The Recent Revolution in Organ Building | Page 8

N, from each key are fixed to the hole connected to the
small puffs P in the puff-board E. Air under pressure is admitted by the
key action and conveyed by the tubes N which raises the corresponding
button valves S|1|, lifting their spindles S and closing the apertures T|2|
in the bottom of the wind-chest A, and opening a similar aperture T in
the bottom of the cover-board F, causing the compressed air to escape
from the exhaust bellows M, which closes, raising the solid valve H in
the cover-board F and closing the aperture J|1| in the wind-chest A,
shuts off the air from the bellows, which immediately closes, drawing
down the pallet B, which admits air (or wind) to the pipes.
No tubular-pneumatic action is entirely satisfactory when the distance
between the keys and the organ is great. This is often due to a law of
nature rather than to imperfection of design or workmanship.
Pneumatic pulses travel slowly--at a speed which does not reach 1,100
feet per second. In large organs where necessarily some of the tubes are
short and some have to be long, it is impossible to secure simultaneous
speech from all departments of the instrument, and in addition to this
the crisp feeling of direct connection with his pipes, which the old
tracker action secured for the organist, is lost.
It is generally thought amongst the more advanced of the builders and
organists qualified to judge, that the tubular-pneumatic action will
sooner or later be entirely abandoned in favor of the electro-pneumatic
action. Certain it is that the aid of electricity is now called in in
practically every large instrument that is built in this country, and in an
increasing proportion of those constructed abroad.
THE CRYING NEED FOR ELECTRIC ACTION.
The instance of St. Paul's Cathedral cited above shows the demand that
existed at that time for means whereby the organ could be played with
the keyboards situated at some distance from the main body of the
instrument. In the Cathedrals the organ was usually placed on a screen
dividing the Choir from the Nave, completely obstructing the view

down the church. There was a demand for its removal from this
position (which was eventually done at St. Paul's, Chester, Durham,
and other Cathedrals). Then in the large parish churches the quartet of
singers in the west gallery where the organ was placed had been
abolished. Boy choirs had been installed in the chancel, leaving the
organ and organist in the west gallery, to keep time together as best
they could. In the Cathedrals, too, the organist was a long way off from
the choir. How glorious it would be if he could sit and play in their
midst! Henry Willis & Sons stated in a letter to the London Musical
News, in 1890, that they had been repeatedly asked to make such
arrangements but had refused, "because Dame Nature stood in the
way,"--which she certainly did if tubular pneumatics had been used.
The fact was that up to this time all the electric actions invented had
proved more or less unreliable, and Willis, who had an artistic
reputation to lose, refused to employ them. As an instance of their
clumsiness we may mention that the best contact they could get was
made by dipping a platinum point in a cell containing mercury! Other
forms of contact rapidly oxidized and went out of business.
Dr. Gauntlet, about the year 1852, took out a patent covering an electric
connection between the keys and the pallets of an organ,[2] but the
invention of the electro-pneumatic lever must be ascribed to Barker and
Dr. Péschard. The latter seems to have suggested the contrivance and
the former to have done the practical work.
Bryceson Bros. were the first to introduce this action into English
organs. They commenced work along these lines in 1868, under the
Barker patents, their first organ being built behind the scenes at Her
Majesty's Opera House, Drury Lane, London, the keys being in the
orchestra. This organ was used successfully for over a year, after which
it was removed and shown as a curiosity in the London Polytechnic
Institute, recitals being given twice daily.
Schmole and Molls, Conti, Trice and others took a leading part in the
work on the European continent, and Roosevelt was perhaps its greatest
pioneer in the United States.
Various builders in many countries have more recently made scores of

improvements or variations in form and have taken out patents to cover
the points of difference, but none of these has done any work of special
importance.
Not one of the early electric actions proved either quick or reliable, and
all were costly to install and maintain.[3]
[Illustration: The First Electric Organ Ever Built. In the Collegiate
Church at Salon,