Author: Edward W. Flint

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2018-09-23

Total Pages: 86

ISBN-13: 9781396359330

Excerpt from The Newberry Memorial Organ at Yale University: A Study in the History of American Organ Building The development of action in America has been a rapid one. Until the middle of the nineteenth century tracker action and slider chests were used by all American builders, but during the next two decades the principles of pneumatic action were developed and perfected to such an extent that tracker action was definitely supplanted in all but Very small instruments. The first step in this development was the use of a pressure pneumatic to open the pallet of the slider chest. Coupling was still done by the traditional sticker or drumstick mechanism, which was placed beyond the pneumatic so that the key had a uniform resistance. The disadvantages of this action were its sluggishness when couplers were drawn and the inevitable no1se of the trackers. A later refinement was introduced by the invention of the exhaust pneumatic which acted more quickly, since the maximum power of the pneumatic was brought into play when the pallet offered the greatest resist ance - namely, at the attack. One of the earliest American applications of the exhaust pneumatic lever appeared in the Hook and Hastings organ installed in the Cincinnati Music Hall in 1878. The next radical innovation was the invention of the pneumatic chest in which each pipe was supplied with wind by a separate valve. To Roosevelt belongs the credit for establishing this chest in America. The elimination of sliders marked an important advance, for the variable climate made sticking sliders and running pipe wind inevi table in spite of fine workmanship and the best of wood. When first intro duced, the pneumatic chest was built with a ventil stop action, but it was later improved by the use of pitman valves which intercepted the action wind before it reached the pipe Valve pneumatics, but allowed the pipe wind to remain in the chest at all times. The various types of the pneumatic chest were controlled at first by a single tracker key action, but later by a tubular action, and eventually by the electro-pneumatic action that is now all but universal in America. The use of the pitman stop action in conjunction with pipe valves mounted directly under the table marked a considerable advance. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.