corresponding with notes an octave apart, which con-
sequently are both sounded; or when this is not desired, the wind is prevented
passing in one of the channels by closing the same somewhere in its course by
a draw stop, or other similar arrangement. In this construction the touch of
the organ will be the same, whether the notes be coupled or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Stuttaford in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th
July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN.
STUTTAFORD, of No. 18, Eversholt Street, Bedford New Town, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Stuttaford, Her special licence that I, the said John
Stuttaford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Stuttaford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
´any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ORGANS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Stuttaford, 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 John Stuttaford, do hereby declaro.
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, that is to say:-

page_text: This Invention has for its object improvements in organs. In organs as at
present constructed it is common to employ apparatus for coupling together
two or more notes say, an octave apart, or it may be some other interval, and
when the coupling apparatus is in use, and a key is depressed, it not only
opens its own valve or pallet, but also the pallet corresponding to another
note an octave or other interval off. This coupling apparatus is, however,
inconvenient, as it is complicated in construction, and also because it makes
the touch of the organ heavier when the coupler is in action than it is at
other times. Now according to my Invention I avoid the complication
caused by the coupling apparatus by placing the pallets in close proximity to
the keys, so that a sticker or rod may communicate the motion directly from
the key to the pallet, and I so arrange the passages that when a pallet is
opened the wind passes into two or more channels leading to pipes corre-
sponding with uotes at intervals apart; thus if the effect to be produced bo
similar to that obtained by the ordinary octave coupler, each pallet when
opened admits the air to two passages' corresponding with notes an octave
apart, which consequently are both sounded; or when this is not desired, the
wind is prevented passing in one of the channels by closing the same some-
where in its course by a draw stop. or other similar arrangement. In this
construction the touch of the organ will be the same, whether the notes be
coupled or otherwise.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a vertical and transverse section of a portion of an organ
constructed according to my Invention; and Figures 2, 3, and 4 are vertical
and longitudinal' sections of parts of the same.
.
a, Figure 1, is a portion of one of the finger keys, on the extremity of
which a sticker b rests; this enters the wind chest c, the joint being made
tight by a diaphragm d of vulcanized india-rubber or leather; e is the pallet
lever, and the pallet or valve, which is supported at the end of the lever e;
9.
is a steel spring, which serves both in lieu of a joint for the lever e to turn
upon, and also to keep the valve pressed up to its seat when it is not acted
upon by its finger keys. Each of the finger keys is connected with its pallet
or valve in a similar manner, and each pallet or valve f admits the wind to
three openings, the centre opening h lets the wind pass to the pipes of the
note corresponding with the finger key, the front opening i lets the wind
pass

page_text: to the pipes of the note an octave (or it might be other interval) higher,
and the back opening k lets the wind pass to the pipes of the notes an octave
lower. The section, Figure 2, is taken through the passages h, the section,
Figure 3, through the passages i, and the section, Figure 4, through the
passages k. All these passages lead into the grooves l, l, in the sound board m,
of which grooves there is one corresponding with each finger key, and each of
these grooves has upon it the several pipes belonging to the said finger
key; n, n, are ordinary slides acted on by draw stops, by which in the usual
manner the wind is admitted to or shut off from any of the pipes corresponding
with a finger key that is depressed; o, o, are extra slides arranged in a similar
manner, and under the sound board, by means of them the passages i and k
can be thrown out of use when required, so that when a finger key is
.depressed it is only the pipe or pipes properly corresponding with the said key
which sound, but, as before mentioned, when these passages are open, the
pipes an octave higher and also an octave lower than the finger key also
sound. Passages may in a similar way be provided leading to the pedal
pipes of the organ from the pallets of any finger keys to which it is desired
that they should be capable of being coupled, and also from the pedals to
the organ.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Stuttaford, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JOHN STUTTAFORD. (L.S.)