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Title: Practical Organ Building
Author: Dickson, W. E.
Language: English
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[Illustration: _Frontispiece_.]
PRACTICAL
BY W. E. DICKSON, M.A.
PRECENTOR OF ELY CATHEDRAL
_SECOND EDITION, REVISED, WITH ADDITIONS_
[Illustration: Capio Lumen]
LONDON
CROSBY LOCKWOOD AND CO.
7, STATIONERS' HALL COURT, LUDGATE HILL
1882
[_All rights reserved_]
LONDON:
PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED,
CITY ROAD.
PREFACE.
THIS little work is undertaken because it is believed that no treatise
on the construction of organs, at once short, practical, and accessible
by all classes of readers, is extant.
The bulky volume of Hopkins and Rimbault, worthy as it is of all
commendation, and abounding with matter interesting to the musician,
does not profess to enter into details essential to the workman. The
same remark may be applied to sundry treatises in the form of articles
contributed to Encyclopædias, or to periodicals of a popular kind.
The writers of these articles, probably fully masters of the subject,
cannot, from the very nature of the case, command the time, space, and
amplitude of illustration absolutely necessary for the full elucidation
of the mechanical processes involved in the construction of the most
elaborate and ingenious of all musical instruments.
Readers of the French language, indeed, may find all that they require
in a most admirable and exhaustive work, the "Facteur d'Orgues," by M.
Hamel, forming one of the series of the "Manuels-Roret," published
in 1849 by Roret of Paris, in three volumes, with an atlas of plates.
The author of this complete exposition of the organ-builder's art has
taken for the foundation of his book the great work of Dom Bedos, a
Benedictine monk, who printed in 1766-78, at Paris, two sumptuous folio
volumes, with plates, which leave unnoticed nothing which was known or
practised by the workmen of his period. The modern editor, however, who
displays a most intimate knowledge of his subject, together with an
enviable power of explaining it in all its minutest details, aided, as
he is, by the most accurate of all European languages, has produced in
his third volume a manual of the art of organ-building in recent times,
which covers the whole field of investigation, and of which it is not
too much to say that it can never be surpassed.
A somewhat indifferent translation of a German treatise on the "Organ
and its Construction," by Herr Seidel, of Breslau, appeared some years
ago. But this work, like the English publication first noticed, is
not for the dwellers in workshops, but for organists, choir-masters,
clergymen, and others entrusted with the care of existing organs, or
likely to be concerned in the erection of new ones.
The writer has lately perused, with much pleasure and advantage, a
tract of about forty pages on "Organ Voicing and Tuning," published for
the author (evidently a practical operator). He can warmly recommend
this unpretending introduction to the highest branch of the art, so
seldom mastered save by those who have had the advantage of early and
assiduous practice under skilled guidance. But it deals, of course,
with that highest branch only, and assumes previous knowledge of
mechanical construction.
He himself, several years ago, contributed a short series of articles
on the construction of small organs to a periodical publication now
extinct. The letters which he received from working men, urging him
to treat the subject in greater detail, furnished a striking proof of
the extent to which the leisure hours of many artisans are devoted
to the production of an organ in some one of its innumerable forms,
from the toy with two or three stops to the complete instrument with
as many rows of keys. Such inquirers will not be satisfied, he fears,
by the narratives of "How we made our First Organ," and the like,
in well-meant and otherwise well-written books for boys. The real
difficulties of organ-building (and they are numerous) are simply
evaded in some recent books of this kind, which convey the irresistible
impression that their authors are not themselves handlers of the plane
and chisel. The true workman knows full well that the very simplest of
organs cannot be put together in a few weeks, out of school-hours, and
side by side with other undertakings.
If the present work, in which the writer describes the results of
his own experience, and lays down no rules which he has not reduced
to practice in his own workshop, should have the effect of deterring
ingenious boys from attempting their "First Organ" until the possession
of a large stock of patience, as well as the command of leisure, and
of means moderately adequate for the purchase of good materials,
are abundantly and unmistakably assured to them, the author, once a
plodding and untiring boy-workman himself, will have reason to be
satisfied that his efforts to explain a complicated and intricate
structure have not been entirely fruitless.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
SINCE the publication of this work, the author has had reason to
believe that some hints as to the design and erection of small organs
in country churches may be acceptable to readers who occupy the
position, not of constructors, but of purchasers. He trusts that the
chapter now added, "On Village Church Organs," will be found to contain
the desired information.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
_PLANT AND MATERIALS._
PAGE
The Workshop--Tools--Lathe--Materials 1
CHAPTER II.
_THE STOPPED DIAPASON._
Tablature, or Names of Notes--Lengths of Pipes--Parts of
Stopped Pipe--The Scale--Two Methods of making Wooden
Pipes--Some Varieties of Pipes--Old English Organs 10
CHAPTER III.
_THE SOUND-BOARD._
Dimensions of Organs--Construction of Sound-board--Channels
--Sliders--Plantations of Pipes--Bars--Bearers--Upper Boards
--Rack-boards 27
CHAPTER IV.
_THE SOUND-BOARD._--(_Continued_.)
Grooving--Boring Holes--Conducting-boards--Conveyances 44
CHAPTER V.
_THE WIND-CHEST._
Running of Wind--Blacklead used--Pallets--Leather for
Pallets--Springs--How to make them--Pull-downs--Drilling--
Brass Plate--Front-board 55
CHAPTER VI.
_THE BELLOWS, TRUNKS, AND FRAME._
Shape of Bellows--Valves or Clacks--Cummins's Improvements
--Counter-balances--The Cuckoo-feeder--Hydraulic-power
Engines--Trunks--The Frame--Its general Dimensions--Hollow
Frame-work--Blowing Pedal--Blowing Lever 72
CHAPTER VII.
_PLANTATION OF PIPES._
Pipe-feet--Rack-pins--Symmetry 90
CHAPTER VIII.
_THE ACTION._
Definitions--Back-fall--Bridge--Square--Sticker--Tracker--
Tapped Wires--Cloths--Buttons--Rollers--Roller-boards--
Principle of Organ-action--Fan-frame--Keys--Roller-frame--
Double Sound-board Action--Thumping-board 94
CHAPTER IX.
_VOICING AND TUNING._
Metal Pipes--Their Construction--Nicking--Voicing--The
Wind-gauge--Defects in Pipes--Temperament--Regulation 115
CHAPTER X.
_THE DRAW-STOPS._
Four Methods of drawing the Stops described--Levers--
Bell-cranks--Trundles--Iron Trundles 127
CHAPTER XI.
_PEDALS._
Their Compass--Dimensions--Springs--Dip--Connection with
Key-board--Removable Pedal-board 135
CHAPTER XII.
_TWO-MANUAL ORGANS._
Remarks on the Swell-organ--Organs with Great and Choir--
Borrowing in Two-manual Organs--Chamber Organ by Schmidt--
The Swell-box--Its Construction--The Swell-action--Reed-stops
--Manual Couplers--Rising and Falling Bridges--Pedal Couplers
--Old Method of Coupling--A Combination Manual--The Pedal
Sub-bass of 16-feet Tone--Scale--Wind-valve for Pedal Chest--
Violoncello Stop--Terzo Mano 141
CHAPTER XIII.
_VILLAGE CHURCH ORGANS._
Principles of Construction--Suggestions for Designs--Objections
noticed--Care of Old Organs 165
ORGAN-BUILDING.
CHAPTER I.
_PLANT AND MATERIALS._
WE shall assume at once, and at the very outset, that our reader has
the fixed purpose of producing an organ which shall be creditable to
its builder, a source of pleasure to its players and their hearers, and
an ornament to the room or building in which it is erected: in short,
that he remembers the excellent maxim, "whatever is worth doing at all,
is worth doing well," and will not be content with rough workmanship,
inferior materials, and inharmonious results.
Assuming this as the basis and principle of all our suggestions,
we shall nevertheless bear in mind the necessity of adapting our
rules to the conditions imposed by slender purses, and the imperfect
appliances of humble workshops. Without attempting to quote the actual
market prices of the wood, leather, and metal required, or of those
important parts of the instrument which in most cases will be purchased
ready-made, we shall endeavour to show how economy may be consulted
by obtaining all these gradually, as our work advances with that
inevitably slow progress which attends all proceedings in which most
haste is found to be worse speed.
We shall buy nothing which we can make for ourselves. The common sense
of our readers may be trusted not to press the application of this
rule to a _reductio ad absurdum_. As we shall certainly buy, and not
make, our screws and nails, so in the course of the following pages
we may possibly recommend the buying of certain parts of the work, in
full remembrance of our rule. But even in these occasional instances
we shall probably point out how expenditure may be saved by patient
industry. We need not anticipate. Our readers will see for themselves
what we mean as we go on.
Our task will be somewhat simplified if we suppose that an organ is
desired for a room of moderate size. Such an instrument will commonly
have one manual, or row of keys, with four or five stops, or sets of
pipes. Pedals, with or without pipes of their own of deep bass quality,
must be considered essential in every organ making any pretension to
completeness, or intended to afford useful practice for learners.
Taking this as a rough outline or sketch of probable plans, it will be
easy to see hereafter how they may be indefinitely extended.
Our organ factory, then (with some such plan in our head), must be
a roomy, well-lighted, perfectly dry workshop, furnished with a
fire-place or stove for the glue-pot, with drawers or cupboards for
storing away skins of leather and other materials not in constant
requirement, and with shelves on which pipes may be stowed without
danger of rolling off. It must not be a mere shed or hovel in which we
might mend the cart or the wheel-barrow, and it should not be far from
our dwelling-house, if we are likely to work at our serious undertaking
in the winter evenings.
The shop must be fitted with a full-sized bench in good condition, that
is to say, with its top dressed truly, and not hacked by rough usage;
and good workmanship will be much promoted if the usual appliances of
such a bench are of the best kind and in complete order. True planing,
so vitally essential in organ-building, cannot be done upon a crazy or
worn-out bench. The bench should stand near a window, and it should
be so placed that boards much longer than itself may be occasionally
dressed upon it by temporary arrangements.
The tools required are chiefly those which are common to every joiner's
shop; notably and of first importance the three planes, the jack, the
jointer or trying plane, and the little smoothing plane. This last may
now be bought in a very handy form, entirely of iron, and fitted with
a clever adjustment by which the cutter can be set to any degree of
fineness. This little plane (an American invention) is invaluable for
many purposes involving extreme neatness and accuracy. The planes must
at all times be kept in first-rate order, and any defect which makes
its appearance must be instantly rectified by a careful use of the oil
stone. The latter, let us mention by the way, as we may have youthful
and inexperienced readers, should be levelled occasionally by being
rubbed on a flat slab with sand and water. The plane is emphatically
_the_ tool of the organ-builder, and no pains should be considered too
great to be bestowed on the care of these beautiful tools, or on the
attainment of dexterity in the use of them.
The usual saws, the ripping saw, the panel saw, the dovetail, the
key-hole or pad saw, will be required; and we may take this opportunity
of remarking that as the organ-builder must have a strong dash of the
smith as well as of the joiner in his composition, his shop must have
a stout vice fixed in a convenient part of it, and a few good files
always available for brass or for iron. (The reader is doubtless aware
that the same file must not be used for both these metals.) Drills
for metal, some of them of small clockmaker's sizes with a bow and
breast-plate for working them, will belong to this department, which
will also include a screw-plate for tapping wires of various sizes from
one-eighth of an inch downwards, and cutting pliers or nippers for
dividing the wire.
The tool-chest must contain a thoroughly good brace and bits; and
among the last should be some one of the various forms of adjustable
centre-bits for cutting large circular holes of graduated dimensions up
to 3 inches diameter.
In connection with this it may here be mentioned that most of the holes
bored with the brace and bits (though not the huge holes just referred
to), will be scorched or charred with a red-hot iron, in order to clear
them of splinters, and allow a perfectly free passage for the air which
will pass through them. A few pieces of iron rod, of sizes suitable
for this purpose, will therefore be required. Many of these holes will
be also countersunk, that is, rendered conical at their extremity,
in order to receive the conical feet of the pipes which receive from
these conduits their supply of wind. This countersunk portion is also
scorched or charred, and two or three conical irons will be wanted for
this purpose. But we have not yet come to this. When we are ready for
these irons, we can have them made by any blacksmith, or we may have
put aside some stout morsels of old iron from which we ourselves may
contrive to fashion them.
An important question must next be asked.
Is a turning-lathe absolutely necessary as part of the plant of our
factory? We must answer this. We should be sorry to deny that a small
organ certainly can be and may be built without the aid of a lathe.
We know that it has been done. But it is equally undeniable that
the absence of a lathe, or of access to a lathe, will necessitate
the purchase of certain parts (wooden pipe-feet for instance, and
rack-pins), at an outlay which will bear an appreciable proportion to
the first cost of a simple and inexpensive machine. Pressed, then,
to say if our workshop must include a lathe, we are bound to reply in
the affirmative, explaining, in the same breath, that all the purposes
of the young organ-builder will be answered by a lathe of humble
character and trifling cost. We ourselves, during several years of
early beginnings, used a small clockmaker's lathe by Fenn, of Newgate
Street, just capable of admitting between its centres the little billet
of wood ready for shaping as a pipe-foot, that is to say, about 7
inches in length, and from 2 inches down to half an inch in diameter.
We still possess this little lathe, and still sometimes use it for
small work. Some such simple lathe, or some lathe still simpler, being
voted as necessary, the usual turning-chisels and gouges will of course
accompany it, and we shall assume that our readers possess a sufficient
acquaintance with the wood-turner's art to require no hints from us on
the subject other than those which we shall give in regular course as
we proceed. If they are fortunate enough to possess a superior lathe,
with slide-rest and slow motion for turning iron and brass, they will
find the machine most conducive to good and durable workmanship, and we
shall not hesitate to point out, as we go on, how materially it will
assist us in giving strength, firmness, and finish, to various parts of
our work.
We have furnished, then, our workshop, or rather, let us say, we see it
in our "mind's eye" furnished as we should wish it to be. And now we
may lay in our stock of wood.
Several boards of half-inch pine, perfectly dry and sound, without
knots; these are of first necessity. Such boards are generally about 12
feet in length and from 12 to 15 or even 20 or more inches in breadth.
If a little stock can be laid in of such boards when an opportunity
occurs of obtaining exceptionally clean stuff, it will be well to have
them by us. A board or two of three-quarters stuff, and a board of inch
stuff, all sound and clean pine, must be provided.
And here we may pause for a moment.
We intend to begin our organ by making a set of wooden pipes. Hence we
need not provide ourselves with more timber for the present than we
shall need for this first operation. But as in our imaginary furnishing
of the workshop, we included several or many things which belong rather
to future than to immediate use, so we may here place the reader in a
position to form some idea of the further expense to which he will be
put for the purchase of timber for his proposed small organ of four
or five stops. The pine boards just enumerated will give us our first
set of pipes; but when these are ready, we shall require some rather
costly wood for the sound-board. This should be Honduras mahogany,
often called "Bay wood," and of three thicknesses, say, three-quarters
stuff for the table of the sound-board;[1] a full inch, or, still
better, five-quarters, for the upper boards; and some very thin stuff,
three-eighths or less, known as "coach-panel," for the sliders. The
quantities, or number of square feet, of these mahogany boards will be
determined by considerations discussed in a subsequent chapter. The
wood must be carefully selected, for the grain of it is often tortuous
and unkindly for the plane; it must be, like the pine, free from large
knots, flaws, and cracks; and the completeness of its seasoning should
be quite unquestionable and beyond the reach of suspicion.
[1] All these expressions will, of course, be explained hereafter.
It is not unreasonable to assume that the reader, who has contemplated
for some time the building of an organ, has already by him some
materials which he knows will be necessary; for instance, some boards
of sound white deal for the framework, and perhaps for the bellows;
and some scantlings of red deal, or pitch pine, or oak, or mahogany,
or red cedar, for the blocks and stoppers of pipes. He will not need
the aid of this book to be aware that old materials may sometimes be
turned to excellent account in such a business as that upon which he is
embarking. We have known the purchase (for a pound or two) of an old
square pianoforte turn out a profitable investment. Its mahogany top
was solid, not veneered; and the thin boards found in its interior dry
as touch-wood, and perhaps one hundred years old, were made into pipes
of charming sweetness.
The old organs before the days of mahogany were made chiefly of
oak, often called "wainscot." We ourselves have made much use of
this durable and trustworthy material, which may be obtained in the
convenient form known as "coopers' staves," being planks about 6 feet
in length, as many inches in width, and 2 or 3 inches thick. They may
be divided, at any saw-pit or saw-mill, into boards of the desired
thinness, and they work pleasantly under thoroughly sharp tools.
And now we may set to work upon our set of wood pipes.
CHAPTER II.
_THE STOPPED DIAPASON._
WHY do we begin by making a set of wooden pipes?
For two reasons. First, because they will afford a trial of patience,
and involve a great deal of good joinery. Second, because until they
are made, or, at any rate, until we know their precise dimensions, we
cannot plot out with accuracy the very important sound-board, which
is to carry them and the other pipes which are to follow. Either of
these reasons is, to our mind, sufficient, apart from the other; and
we strongly recommend the young beginner to set himself resolutely to
the manufacture of the complete set of wooden pipes belonging to the
commonest of all organ-stops, the Stopped Diapason, before taking any
step in the direction of the machinery or apparatus which is to waken
them into harmonious vibrations.
Our explanations will be much assisted here if we introduce a few
definitions of terms in constant use. The pipes which we are about to
make will give notes, when tuned, which are familiarly designated by
certain names. Thus, the lowest note on the manual or key-board of
modern organs is called _Double C_ (printed CC). The note one octave
above this is _Tenor C_; the octave of Tenor C is _Middle C_; and
above this, again, we have _Treble C_ (often called _Foot C_) and _C
in Alto_. Some of the other notes of the scale, in a similar way, have
convenient names. Thus, the first F in the bass is _Double F_, or FF;
the next F, the F of the Tenor octave, is often called _Clef F_, as
the Bass, or F Clef, stands upon this line in music; its sharp is FF
sharp; but then we come at once to a single G, and this note is often
called _Gamut G_. The octave above this note is called _Fiddle G_, as
it sounds the same note as the fourth string of the violin. The note
B, we may add, throughout the organ, is understood to mean _B flat_;
the semitone above this is indicated by the musical symbol the Natural
(symbol).
We have not quite done with this. There is another way of referring
to pipes, and to complete sets of pipes, which is in familiar use,
and is part of the mother-tongue of the organ-builder. We have said
that Treble C is often called _Foot C_. This is because the ordinary
open pipe of that note (speaking now quite inexactly, and without
precision), is 1 foot in length. In a similar way, CC is 8-_foot C_, or
the 8-_foot note_, because the open pipe is 8 feet in length, speaking
roundly or roughly. Tenor C is 4-_foot C_; Middle C, 2-_foot C_.
It will be easily understood that these convenient designations are
retained, even though the construction of the pipes may render them
strictly inapplicable. Thus, the lowest note of our first stop will
still be 8-foot C, though, as we shall soon see, the stopping of the
wooden tube enables us to reduce the actual length by one-half. Our CC
will still be of 8-_feet pitch_, or _tone_, and by no means becomes a
4-_foot_ C, because its actual measurement, when completed, will not
exceed 4 feet in total length.
One step further. The theoretical length of the lowest note is not
only used to designate that note and the pipes which belong to that
note, but is extended to the designation of the whole set of pipes of
which it is the lowest or longest. This whole set of pipes is called
familiarly a _Stop_; thus we have at once the ready terms, 8-feet
stops, 16-feet stops, 4-feet stops, 2-feet stops, &c.; and it will be
understood that by an 8-feet stop, we mean a set of pipes yielding the
common or ordinary pitch of the pianoforte, or of the human voice;
while a 4-feet stop, when the very same keys are pressed down, will
yield notes one octave higher than this ordinary or standard pitch;
the 2-feet stop, notes two octaves higher; the 16-feet stop, notes
one octave lower, or deeper. And if all these four stops are played
at the same time, (tuning and other manipulations being now assumed),
an effect will be produced highly agreeable to the ear, and vastly
superior to that which would result from the mere multiplication of
8-feet stops only.
Our little organ of five stops, when completed, will probably be
described with correctness if it is said to contain two 8-feet stops,
two 4-feet stops, and one 2-foot stop: a ready and conventional way of
speaking, we repeat yet once more, since the instrument will contain no
open pipe 8 feet in length, and since, of the 4-feet stops, one will be
only of 4-feet tone, or pitch, while even the 2-feet stop, for reasons
which will be abundantly made clear, may possibly have no 2-feet pipe.
Some pains have been taken to explain all this, because we have met
with young workmen whose comprehension of such rudimentary matters
was far from complete, and who were misled by the fanciful and wholly
unimportant _names_ engraved upon the knobs which govern the stops,
_e.g._ "Flute," "Dulciana," &c. If we have any such young beginners
among our present readers, they will see that the names are quite of
secondary concern, and that the essential thing is to have a clear
understanding of the _pitch_ of each stop, as represented by the length
of the pipe, _actual or virtual_, corresponding to the lowest note of
the manual.
And now we proceed to our work. What we have to do is to make
fifty-four pipes, extending from CC to F in alto, and of the form or
sort known in England as Stopped Diapason. One of these pipes, let us
suppose Tenor C, is shown in Fig. 1. _a_ is a block of mahogany or oak,
or of some other wood faced with mahogany or oak, and about 3 inches in
length. It has a throat or deep depression across it, formed by taking
out the wood between two saw-cuts, or by boring adjacent holes with a
centre-bit. _b_ is a stopper, made of any wood, the exact size of the
block, or a trifle less, to allow for a leather covering, and fashioned
at top into a knob, or turned in the lathe, for convenient handling by
the tuner. _c_ is the pipe when put together by gluing three boards,
namely, the back and the two sides, to the block, and one, namely the
front board, to the edges of the sides. This fourth board is about 3
inches shorter than the others, and has a lip formed on its lower edge
by bevelling the wood with a sharp chisel. _d_ is a cap, 3 inches long,
and as wide as the block with the side boards attached; it is hollowed
in a wedge-shaped form as shown in the figure. _e_ is a foot, turned in
the lathe, bored from end to end, and 5 or 6 inches in length. _f_ is
the completed pipe, with the stopper inserted, the cap put on, and the
foot in its place.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
We have to make fifty-four such pipes, each of the dimensions proper
for the production of its own note, deep in the bass or shrill in the
treble.
It is quite clear that we must not work by "rule of thumb," but
understand well what we are about from the very first, if we do not
wish to cut our wood to waste and cover ourselves with mortification.
Begin thus. Take a sheet of stout paper, and on it, with rule and
compasses, draw a scale showing all the requisite measurements.
Here we must be a little arbitrary, and lay down the law without giving
lengthy reasons for our ruling. Stopped pipes are half the length of
open pipes yielding the same notes. Our CC pipe will therefore be
4 feet long. The four C's of the ascending scale are the halves of
each other. Therefore Tenor C will be 2 feet, Middle C 1 foot, Treble
C 6 inches, and C in alto 3 inches, in length. The word _nearly_,
or _about_, must be understood as prefixed in every case to our
measurements. Accordingly, the lengths of all the pipes in the stop
will be easily obtained by drawing a vertical line 1 foot in length
on the paper, and dividing it into twelve equal parts. At the bottom,
write Tenor C, 2 feet; at the top, Middle C, 1 foot. Then the length of
each of the eleven pipes intervening between these extremes will be at
once obtained by easy measurement. By doubling these lengths we shall
obtain those of the bass, or 8-feet octave. By halving them, those of
the middle octave. By dividing them by four, we get those of the treble
octave.
Note well that these rough and approximate lengths are speaking
lengths of the wooden tubes, or, in other words, of the column of air
within them, measured from the top of the block to the under side
of the stopper. Hence, in cutting out the boards, the length of the
block--about 3 inches, or less in small pipes--must be added to three
of them, and an inch or more allowed to all four of them to give good
room for the stopper.
But we are not yet in a position to cut out the boards.
It might be thought that as we get the lengths by the easy arithmetical
process described above, so with equal ease shall we get the widths and
depths of the blocks. The pipes are not square, but are deeper than
they are wide, in the proportion of about 5 to 4. It might be thought
that if the block of Tenor C be 2 inches wide and 2-1/2 inches deep,
then the block of Middle C will be 1 inch by 1-1/4 inches; the block of
Foot C 1/2 inch by 5/8, and so on. This is not so. These treble pipes
would be quite unreasonably small, and would give weak and thin sounds,
while the bass octave, commencing with a block 4 inches by 5 inches,
would be needlessly large for a chamber organ. Without wasting words
upon a matter which is really very simple, let us say at once that we
shall adopt for our Stopped Diapason a scale commencing with a CC block
3-1/4 inches wide and 4 inches deep, and that the block of Tenor C will
be 2-1/8 inches wide and 2-5/8 deep. Thus the half of the width and
depth of the CC block will not be reached until the eighteenth note
above it, instead of the thirteenth, and in the higher parts of the
scale the diminution in the sizes of the blocks may be yet more gradual.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
A glance at Fig. 2 will enable our readers to draw scales for
themselves for the Stopped Diapason, and for other wooden stops which
may follow it, from a few given data, and to suit circumstances. A
minute or Chinese accuracy is not requisite. The vertical line of any
convenient length being drawn upon the paper, the width and depth of
the CC block are measured off upon a horizontal line drawn at its lower
extremity. Eighteen divisions being marked upon the vertical line, the
half-width and half-depth of the CC block are measured upon another
horizontal line drawn at the eighteenth mark. These points being joined
by straight lines, and horizontal lines being drawn at each of the
marks parallel to the others, we shall have the widths and depths of
the blocks of all the pipes from CC to Clef F inclusive, viz. eighteen
blocks. The next eighteen blocks will be sized in a precisely similar
manner, and as three times eighteen is equal to fifty-four, the whole
stop may be divided into three sections of eighteen pipes in each
section, and it may be for our convenience to make one section at a
time.
There are two methods of working together the block and the four boards
which form the pipe. We will give them both, and decide between them.
First method. Cut out the board for the back, and dress it carefully to
the exact width of the block. Glue the block to the lower extremity,
and when the glue is dry dress up all perfectly flush. Cut out the
side boards as wide as the depth of the block with the thickness of
the back board added to it. Glue them to the sides of the block and to
the edges of the backboard, obtaining a perfectly close joint by using
wooden clamps and wedges as in gluing up a violin, or by other obvious
contrivances. When the glue is dry dress up the front edges flush with
the block, and glue on the front board, which will be cut out as wide
as the block together with the thicknesses of the side boards. The
front board must overlap the upper edge of the block by about 1/8 inch
or more. If all this is carefully done according to the rules of good
joinery the result should be a neat and strong pipe, truly rectangular
at its upper or open extremity. Brads or sprigs are not to be thought
of in pipe-making, unless, indeed, in the very exceptional case of
organs intended for tropical climates.
Second method. Cut out first the two side boards the width of the
depth of the block, and glue them to it. Dress the edges flush with
the block, and glue on at once the back and front boards, obtaining
irreproachable joints as before, and taking infinite care that the
upper extremities of the side boards do not approach each other. In
making our smaller pipes (say from Middle C upwards), we are in the
habit of straining whip-cord or stout hempen string round them, winding
it first upon a loose pipe-foot or smooth tool-handle to avoid cutting
the hands; and we ensure a correct aperture at the top by placing
within it a thin slice cut from the block itself, or by introducing the
stopper if it has been already prepared of the same size as the block.
The notches made by the string upon the edges of the soft pine-wood
are easily removed when the finished pipe is dressed over with a fine
plane.
We have no difficulty in giving our decision in favour of the second
plan, which avoids the four tedious dryings of the glue, and which
admits more readily of pressure being applied to the freshly glued
joints. But in making open pipes, which have not to bear the driving-in
of a stopper, there is much to recommend the first method.
This point being settled, we may cut out the side boards and prepare
the blocks for one of our divisions, let us say the middle section,
from Clef F sharp to the natural below Foot C. Blocks of this moderate
size will be best made by taking a piece of wood of suitable character,
long enough for six or more, and by dressing it down as each block is
cut off, making careful and constant use of the gauge, the square,
and the callipers. We like to form the throat with a centre-bit after
the pipe is put together. The thirty-six boards will be glued to the
eighteen blocks, and while the glue is drying we can prepare the backs
and fronts. The bevelled lip of the latter will be left uncut until all
the pipes have been glued up and dressed over, and the top edges nicely
cleaned off and made true. But as there will be, doubtless, a most
pardonable anxiety to hear the sound of one pipe, we will here explain
that the height of the mouth of each pipe must be equal to one-third
of its width; thus the mouth of the pipe measuring one inch and a half
across the block (A in our scale) will be 1/2 inch in height. In
measuring the height of the mouths, a pair of proportional compasses
with sliding centre, or common dividers set to thirds, fourths, and
fifths, will be useful if not necessary. The slope of the bevel is not
of great importance. Cut it with a sharp chisel, taking care not to
injure the block, and leave the lower edge or lip rather blunt. A sharp
and pointed knife may be employed in cutting the lip truly, guided by
the square. The use of fine glass-paper is permissible here to smooth
all these parts nicely.
The throat having been formed in the face of the block, about 1 inch
from its lower end, bore the foot-hole in the bottom of the block clear
into the throat, beginning with a small borer, and enlarging the hole
cautiously, as rough and hasty proceedings might split the block at
this point, especially in the case of small pipes.
Prepare the cap from a suitable bit of mahogany, oak, or other
close-grained wood, and hollow out the back of it with a chisel as
shown in _d_, Fig. 1. Form the flue or wind-way through which the air
is to pass to the lip by filing away the edge left at the top of the
wedge-shaped hollow, trying your work by placing the cap against the
side of the pipe or any other flat surface. The flue must not be wider
than 1/16 inch at Tenor C, and must be reduced as we ascend the scale
until it will hardly admit a slip of thin paper. It will not be so much
as 1/8 inch wide even at CC.
Perhaps the stopper has been already prepared of the same size as
the block, and has been formed into a knob at top, or turned in the
lathe, or, in the case of the larger pipes, fitted with a turned handle
glued into a hole bored for its reception. Dress off the angles of the
stopper in order to allow room for the soft white leather with which
it is covered to fold itself in the corners of the pipe. We generally
rasp our stoppers, leaving them rough that the leather may cling to
the stopper and not to the pipe. The leather cannot be too thin if it
is soft, and if the stopper fits closely. Rub the interior of the top
of the pipe with a bit of tallow-candle, and introduce the stopper
cautiously. It should slide within the pipe at once easily and with
accurate fit, and if your joinery has been good there should be no fear
of splitting the pipe or of opening the joints.
The cap when finally fitted will have its upper edge about 1/8 inch
below the upper edge of the block. On applying it in this position,
holding it there with your fingers, or tying it on with string, and
blowing gently into the foot-hole, you will have a pleasant fluty
musical note. Probably a little chirp or whistle will be heard before
the note comes on. The removal of this defect belongs to the important
operation called _voicing_, of which we shall treat hereafter.
We have cut our boards from the half-inch pine, but as we rise in the
scale much thinner stuff will be used. It is well to foresee this in
laying in our materials. Red cedar, often used by cabinetmakers for
the inside of drawers and wardrobes, makes very pretty pipes, holds the
glue well, and has an agreeable odour in working. Harder woods, notably
oak, were often used by the old builders. Pear-tree commends itself
much in German workshops.
The four or five lowest pipes (CC to EE, or higher) should be of
stouter stuff than half-inch, say five-eighths or even three-quarters.
The caps of these large pipes will not be glued on but fixed with three
screws, and we may modify a previous remark by admitting that in the
case of these larger pipes the use of nails is legitimate.
Of the pipe-feet we shall speak when we come to the business of
planning the rack-board with its holes for their reception.
We must not close this chapter without giving some further explanations
on the subject of pipe-making.
Large pipes, both open and stopped, may be advantageously made with
_languids_ instead of blocks. Fig. 3 shows the section of a pipe so
made. The block is replaced by two pieces of suitable wood, _a a_,
let into the side boards with plenty of glue. The glue should also be
allowed to run freely into the angles and corners of the throat when
the back board is fitted. Pipes made in this way are a little lighter
than those with blocks.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.]
The stoppers of the smaller pipes, say from Fiddle G or Middle C to
top, are often bored with a hole passing clear through the wood and
leather, and burnt smooth with an iron. After what has been said of the
necessity of securing a good fit for the stopper, it might be thought
that this hole would ruin the pipe. Curiously enough it is not so, but
imparts a slight increase of fulness to the tone. The holes must not be
large, 1/4 inch at Middle C will be sufficient. Note well that pipes
with perforated stoppers must be a trifle longer, say 1 inch in 12,
than those completely closed. Thus the pipe for C sharp must be as long
as the fully stopped C pipe.
Wooden pipes are also made with inverted mouths, that is to say, the
bevelled lip is formed on the inside instead of on the outside of the
front board. In this case the bevel is cut and the mouth measured and
formed before the pipe is put together, and the front board will be
of the same length as the others, and will be glued like them to the
block. The throat is cut through the board into the block, and the cap
will project beyond the level of the board. All this is shown in Fig. 4.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.]
We have a very charming Stopped Diapason made in this way, and with
perforated stoppers, in one of our organs. It is of red cedar from
Middle C to top; the lower part is of pine and of the ordinary
construction. The mouths are in the proportion of two-sevenths of the
width of each pipe. Inverted mouths are well suited, also, to the
Clarabella and Hohl Flöte, two kindred stops which sometimes take the
place of the Stopped Diapason in its upper octaves. The pipes are open,
and have a hollow penetrating tone; Middle C is 2 feet long, and its
block may be of the same size as that of the same note in our scale,
namely, _about_ 1-3/8 by 1-3/4. The mouth about 2/7 of the width. These
open pipes are tuned by means of shades, which are pieces of pipe metal
let into a saw-cut made in the top edge of the back board. The shade
must be as wide as the pipe, and 1/2 inch longer than its depth. The
pipe is flattened by bending the shade over the open top, sharpened by
raising it.
The German stop, the Doppel-flöte, which has two mouths opposite to
each other, and of course two caps for each pipe, is seldom or never
heard in this country. A few pipes which we have made as experiments
hardly seem to repay us for the additional trouble and labour.
Trouble and labour were of little account, apparently, in the old days
of English organ-building two centuries ago, if we may judge from the
really marvellous specimens of patient pipe-making in wood which have
come down to us. We ourselves have seen and played organs of exquisite
sweetness and beauty by old Bernhard Schmidt (1660-1708), containing
four or five stops in which every pipe was of oak, even up to the top
note of a Fifteenth of 2 feet. Such an organ, built by Loosemore,
1664, the builder of the cathedral organ, is preserved, we believe,
at Exeter. It has six stops, including a Twelfth, all made of wood.
Modern life is too hasty and impetuous for such efforts. If any of our
readers, however, should set themselves the task of making very small
pipes in wood, we advise them to form the block and foot from one
piece, and to follow the first method (see p. 18) in putting the minute
contrivance together.
CHAPTER III.
_THE SOUND-BOARD._
WE may fairly assume that no one will embark upon the very serious
business of building an organ, and that probably no one will read this
book, who has not sufficient previous knowledge of the subject to
understand what is meant by the expressions sound-board, wind-chest,
pallets, sliders.
It may be taken as certain, moreover, that the reader who takes up this
book to assist him in the arduous work which he has undertaken, and
in the hope (which we trust we shall not disappoint) of finding rules
laid down in it which he can readily reduce to practice, has long ago
decided upon the position which the projected organ is to occupy, and
has measured with his eye, if not with his two-foot rule or tape, the
breadth, depth, and height which can be fairly allowed to the finished
instrument.
Great diversity of dimension and design is one of the peculiarities
which distinguish organs from all other musical instruments. Our organ
may be wide and shallow like a book-case, or it may be of little
greater width than its key-board, but deep like a wardrobe; it may
be carried up nearly to the ceiling of a lofty apartment, or may be
kept down to suit the low-browed rafters of a country farmhouse or a
workman's cottage.
The site chosen for the organ may allow of convenient access to the
back of it for tuning purposes; or it may compel us to arrange the
interior so that the back may always remain in close contact with the
wall. The projection of the keys, too, from the front, and therefore
the position of the player when seated at the instrument, possibly in
a small room; the place for the blowing-handle and for the person who
works it, so that convenient space may be left for him to fulfil his
irksome duty--these are matters of detail admitting of great variety of
treatment.
There are cases in which it may be possible, and very advantageous, to
separate the bellows from the organ which they supply, and to establish
them in an adjoining room, or beneath the floor or platform on which
the organ is placed.
All these considerations must receive full attention, and drawings or
rough sketches sufficiently intelligible to the workman himself must
be made in accordance with the decisions arrived at. Then, and not
till then, we can launch ourselves upon the very serious business of
designing and constructing the sound-board.
A serious business, we say, making a large demand upon our industry and
perseverance, and calling for adroit use of tools of several different
characters.
To facilitate our own task in describing the process of constructing
a sound-board, we shall divide this chapter into short sections, with
intervening remarks.
1. The sound-board is a shallow box, divided internally into as many
transverse grooves or channels as there are notes on the key-board.
The pipes stand upon holes bored through the top of the box into these
channels; and it is plain that if air is made to fill these channels,
and to issue from these holes in a constant stream when we please, all
the pipes which stand upon the holes will give their sounds according
to their pitch and character.
_Remark._--Thus if one channel, say the channel corresponding to Tenor
C, have five holes bored into it through the top of the box, then five
pipes standing upon those holes may be made to speak at once, or in
chorus, by pressing down the one key on the manual.
2. It is plain that we must possess the power of opening and closing
these holes in sets or classes at our pleasure, so that the air may
be directed into those pipes which we desire to hear, while others
are silent. The top of the box is therefore made double, or of two
layers of wood; and between the two layers long strips of thin wood
are introduced, lying lengthwise, that is to say, at right angles to
the channels beneath or within. The holes are bored down through all
these three layers of wood forming the top of the box; and we see that
by sliding the thin slip an inch or so to the right or left, we can cut
off at once the current of air from the pipes standing on those holes,
since the apertures in the three layers will then no longer coincide.
_Remark._--All this is quite independent of, and preliminary to, the
arrangements for admitting the supply of air to the channels themselves.
3. Having already made our Stopped Diapason pipes, let us range them
on a table or floor, and consider well how they must be planted on a
sound-board such as we are about to make for our organ, be it broad and
shallow, or narrow and deep, be it low or lofty.
_Remark._--No other stop will practically take up so much room on the
sound-board as the Stopped Diapason; hence, if we plot the board with
reference to it, all the other pipes will be easily worked in.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.]
4. On the opposite page several different plantations of the Stopped
Diapason are shown both in elevation and in plan. In Fig. 5 the pipes,
planted in a double row throughout, are placed alternately to the
right and to the left, meeting in the middle at the smallest pipe. The
exact reverse of this plantation, namely, placing the largest pipes in
the middle, and sloping down to the smallest pipes at each end, can
be easily imagined, and it is unnecessary to figure it. It is clear
that in both these plantations the large pipes occupy a space, as
regards depth, out of proportion to the space occupied by the upper
part of the stop. Fig. 6 shows a very common plantation of pipes,
which, as we shall see hereafter, allows us to simplify the internal
mechanism or action. Fig. 7, in plan only, shows a mode of economising
space as regards depth by planting the pipes of the lower octave in a
single row, resuming the double row at Tenor C. This plantation would
suit a wide and shallow organ. Figs. 8 and 9 show different methods
of planting the large pipes in order to avoid a disproportionate
sacrifice of space on the board. It will be seen at a glance that they
can be ranged behind the pipes of the tenor and treble octaves, or
carried off to the right and left in rows standing at right angles to
them. Fig. 10, in elevation only, shows how we may build an organ under
the ceiling of a very low room, by planting the eight feet octave on a
board of its own at a lower level than that of the sound-board proper.
And it is easy to conceive, without a figure, that this accessory board
may be replaced by two boards, to right and left, resulting in a plan
resembling that in Fig. 9, but giving a lower level to the tall pipes.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.]
[Illustration: Fig. 7.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8.]
[Illustration: Fig. 9.]
_Remark._--We confess to a strong liking for these later plantations,
which require some little careful mechanical adaptations, but result
in a compact arrangement, admitting of enclosure in a case of graceful
outline.
[Illustration: Fig. 10.]
5. We have still some considerations requiring careful attention before
we can map out our sound-board. The plantation of the pipes will be
the chief guide to the planning of the channels, with the divisions or
spaces between them; but it must not be forgotten that the boring of
the holes for the supply of air must be done in regular lines within
spaces or widths easily covered by the sliders. A slider is seldom
more than from 2 to 3 inches wide; there are good reasons why this
width cannot conveniently be much exceeded. But the feet of the large
pipes in the bass octave will be as much as 5 inches or more apart when
the pipes are planted back to back, as in Figs. 5 and 6. Hence we must
decide, before we begin to work, not only how the pipes are to stand
on the board, but how they are to get their wind and be deprived of it
by the action of a slider of the usual width. Perhaps we shall resolve
to run two narrow sliders under the foot-holes of the whole stop, one
for each of the two rows, controlling both sliders by a single knob
or handle. By this method every pipe will stand on its wind, as the
workmen say, that is, will be in direct and uninterrupted communication
with the channel when the holes are open. Or possibly it may suit our
plans better to run two sliders under the feet of the bass pipes, and a
third between them, under the rest of the stop; all three, be it well
understood, extending from end to end of the sound-board, but having
holes only at the proper places, and being blank elsewhere: these
three sliders being governed by one knob, or by two, if the stop is
to draw in halves (as it is called), that is, as a separate Bass and
Treble. Or, once again, we may use a single slider for the whole stop,
but carry the wind through grooves fashioned in the solid wood from
the holes bored in the usual way to the points at which the pipes are
planted. And, lastly, we may carry the wind from the holes to pipes
planted in any position, and practically at any distance by tubes made
of pipe-metal or other material.
_Remark._--It need hardly be said that an examination of the interior
of a well-built organ will be of great service to the beginner who is
planning his first sound-board.
6. The dimensions, then, and character of the sound-board having been
determined after full consideration of the site for the organ, and
a drawing or sketch having been made for your own guidance, proceed
thus:--Take a board of good clean bay-wood, 1/2, 5/8, or 3/4 inch in
thickness, and long enough and wide enough to form the "table" or
top of your work; and dress this carefully until one of its surfaces
is quite true and level. This dressed or levelled side is to be the
lower or under side, and we are about to form upon it the grooves or
channels of which it will ultimately form the roof. Next prepare a
ruler or straight edge of any thin stuff, and on this, with compasses,
rule, and square, guided by plenty of deliberate consideration, mark
the size and place of each of the grooves, and of the bar of wood
which will divide each groove from its neighbour, from end to end. You
will find, of course, and you were previously aware, that the widths
of the grooves and the thickness of the bars will vary in proportion
to their place in the scale. Let us say at once that 3/4 inch will be
ample width for the CC groove in our small organ; and let us advise
that the smallest groove in the treble be about 1/4 inch in width, and
that the bars between these narrow grooves be at least 3/8 or 1/2 inch
in thickness, in order to allow a good seat or margin for the pallets
or valves which are to govern the admission of the wind. In the bass
the bars will be very much thicker than this, or not, according to the
plan which you have adopted. The part of your rule in which you will
soon perceive that the chief danger of crowding your pipes will arise
is the tenor octave. Refer carefully to your pipes, and be quite sure
before you mark your ruler, that you are allowing room for Tenor C and
its neighbours to stand clear of each other when they are planted on
the completed board. Having satisfied yourself on these points, prepare
your bars from sound pine-wood, planing them with care, and especially
seeing that the edge of each bar is truly square with its sides. Two
inches will be an ample width for each bar, in other words, an ample
depth for each groove when completed. Their length will of course be
equal to the width of the table, less an inch or so, according to the
construction now to be described.
There are now two methods of proceeding. First method:--The table being
turned over, with the dressed side uppermost, your ruler well in sight,
with plenty of hot and fresh glue fix your first thick bar at or near
either end of the table. We say, "or _near_ either end," because you
may like to leave room for a finishing cheek of mahogany when all the
bars are put in. The second bar will be glued to the table in like
manner, the proper distance from the first being secured by "filling-in
pieces" of wood of the exact thickness, glued between the bars at
their ends. This alternation of bars and fillings-in will be continued
until all the grooves have been formed according to your ruler; the
rough ends of the bars will then be dressed with a sharp plane, and
neat cheeks of stout bay-wood will be glued on all the four sides of
the divided box which you have thus built up. Second method:--Prepare
the bay-wood cheeks first, and in the two long ones, using a fine saw
and small chisel, cut grooves to receive the ends of the bars. Form
a shallow box by gluing these bay-wood sides and ends to the table.
The corners need not be dovetailed, but an equally close joint must
be secured if dovetailing is omitted. Then introduce the bars, using
an abundance of hot glue, and taking care that no bar fits so tightly
between the cheeks as to risk bending. When all the bars are glued in,
add more thin glue within each groove, placing the sound-board in a
sloping position that the glue may run into the angles, and afterwards
reversing the board to the opposite slope, repeating the coating of
thin glue.
_Remark._--This unusual profusion of glue is to preclude the
possibility of air making its way from one groove to the adjacent one
bypassing between the edge of the bar and the table; and what is here
said applies equally to both methods.
We ourselves prefer the second method to the first. M. Hamel, in his
wonderfully accurate and minute treatise, describes a third, in which
the fillings-in are avoided. Those to whom his book is accessible
cannot fail to share the present writer's admiration of his marvellous
industry, and of his great gift of clear and precise description of
mechanical processes. Hopkins and Rimbault may also be consulted with
much advantage.
7. The work, thus glued up, must be left in a dry room for two or three
days, until all is perfectly set and hard. Meanwhile the other pieces
of which the completed sound-board will consist are being cut out and
prepared. We shall want the upper boards, the sliders, and the slips of
wood (_false sliders_ the French builders call them, while in England
they are termed _bearers_) which divide these from each other.
We may safely suppose that if the ordinary form of sound-board has
been chosen--such, for instance, as that which is shown in Fig. 6--its
size will be about 4 feet, or 6 inches more, in length. Its width will
depend on the number of stops for which it is planned, and therefore
of sliders which are to work on the table; if we are to have five
stops, about 15 inches may be taken as the probable width, but this may
be less, or more, according to the class of stops selected, and the
arrangement chosen for their bass pipes. To give accurate measurements
in feet and inches for all the parts of the sound-board would only
mislead our readers at this stage of our labours. We give general rules
only: it must rest with the reader himself, as we have now abundantly
reminded him, to decide on the shape of his sound-board and to make the
plantation of his pipes, and the consequent arrangement of grooves and
sliders conformable thereto.
Assuming, then, quite arbitrarily, and independently of all special
considerations, that the sound-board is 4 feet long and 15 inches wide,
we may cut out the upper boards from sound and clean bay-wood, 1-1/4
inch thick. Cut them 6 inches longer than the sound-board. And now as
to width. As there are five stops, and five sliders for them, are we to
understand that we shall have also five upper boards? To this we reply,
by no means. Our stops, we assume, will be two of 8 feet, two of 4
feet, and one of 2 feet. For reasons which we shall soon give, we shall
propose to have one upper board for each of these three divisions:
that for the 8-feet stops being 7 inches wide, that for the 4 feet 5
inches, and for the 2 feet 3 inches. Under the 7-inch board there will
be two sliders, each 2 inches in width; under the 5-inch, two sliders,
each 1-1/2 inch in width; and under the 3-inch, one slider, 1-1/4 inch
wide. The bearers will be thus:--The two outside bearers, that is,
those which extend along the front and back margins of the sound-board,
to be 1-1/4 inch in width; the second bearer (reckoning from the back)
to be 1 inch; the third to be 1-1/2 inch, because it will lie beneath
the line of junction, or rather of division, between the two wider
upper boards; the fourth bearer may be 1/2 inch only, being merely a
separation between the next two sliders; the fifth may be 1-1/4 inch,
falling as it does under a line of division; the sixth is similar to
the first. It will thus be seen that we have--
2 sliders, 2 inches each = 4 inches
2 " 1-1/2 " " = 3 "
1 " 1-1/4 " " = 1-1/4 "
3 bearers, 1-1/4 " " = 3-3/4 "
1 " 1-1/2 " " = 1-1/2 "
1 " 1 " " = 1 "
1 " 1/2 " " = 1/2 "
-------
Total width = 15 inches.
_Remark._--All this is so important that we have shown the measurements
drawn to scale in Fig. 11.
Cut out the sliders and bearers from perfectly clean sound bay-wood or
red cedar boards, not more than 3/8 inch in thickness. Having turned
your sound-board over, with the table uppermost, assemble all the
pieces, and satisfy yourself that your measurements are correct, and
that so far there is no error in your plans. See that all your planes
are in first-rate order, and set yourself in earnest to bring to a
perfectly level and true surface the table or top of the sound-board,
and one side of the sliders and bearers. No pains must be spared to
render the surface of the table absolutely true. Apply a "straight
edge" rubbed with chalk, moving it in various directions, and use
unwearied diligence in removing all inequalities detected by this
means. Take care, too, that there is no "winding." In short, adopt
all the means which the rules of good joinery give you for producing
a surface faultlessly level. This done, arrange upon the table, with
their planed sides downwards, your sliders and bearers, and pin them
down upon it with very small brads, piercing through near their edges.
In doing this have regard to the grain of the wood, as you are about
to dress the upper surfaces. Sink the brads well out of the way of the
plane with a punch, and bring the sliders and bearers to a true level
as you did the table.
[Illustration: Scale, two-thirds of an inch to a foot. Fig. 11.]
_Remark._--M. Hamel advises that in making the sound-board the table
should be left 3 inches longer at each end than the actual box beneath,
expressly to afford a bearing for the ends of the sliders during this
business of planing them. If this suggestion is not followed, the
projecting ends of the sliders will require separate attention.
The three upper boards may now be brought down upon the finished
sliders and bearers, and a couple of iron pins or dowels may be let
into each of them and into the bearers and table beneath, near their
extremities, for the purpose of confining them temporarily in the exact
places which they are to occupy. Dress over now the upper sides of the
three boards, which do not, however, require attention to absolute
truth.
8. We cannot yet bore the holes for the pipes. Before we can do so we
must prepare yet another board or boards of clean pine, 5/8 or 3/4 inch
thick, 4 feet 6 inches long, and 15 inches wide, for the rack boards
through which the pipe-feet are to pass, and which are to maintain the
pipes in an upright position. If you have two upper boards the division
should occur between those of the 8-feet and 4-feet stops. Pin down
your rack-board upon the upper boards with brads here and there near
the edges.
Let us now consider for a moment. We have made our box of fifty-four
transverse channels or grooves, and its top consists now of four layers
of wood--namely, the table, the sliders, the upper boards, and the
rack-boards. Through these four layers of wood, at the proper places,
are to be bored holes of various sizes clear through into the channels;
but it is plain that the holes in the rack-boards will always be much
larger than those in the three other layers, because the rack-boards
are to be ultimately raised about 5 inches above the upper board on
legs or pins, and will therefore receive the thick part of the conical
pipe-feet, while the holes in the upper board will only receive their
tip or small extremity. But the centres of the large holes in the
rack-board must coincide accurately with the centres of the small holes
beneath, and we shall therefore proceed to mark the exact spots where
each of the holes will commence.
By the aid of your marked rule, trace a line on the front and back
cheeks of the sound-board, showing the centre of each groove. From
these points draw lines across the rack-boards. It is evident that all
holes bored through the four layers of wood at any point in any of
these lines must terminate in a channel. Draw lines at right angles to
the last, showing the widths of the sliders and bearers; it will then
be further evident that we cannot easily get wrong in boring the holes
so that they may penetrate the sliders at the exact points intended.
But the actual boring, with certain consequences or contingencies
belonging thereto, must be reserved for the next chapter.
CHAPTER IV.
_THE SOUND-BOARD._--(_Continued._)
THE time has come when we must decide what our five stops are to be,
since the sizes and places of the holes must be in accordance with the
quality and character of the pipes supplied by them.
The Stopped Diapason we have already made; and in our organ it will
be the chief or foundation stop of 8-feet tone. We shall assume that
the second stop in the 8-feet pitch will be a metal Dulciana, or small
open Diapason. The 4-feet stops will doubtless be a Principal (or some
equivalent) and a Flute. The 2-feet stop we will call simply Fifteenth
for the moment. For convenience of reference we will number the stops
thus:--
1. Dulciana or open } 8 feet pitch
2. Stopped Diapason }
3. Principal } 4 "
4. Flute }
5. Fifteenth 2 "
The pipes of No. 1, being the tallest in the organ, will be planted
nearest to the back; all the others, occupying the successive sliders,
will present a gradation of heights agreeable to the eye and convenient
for the tuner.
No. 1, we say, is the tallest in the organ; but be it carefully
observed that in our small instrument it will not be carried down to
its lowest note CC, which would be 8 feet in speaking length; it will
not descend lower than tenor C, 4 feet, and the last or lowest twelve
notes or sounds will be obtained by using the corresponding pipes of
the Stopped Diapason as a bass for both stops.
This will be done by "grooving;" and it will now be seen why, in
cutting out the upper boards, we were careful to have a single board
for the pipes of 8-feet pitch, and another single board for those of
4-feet pitch. For it is plain that by boring holes through the upper
board, sliders, and table into any groove of the sound-board, and by
connecting these holes together by means of another deep groove or
score cut in the wood of the upper board, and then covered in with an
air-tight covering, we obtain a secondary channel, supplied with air
by _either or both_ of the sliders at pleasure; and by boring one hole
through the air-tight covering, and planting a pipe on that hole, that
pipe will speak whenever a connection is made between the secondary
channel on which it stands and the main channel or groove below, which
is receiving air at the moment from the bellows.
Clearly, therefore, if we bore holes through the upper boards and
sliders of Nos. 1 and 2 into the twelve grooves of the bass octave,
and then connect these twelve pairs of holes by cutting upper grooves
in the surface of the boards, covering them in by thin boards of wood
well glued down, we have then only to plant our twelve largest stopped
pipes on twelve new holes bored in these thin boards last mentioned,
and we have at once a bass common to both stops, and each of the two
stops will be practically, and for ordinary purposes, complete down to
the lowest note when its slider is drawn. When both sliders are drawn,
the secondary groove will receive air from both holes in the upper
board; but this will not have the effect of over-blowing the pipe,
since the _pressure_ or _weight_ of the air remains the same, and since
the pipe can only receive the quantity of air which is permitted to
pass through the aperture in its foot.
It will now be seen why we did not at once bore the holes, or rather
mark their places, on the rack-board. Plainly, we must make these
twelve grooves first, and cover them in. Then, replacing the rack-board
as before, carefully mark on the latter the exact place of each bass
pipe, as it will stand on any part of its secondary groove. Afterwards,
with a bradawl or other sharp-pointed borer, prick quite through the
rack-board at every one of the points which you have marked throughout
its whole extent. At these points there will hereafter be circular
holes of various sizes for the reception of the pipe-feet, but in the
upper boards, sliders, and tables there will be smaller holes, adapted
for conveying its stream of air to each pipe. Before removing the
rack-board, decide upon the places where the rack-pins, or pillars
which will hold the rack-board up above the sound-board, are to be.
Have plenty of these, say six or eight if you have a single rack-board,
or five to each if you have two, in order to insure a firm plantation
of the pipes, and bore holes for them with a centre-bit, say 5/8
diameter, through the rack-board and to the depth of 1 inch in the
upper boards.
The rack-board now being put aside for the present, all the holes may
be bored through the upper boards, sliders, and table with bits of
various sizes. From what has been said above it will be seen that it is
not the sizes of these holes, but of the apertures in the pipe-feet,
which regulate the volumes of wind supplied to the pipes; but you will,
of course, use bits proportioned to the pipes you have in view. The
upper, or treble, holes must not let the little pipes slip into them,
nor must the larger holes throttle or check the flow of the wind. In
the bass the holes may be as large as the grooves will allow; and if
these are narrow, or if there is secondary grooving or conducting, it
will be well to cut the round hole at its interior aperture with a
sharp chisel into a square or rectangular opening; or to bore two round
holes and connect them by taking out the intervening wood. Afterwards,
with iron rods of various sizes, heated to redness, scorch all the
holes through the three thicknesses of wood, leaving a clear and smooth
charred passage for the wind.
We have not yet done with grooving. This seems to be the proper place
for pointing out how the use of this system may further assist us in
the arrangement of an organ.
Our bass pipes, we have said above, may be planted on holes cut _in any
part_ of the covering or roof of their respective secondary channels.
It follows readily from this that the secondary groove or channel may
be extended or prolonged for the express purpose of locating the pipes
in situations convenient for them. Quite apart from any necessity which
may exist for supplying a common bass to two or more sliders, we may
evidently plant our larger pipes almost where and how we please by
cutting grooves in the substance of the upper board, extending from the
table beneath to the point where we wish the pipe to be. So long as the
holes are of sufficient diameter and the grooves of ample dimensions,
the wind will reach a pipe located at a distance even of 2 or 3 feet
from its source of supply without any appreciable interval between the
impact of the finger on the key and the production of the sound; and
the grooves may be curved almost as we please, though sharp angles
should be avoided.
Even if, in consequence of alterations of original plans or other
circumstances, the upper boards should not be of sufficient thickness
or size to admit of grooving, we may still avail ourselves of this
convenient system by using an additional or supplementary upper board,
which we will here call a conducting board, screwed down upon the main
upper board, and containing the grooves. To fix the exact places for
the holes in the under side of the conducting board, corresponding
with those in the table, spread a sheet of white paper over the upper
board at the part where the conducting is to be, making the edges or
corners of the paper coincide with those of the board, and rub the
paper with the finger so as to take clear impressions of the holes;
then transfer the paper to the under side of the conducting board,
guided by the edges and corners as above, and prick out on this under
side the centres of the circular impressions made on the paper. It is
evident that when the conducting board is applied to the upper board,
edges and corners coinciding as before, these punctured marks will be
exactly over the wind holes in the table. The holes in the upper side
of the conducting board will be marked as before from the rack-board,
and grooves cut and roofed in with thin wood, as previously described.
Note further, that the grooving may be, if necessary, on both sides of
the upper boards. All that is needful in such case is, that after the
grooves on the under sides, next the sliders, are cut, the _whole of
the board_, and not merely the grooved part of it, shall be covered or
veneered with thin stuff. This must be dressed perfectly true, as in
the case of the solid or ungrooved board, and all the holes will be
bored through it. The upper sides will also have a neater appearance
if the roofing of thin mahogany or cedar is carried over its entire
surface. Upper boards so treated are, in fact, compounded of three
layers of wood, a central thick slab containing the grooves, and two
coverings or veneers. The gluing on of these latter must, of course,
be very sound and effectual in every part, or a running of wind might
ensue--a most provoking and really fatal defect, incurable without
complete reconstruction.
Short grooves may be made by boring holes with a centre-bit in the
_edges_ of the upper boards, and making the wind-hole beneath and the
pipe-hole above communicate with this concealed tunnel. On plugging up
the external aperture in the edge of the board, or on stopping a whole
row of such apertures by gluing a band of leather, parchment, or thick
paper over them, it is clear that the wind will pass to the pipes at
pleasure. All such holes and channels must be scorched with hot irons.
To the true joiner this may seem an unworkmanlike expedient, but it is
necessary to prevent the weakening of the currents of air which would
ensue from friction against rough surfaces, and to preclude the risk of
carrying tiny chips and particles of wood into the pipes. If conducting
boards are used, they should be faced with soft white leather on their
under surfaces before they are screwed down in their places, unless,
indeed, they are glued down immovably. The places for the screws, as
well as for those which secure the whole upper board to the table, must
be carefully determined with reference to the grooves.
Fig. 12 is intended to show, in a rough way, how in an upper board BB
grooves may conduct the wind from the holes in a slider AA to a row of
pipe-holes near the margin of the board, resulting in an arrangement
like that shown in Fig. 8. The dotted lines are meant to indicate
grooves cut in the under side of the board. It is clear that these
might be made to cross the others, so that different plantations of
pipes might be obtained, as in Fig. 9.
[Illustration: Fig. 12.]
_Remark._--These figures, however, must be understood rather as
illustrations of our meaning than as representations of actual work.
Conveyancing tubes are in constant use, not only as substitutes for
grooving, but as ancillary to it. They are made of pipe-metal, and from
about 5/8 inch in diameter to much larger sizes. To manage them neatly
and well you should be adroit in the use of the soldering-iron. They
are commonly smeared over with a composition which will not receive
the melted solder; this composition is scraped off at the points where
a junction is to be made at an angle, and with the usual copper tool,
a little resin and tallow, the solder is applied. Much practice is
needed to give mastery of this process, apparently so easy; we have
known instances in which it has been avoided altogether by covering
the junctions of the conductors with white leather secured by thick
flour paste. It is right, also, to add, that we have seen successful
conveyances made of cartridge paper rolled upon wooden mandrels with
paste. Any tin-plate worker in your town or village would make them of
his own material or of zinc, and in an hour or two would solder all the
junctions for you when you had planned your arrangement thoroughly.
Assuming, however, the use of the usual tubes, we may say that they are
thus applied. Let us suppose that the large pipe shown in Fig. 10 is to
be conducted off from the sound-board at the higher level to the plank
on which it stands. Bore the hole in the upper board a trifle larger
than the outside diameter of the tube. Glue a patch of white leather
over the hole, and cut out the aperture in this leather somewhat
smaller than the hole, leaving an excess of leather all round the hole
of about 1/8 inch. Then, making the end of the tube a little conical,
thrust it into the hole; it will carry in with it the surplus margin of
the leather, which will form around it an air-tight joint or collar. A
right angle may be allowed in the tube at this first commencement at
the hole itself, but in its subsequent course sharp corners should be
avoided. The pipe is planted on a hole bored to a sufficient depth in
a plank; a second hole, suited to a conducting tube, is bored at any
convenient distance from this, and communication made between these
two holes by a groove in the under side of the plank closed in with
leather, parchment, thick paper, or wood; then the end of the tube is
forced as before into the hole bored for it and provided with leather
packing, and all is complete.
It is by these means that "speaking fronts" are arranged according to
any design.
_Remark._--If you have all your pipes, metal as well as wood, ready
at hand, it might be well to pierce the rack-board and fit them in
their places at this stage of the proceedings, because chips and dust
are inseparable from the operation, and may be more troublesome and
mischievous after the pallets are put in than now. Those readers who
resolve on this course may turn, then, to the subsequent pages, in
which they will find all the directions which are necessary for their
guidance. For our own part, we prefer to continue in the next chapter
our account of the mechanism of the sound-board.
We may further remark, that while the boring-tools are in use we may
perhaps do wisely in piercing holes also for the screws which are to
hold the upper boards down upon the sliders. If the planing has been
perfectly true, about four pairs of screws should be enough for each
upper board, and no extra screws should be required to force the boards
into closer contact at any intermediate part. The screws should pass
clear and easily through the holes in the boards, and should bite
well in the table beneath. The heads of the screws should be let down
below the level of the upper surface of the boards by counter-sinking,
and it is a useful practice to mark the places of these screws on the
rack-board as well, and to bore corresponding holes in this latter, in
order that if hereafter a slider should be pinched too tightly between
the upper board and table, the end of a long screw-driver may be
introduced to ease it by slackening the screws without disturbing the
pipes.
But we shall have to return to this part of our subject.
CHAPTER V.
_THE WIND-CHEST._
THE somewhat wearisome task of boring more than 250 holes in the
sound-board being now assumed as accomplished, we may take the upper
boards and sliders apart, and retouch the holes here and there, as
required, with the hot iron. The apertures of the holes in the interior
of the channels must be thus attended to, as the boring-bit may have
occasionally torn the wood and left rough edges. Upon the faintest
suspicion arising in your mind of any flaw or crack set up in any
channel during the business of boring, smear over the whole interior of
that channel anew with thin glue, letting it flow as before into the
angles. A running of the wind from one channel to the next is, as we
have said, the most provoking of all defects, and might compel us to
pull the whole of the organ to pieces after it was set up.
The running of wind from one pipe-hole to an adjacent one, either under
the slider or between the slider and upper board, though very annoying,
is a much less serious evil. As a precaution against its occurrence, it
is usual to make little cuts or canals running tortuously all across
the table from edge to edge between the pipe-holes, and to make similar
canals or ducts across the under side of the upper boards, so that no
vagrant wind can pass from a hole to its neighbour in any direction
without encountering one of these little cuts, and being conducted by
it to the edge of the sound-board, where it will escape harmlessly.
If the planing of all the surfaces is absolutely perfect, these cuts
should be unnecessary, and we have seen highly finished sound-boards in
which they were omitted; but we must recommend their introduction by
all young beginners. They may be neatly and quickly formed by using the
=V=-shaped tool common among sculptors in wood, and procurable at any
good tool warehouse. Its two edges should be exceedingly keen. The cuts
may be about 1/8 inch in depth.
After this is done, the movement to and fro of the sliders should be
regulated by cutting a little slot in each of them, and letting a very
stout pin of wood or iron into the table within the slot, so as to stop
the slider at the exact points. Of course all your sliders will have
the same extent of play, say 1 inch, less or more, according to your
arrangement of the pipe-holes. You will probably have so far thought
over your whole work as to be able also to cut the openings or slots in
the projecting ends of the sliders by which the mechanism for drawing
them in and out will be applied to them. We shall show, hereafter, one
or two different ways of effecting this movement to and fro.
After this, take some good blacklead in powder, and with a stiff brush
rub it over every part of the table until the whole surface has a
lustre like that of a well-cleaned boot. Treat the sliders and the
under side of the upper boards in the same way. This application of
blacklead greatly diminishes friction between wooden surfaces brought
into contact. Some operators mix the blacklead powder into a thick
paste with spirits of turpentine, or with water. We prefer using it
dry, but we heartily endorse M. Hamel's complaint that it is difficult
to procure blacklead of good quality. That which is sold for household
purposes is often little better than a gritty sand.
When the blacklead has been applied, the bearers may be pinned down in
their places with small brads. The holes which you have bored for the
screws will be conspicuous in them: over each of these holes, using
thin glue or paste, place a slip of paper, extending 2 or 3 inches
along the bearer on each side of the hole. The use of this is to hold
up the upper board, in order that the slider may not be pinched so
tightly as to be immovable. The upper boards may then be laid upon the
bearers, with the sliders in place, and the screws turned until the
sliders can be made to glide to and fro with smooth and easy motion.
Our bench, let us assume, has been swept and cleaned up after this
blacklead rubbing, and now we turn over our work and proceed to a new
class of operations.
We have to attach to this lower side of our sound-board a shallow box
of the same length, and about 3 inches deep, called the wind-chest,
which is to contain the apparatus by which the admission of compressed
air to the channels is governed, and which is in direct communication
with the bellows by means of a wooden tube called the wind-trunk.
We are mindful, of course, in drawing up this account of organ-building
operations, that the majority of our readers stand in no need of
definitions of these common terms. To such readers it is superfluous
to explain that the valves by which the channels are kept closed while
the keys are untouched by the fingers are called "pallets," and that
these pallets are slips of wood a few inches in length, planed to a
triangular prism-like section, faced with soft white leather, and held
up against the channels, so as effectually to prevent the ingress of
air, by springs. When the keys are pressed, the pallets corresponding
to them are drawn down or opened by wires called "pull-downs," passing
in an air-tight contrivance through the bottom of the chest.
Fig. 13 is a transverse section of the wind-chest, in which _a_ is the
pallet, held up by _b_, the spring, and drawn down by _c_, the wire.
Part of the sound-board is shown above, also in section, as will be
easily comprehended; and Fig. 14 is a view of part of the interior of
the wind-chest when the front board is removed, four of the grooves
being shown in section.
We proceed by sections, with intervening remarks, as in Chapter III.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.]
1. Seven inches will be an ample length for the pallets in our
organ; and as our channels are about 12-1/2 inches in length (inside
measurement), there will be between 5 and 6 inches of the channels
uncovered by the pallets, and closed permanently in another way.
_Remark._--We take 7 inches as the length of our pallets on the
assumption that the widths of the channels are proportioned to a
sound-board about 4 feet long.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.]
2. Between the bars of the sound-board, at a distance of 6-1/2 inches
from that side at which you mean the movable front board to be, glue
pieces of thin wood about 2 inches long and fitting nicely, and when
the glue is dry dress these over with a fine plane truly flush with
the edges of the bars and of the cheeks. You have now a firm wooden
surface to which you will glue, by-and-by, the little flap of leather
which forms the hinge of the pallet.
3. The width of the wind-chest will be governed by that of the space
covered by the pallets to be enclosed within it, in our case about 8
or 9 inches. 3 inches will be a sufficient depth. Make the two ends or
cheeks of stout stuff, and face them up to correspond with those of
the sound-board, with which they will be flush, taking care that their
thickness is not so great as to prevent the leaving of an ample margin
to the two extreme channels for the pallet to rest upon.
_Remark._--In one of these cheeks a trunk-hole may have to be cut
for the entrance of the wind. We ourselves greatly prefer making the
trunk-hole in the bottom board of our chests. Your plans may not admit
of this, and you will act accordingly.
The back of the chest, called the "wind-bar," _d_, Fig. 13, should be
of strong and sound stuff, oak or mahogany, as it greatly helps to
strengthen the whole sound-board and to bear the weight of the pipes.
The corners should be dovetailed, or otherwise well and firmly jointed.
These three pieces, the two cheeks and the back or wind-bar, will now
be attached to the sound-board with glue and screws, to be separated
from it no more; but the bottom, _e_ (of 1-inch pine), will be fixed on
with screws only, strips of soft white leather being interposed between
the surfaces to ensure air-tightness; and the front board, _f_, will
be similarly fitted with an eye to occasional removal.
_Remark._--All such screws should be dipped in melted tallow, or
otherwise well greased before use, that they may not rust in their
places.
4. Prepare the pallets from clean and very dry pine. Every pallet
will be at least 1/4 inch wider than its channel, that it may have
not less than 1/8 inch of overlapping or margin on each side, and
it will have more than this space to spare at each end. The pallets
will be separated from each other when finally put in by stout pins
of iron or brass, driven into the bars _g_, Fig. 13 and Fig. 14. Two
such pins may be necessary between many of the pallets if the plan of
your sound-board has given unusual thickness to some of the bars, and
therefore unusual spaces between the pallets.
5. The pallets are to be faced with white sheep-skin, and it is usual,
but not absolutely necessary, to give two layers of it to each pallet.
About an inch of surplus will be left at one end to form the hinge;
and this hinge should be stiffened by gluing a slip of thinner leather
upon it and upon the sloped-off end of the pallet. The quality of the
facing leather is of the highest importance, and we must counsel the
reader to procure it from a builder, or from one of the shops which
supply builders' materials. The price of such skins is between three
and four shillings. If an inferior leather is used disappointment is
sure to ensue; and though leather of very promising appearance may
be bought at the fellmongers' or shoemakers' in your town, you will
only be put to new expense and additional trouble in the end by using
it. In putting the leather on the pallets, a common plan is to pin
down a sheet of glass-paper of medium roughness on a board, and to
scatter a little whitening on it. The face of each leathered pallet
(when the glue is dry) is gently drawn across this whitened surface.
If, however, the leather is of superior quality in the first instance
the glass-paper may be omitted, and a little whitening rubbed upon the
leathered face will suffice. Even this may not be essential.
6. In working the pallets in take great care that each channel is
covered by its pallet with an equal margin or surplus on each side
of it. It is well to trace pencil lines on the bars as a guide. As
you glue down each hinge give a little tap with a light hammer to the
pallet, and satisfy yourself by inspection that the impression on the
leather is equal and similar in every part. Allow no defect to pass.
Rectify, for instance, the slightest bruise or depression in any of
the bars at the points covered by the pallets. See, also, that all the
pallets play easily between their guide-pins. Finally, a slip of wood
about an inch wide may be bradded down upon the hinge-pieces. This is
not essential, but it is a protection against possible straining and
injury to the hinge by incautious treatment hereafter in cleaning the
surface of the pallets.
_Remark._--Organs have been constructed in which the pallets were made
to play upon a pin at the hinder end, and not upon a leathern hinge
glued to the bars. Such pallets could be taken out one by one at any
time for repair or cleaning. But repairs and cleaning, if the original
workmanship is good, become necessary only at extremely rare intervals,
and these removable pallets may be ranked among the mere curiosities of
our subject. They are described and figured, however, by Seidel.
7. The springs, see Fig. 13, are now commonly of steel, which has
extensively superseded brass, in consequence of the deterioration to
which the latter metal is subject. We are bound to say, however, that
we have used springs of best brass wire, even of late years, without
any disappointing results, and that sets of such brass springs are,
to our knowledge, as efficient as ever after thirty or forty years of
constant use. But it is undeniable that the brass wire now procurable
is subject to a change under the influence of damp and (it is said)
under that of the fumes of gas, which renders it brittle and quite
useless for purposes which require flexibility. Springs certainly
cannot be made from wire so spoilt; but, as we have said, when once
made from new wire, they may continue in use for periods practically
unlimited.
_Remark._--The store of brass wire should be kept wrapped up in brown
paper. This applies also to brass plate.
Whatever the wire, the springs may be quickly fashioned by using a
board, Fig. 15, in which you have fixed a stout wooden peg, _x_, and
two pins, _y_ and _z_. The wire, if brass, should be about No. 17 or
No. 18 of the gauge. The formation of the spring, by twisting the wire
round _x_, _y_, and _z_, is too obvious to require further remark. The
arms of the spring maybe about 5 inches in length, and they are curved
outwards (see Fig. 16) by drawing them between the thumb and fingers.
When so curved, and left uncompressed, the gape or distance between the
extremities will be 7 or 8 inches.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.]
[Illustration: Fig. 16.]
_Remark._--The strength of the springs must be regulated by your plans
in other respects. We ourselves like strong springs, even if the manual
touch be in consequence a little heavy.
8. The two extremities of each spring are bent at a right angle
or nearly. One of these will be inserted, but quite loosely, in a
small hole or punch-mark near the middle of the back of the pallet;
the other, also quite loosely, in a similar hole or depression in a
wooden bar extending the whole length of the wind-chest, and screwed
down within two notches made for it in the inside of the cheeks.
As the united pressure of the 54 springs will certainly bend this
bar, it is well to introduce a long screw at about its middle point,
passing through it, and biting well in one of the sounding-bars. The
spring-bar has a slip of wood, cedar or mahogany, about 2 inches wide,
glued or bradded to it along the side which is to be nearest to the
back of the chest. The springs will be held parallel to their pallets
by playing loosely in cuts, about 1/8 inch wide, made in this slip of
wood (Fig. 17).
[Illustration: Fig. 17.]
The socket, or punch-mark, upon which the pressure of the spring is
exerted, should be a little in advance of the middle of the pallet, so
that the latter may be held up against the bars throughout its extent.
The spring, be it carefully observed, is loosely held in place by the
sockets and by the rack in which it plays, and it can be removed at any
future time by the aid of the little clever tool which we have figured
in Fig. 18, and which you can make for yourself.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.]
When all this is done, furnish every pallet, if you have not already
done so at an earlier stage, with a little ring or crook, by which to
draw it down. This ring is best made by bending one end of a bit of
suitable wire, and thrusting the other obliquely into the pallet (see
Fig. 18_a_). This is better than driving in a little staple vertically.
The rings may be in a line drawn across the pallets about 1-1/2 inches
from their extremities.
[Illustration: Fig. 18_a_.]
_Remark._--But it will be convenient that the rings to which the
pull-downs will be hooked should be quite clear of the guide-pins.
9. The bottom board being now put in its place for the moment, draw a
line upon it from end to end exactly above the line of rings on the
pallets, and draw lines at right angles to this corresponding with
the centre of each channel, and therefore of each pallet. At each of
these points a pull-down will pass through the board, and it is plain
that it must be made to do so without allowing the wind included in
the chest to escape. This was formerly effected by "purses" (French,
_boursettes_), little leather bags, tied or otherwise attached to the
pull-downs. We have seen this method successfully tried, but it is now
so completely superseded by a simpler and more effectual plan that we
do not think it worth our while to say more of it.
The arrangement now invariably adopted is thus made:--Procure a strip
of brass plate, or several strips, equal in the aggregate to the length
of the chest, and about 1-1/2 inch or 2 inches wide. In too many organs
this plate is poor stuff, not thicker than a visiting-card, sometimes
even of zinc only, but in our opinion it should be at least as thick
as a shilling. Drill holes in this plate near the edges, and pin it
down for the moment on the bottom board, so that the lines of holes
for the pull-downs may run along its middle. Mark on the brass the
intersections of the lines as before. Having previously chosen the wire
for your pull-downs (of which more directly), take a fine drill, with
your breast-plate and bow, and on a bit of waste plate try the size
of the hole made by it, altering it on the oil-stone until the hole
receives the wire with the nicest and most accurate fit.
_Remark._--It will be well to store away the drill afterwards, with a
bit of the wire as a specimen, and to use it for no other purpose.
This drilling is not a difficult operation, and only requires care
and delicate manipulation. Of course, however, any clockmaker would
drill the holes for you. Assuming confidently that you will drill them
yourself, we recommend you to hold the bottom board, with the plate
on it, in the screw-clamp of your bench, or in a similar vertical
position, so that as the drill penetrates the brass it may be received
by the soft wood of the board. This will diminish the risk of breaking
it.
_Remark._--Those who have a light handy lathe will know how to utilise
it in drilling the holes in the brass plate apart from the board.
When all the holes are drilled, remove the plate, and clean off with
a fine file the rough projections thrown up by the drill. With a much
larger drill, twirled gently between the thumb and finger, smooth the
edges of all the holes on both sides of the plate. Try a bit of the
wire in every hole, and draw it to and fro, when necessary, until its
passage is perfectly smooth and easy. Grease should not be used; or, if
a little tallow is rubbed over the wire, it should be wiped off clean.
The holes in the bottom board itself may be of any size we please,
since they have nothing to do with keeping in the wind, and merely
allow a perfectly clear passage for the wire pull-downs.
It is plain that if we now pin down the drilled plate in its place, the
arrangement will not be complete without some provision for preventing
the escape of wind in large quantities, and with an intolerable hissing
noise, at the edges of the plate.
The builders prevent this escape and hissing by fitting two long slips
or tringles of wood (see _h_, _k_, Fig. 13) along the two edges of
the plate with glue and brads, or screws. These slips press the plate
closely to the board throughout its entire length, and they protect
from injury at the same time the rings of the pull-downs, which might
easily be bent and distorted.
Using thicker plate, however, we ourselves greatly prefer to glue
a strip of white leather, of the same width as the plate, over the
holes in the board, piercing it with a sufficiently large awl at the
centre of each hole, and we screw down our plate upon this leather,
using numerous short screws, placed only 4 or 5 inches apart, passing
through holes drilled near the edges of the plate, and countersunk in
the usual way. All escape of air is thus most effectually prevented,
and the slips or tringles of wood become unnecessary, except, indeed,
in their secondary character as protectors of the rings.
The bottom board may now be put on, and strongly secured by plenty of
screws, well lubricated with tallow. Prepare the pull-downs, of uniform
length, each with its little ring neatly formed; pass each through its
hole in the plate, and with suitable pliers form the top of the wire
into a hook, which takes hold of the ring of the pallet.
_Remark._--Or you may pass all the wires through the holes, and form
the hooks upon their ends before you fix the board in its place.
The builders often muffle the hook or ring with silk thread, or a
morsel of soft and thin leather, to prevent a slight clicking noise
which might be heard of wire against wire. This, however, is really not
essential. It is, or formerly was, very common also to interpose an =S=
of wire between the hook of the pull-down and the ring of the pallet.
These connecting links are unnecessary, and are better omitted.
According to strict rule the pull-downs, passing through holes in
brass, should themselves be of iron or steel; but we have always used
brass wire, and we must refer our readers to what we have said of this
material in treating of springs. They must judge for themselves. The
essential thing is that the wires should play easily and smoothly
through the holes, drawing down the pallets with perfect freedom, and
allowing them to return, when released, with a pleasant smartness. If
a single pull-down fails in these respects remove it at once. Perhaps
it is a little bent or bruised; possibly the hole in the plate may have
been inadvertently left with a sharp edge, which has cut a notch in
the wire; possibly, also, the pallet-ring may not be quite in a line
with its fellows, and therefore not quite correctly above the hole in
the plate, throwing the pull-down out of a right line into an oblique
one. Rectify all defects of this kind at any expenditure of time and
patience.
We have left all this time several inches of each channel open or
uncovered, since the wind-chest closes in only that portion of the
channels to which the pallets are applied. We may now finish our work
by gluing white leather, or parchment, or even only stout paper, over
the open part of the channels, taking care that it adheres well in
every part.
We may add that it is sometimes, or often, convenient to place the
wind-chest under the back part of the sound-board, and not under the
front; or to place it midway between the back and front, or a few
inches from either. This is done with an eye to arrangements connected
with the action or movement, which will be described in detail. When
the wind-chest is so placed care must be taken to provide for the
complete closing of the front board. A ledge of wood should be glued
and pinned to the bars in such case, to afford a bearing for the front
board and to receive the screws which secure it; or the edges of the
board may be leathered, and it may be thrust in, with a tight fit,
between the under side of the channels (roofed with wood at that point
for the purpose), the cheeks, and the bottom board, cut an inch wider
accordingly. Wedges are sometimes used, driven in behind clasps or
hooks of iron, to keep it in its place. But in truth, when the organ
is once well built and finished, several years may elapse without a
disturbance of the board.
CHAPTER VI.
_THE BELLOWS, TRUNKS, AND FRAME._
AFTER all our minute operations with small drills and fine wires,
calling for a light hand and patient accuracy, we have to turn to work
comparatively rough and coarse. The business of bellows-making presents
no serious difficulty, and we hope we may pass rapidly over it. We
shall have no reader who is not already familiar with the form of
organ-bellows, which consist of three main boards, namely, the middle
board, the top board or table, and the feeder, and of thin plates of
wood called ribs, the whole united together with flexible white leather
forming hinges and gussets.
The shape or form of the bellows will of course be determined by that
of the organ; they may be long and narrow, or short and wide, like the
sound-board. Their capacity, or area, will depend on the number and
character of the pipes which they have to supply with wind. A common
rule is to assign two square feet of superficial area for each stop
in the organ; but this would be in excess of the requirements of such
a small organ as that which we are making. 3 feet 6 inches by 2 feet,
giving 7 square feet of area, will be ample dimensions in our case,
and will work in conveniently with the size which we have assumed
throughout for the sound-board, namely, about 4 feet or 4 feet 6 inches
by 15 inches. In arranging your plans in the first instance, allow
room for a drop or play of the feeder of at least 10 inches, free of
all interruption from the pedal or other contrivance for blowing, for
it is upon the capacity of the feeder that you must depend for the
quantity of air supplied, the upper part of the bellows being merely a
reservoir in which the compressed air is stored away, and from which
it is distributed to the pipes as it is wanted. The reservoir may have
a rise or play of about 10 inches or a foot. Get out the three main
boards of deal or any sound stuff, leaving the middle board some inches
longer than the other two, that its ends may rest upon the frame of
the organ, or upon other supports as you may arrange. Cut out pieces,
also, to form a shallow box, say 4 inches deep, upon the middle board,
of the same size as the top board. This is called a trunk-band, and is
introduced to allow of fixing the wind-trunks which are to convey the
wind to the chest. You will want also a light frame of three-quarters
stuff, pine recommended, to carry and support the ribs of the
reservoir; the four boards of which it is made will be of the same
width as the ribs themselves, namely, about 4 or 4-1/2 inches. The ribs
are of very thin stuff, say 1/4 inch, but they must be quite sound and
free from cracks. You will want sixteen ribs (eight pairs) for
the reservoir and six for the feeder; of these last the long ones will
be of triangular form.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.]
Cut plenty of large openings in the feeder board for the admission of
the external air, and in the middle board for the transfer of that air
to the reservoir. These openings may be rectangular, say 4 inches by
1-1/2, and there may be fully six of them in each board. After cutting
them, convert them into gratings by fitting little wooden bars across
them, 1 inch apart, let in flush with the board, and planed level.
Each of these gratings will be covered with a valve or clack of stout
white leather, two thicknesses glued together, and held down along
one edge by a slip of wood and brads. These leathern valves should
play with perfect ease, and it is well to thin down the hinge-flap,
or cut it half through with a sharp penknife, that the valve may fly
open at the slightest pressure of the wind, and may not throttle or
retard its passage. It is a common plan to make these valves without
a hinge, by attaching pieces of tape to the four corners, and pinning
down the ends of the tapes to the board. The whole valve then rises
and falls. We prefer the hinge. After cutting your ribs to the proper
shapes, in which you can hardly get wrong, sort them into pairs, and
glue a long strip of stout white sheep-skin along the edges of each
pair. Stout calico or linen may be substituted for leather on the
opposite side, namely, the side which will present the inner angle,
and in which the ribs will be in close contact when folded together.
A glance at Fig. 19 will show that the upper ribs of the reservoir are
in a position the reverse of that of the lower ribs. This inversion of
the ribs represents the result of a clever invention by one Cummins,
a clockmaker. Before its introduction, the air in the reservoir had
suffered a slightly unequal compression as the top board descended, in
consequence of the closing-in on all sides of the folds of the ribs,
which diminished the space occupied by the air. Cummins's ingenious
modification at once rectified this inequality, since the upper ribs
fold outwards, and allow more room for the air, precisely in the same
proportion as the lower ribs fold inwards and diminish the space.
An unpractised ear might not, indeed, detect the slight change in
the tone of the pipes caused by bellows made in the old-fashioned
way, but let us by all means follow Cummins's plan. You will do well
first to join the inner lower edges of the upper ribs to the inner
sides of the middle frame; then their other edges to the top board
at the proper distance from its margin; then attach the upper and
outer edges of the lower ribs to the outer edges of the middle frame;
lastly, the lower edges of the lower ribs to the trunk-band. All this
must be done quickly that the glue may not grow cold; it will much
facilitate a distasteful operation to use a small sponge with warm
water, passed over the outer or smooth side of the leathern strips as
they are glued on. The main hinge of the feeder will be best made by
passing pieces of hempen rope through several pairs of holes bored
obliquely for the purpose in the feeder board and middle board, and
wedged in with pegs and glue. Fig. 20 sufficiently explains this. Two
or three layers of the stoutest leather will be glued over the line of
junction formed by this hinge. There is no reason why the hinge should
not be on one of the long sides of the feeder, instead of its narrow
end, if your arrangements for the blowing-handle or pedal render this
form of construction desirable. (You have doubtless well considered
your blowing mechanism.) The ribs of the feeder being worked in like
those of the reservoir, and all the glue dry, fix the bellows in a
fully distended position by temporary appliances, and fill up the
open corners by gusset-pieces of your best and most flexible leather.
Material will be economised and neatness consulted by preparing a
paper pattern of the gusset-pieces in advance. Those of the feeder must
be very strong, and it may be well, but it is not necessary, to put on
a second pair over the first, but not glued to them in the folding or
crumpled part. All must be perfectly tight and well glued down in every
part. A mere pin-hole will betray itself hereafter by a disagreeable
hissing.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.]
[Illustration: Fig. 21.]
We had almost forgotten to say that a valve 4 inches square, or
thereabout, must be fitted in the middle of the top board to prevent
over-blowing. This is generally made of a small board of wood, planed
truly level, and covered with two thicknesses of the pallet leather,
rubbed with whitening. It opens inwards, and is held closed by any
simple application of a stout spring made of much thicker wire
than the pallet springs. Fig. 21 suggests one of the very simplest
of arrangements. A string, fastened to the under side of this
safety-valve, and to the middle board beneath it, may be of such length
as to pull the valve open when the bellows are fully inflated; or the
valve may be pushed open from above by a wooden arm or catch attached
for the purpose to some part of the frame.
The apertures for the trunks should be cut in the trunk-band, according
to well-digested plans, before the bellows are put together, that
there may be no sawdust or chips afterwards to get under the clacks;
and it is well to give the whole interior of the bellows two coats of
glue-size before the ribs are closed in.
[Illustration: Fig. 22.]
The little contrivance _a b c d_, Fig. 22, is to ensure the
simultaneous rising of the top board and middle frame when the bellows
are in action. It may be conveniently made of hoop-iron, but oak or any
hard and strong wood will be equally good. If some such contrivance
were not introduced, the top board and upper ribs would rise first on
the working of the feeder, and the frame and lower ribs would follow
in their turn. This would cause inequality of pressure, since the top
board would not at once bear up the weight of the frame and lower ribs.
The little jointed apparatus redresses this by causing the whole of the
ribs to obey the first admission of air. A simpler form of it will be
found in Fig. 22_a_.
We are building a very small organ, but, desiring as we do to give as
much completeness to this treatise as circumstances will allow, we
here explain that in larger instruments two feeders are generally or
always introduced, unless, indeed, a "cuckoo feeder" is used, which
practically amounts to the same thing, being a long board hinged to
the under side of the middle board by a stout transverse piece in
its middle, and provided with two sets of ribs, each set filling up
the space from the middle hinge to the end of the board. This feeder
supplies wind with the upward as well as the downward stroke of the
bellows-handle, but it would not be suitable for an organ in which the
blowing is effected by the foot.
[Illustration: Fig. 22_a_.]
We may have readers who are so fortunately circumstanced as to be able
to apply water-power to their bellows. In this case two feeders should
be fitted in order to utilise both strokes of the ingenious little
machine, which consists essentially of a piston moving water-tight in
a cylinder provided with a valve which admits water alternately above
and below it. This is not the place for entering on a discussion of the
conditions essential to the due working of the water-pressure engine;
they may be studied in any modern treatise on hydro-dynamics; it is
enough for our present purpose to say that a cylinder not larger than
a common wine-bottle will give ample power for such an organ as ours,
provided that the pressure on the piston be not less than 30 lbs. to
the square inch, and that the supply-pipes be of ample size. Water, it
must be remembered, does not expand like steam when admitted into an
empty space, or rather into a space occupied only by atmospheric air;
hence large pipes, large valves, and large ports, or valve-openings,
must be provided, that the water-pressure, irresistible when properly
applied, may be thrown at once upon the point where it is wanted. But
this is by the way, and we will only add that the water machine should
be in a room or cellar below or adjoining that in which the organ
is placed, as a slight noise is inseparable from its action, and it
should act on the feeders by a wooden or iron rod brought up through
the floor. Still better if the whole apparatus, feeders, reservoir,
and all, can be down-stairs or in a neighbouring apartment, the
trunks only passing through the wall or floor. In very large modern
instruments the feeders, worked by steam or water, are commonly made to
move horizontally, in a way which will be understood if we imagine an
accordion or concertina laid upon its side. When the reservoir is fully
inflated it acts upon a valve, which reduces or cuts off the supply of
water or steam.
The trunks are rectangular wooden tubes made of half-inch pine, and
well jointed. In their course from the trunk-band to the wind-chest
right-angled mitres are permissible, for it is a mistake, though a
common one, to imagine that the wind rushes in an impetuous stream
along the trunks as it does (for instance) along a conveyancing tube
when its pallet is open. The trunks are simply connecting links between
the reservoir and wind-chest, but they must be large enough to ensure
an equality of wind-density in both wind-chest and reservoir under
all demands on the part of the player. Our trunk may be 5 inches by
2, inside measurement; or it may be 9 or 10 inches wide by only 1;
or we may make it 3 or 4 inches square, as may suit our plans. The
ends of the trunk should not be glued into the openings cut in the
trunk-band and wind-chest. The ends, reduced by half the thickness of
the wood, and brought to a shoulder, should be glued into an opening
in a small board, an inch or two larger on all sides than the area of
the trunk. Engineers would call this a "flange." This flange being
leathered, and the aperture of the trunk cut out, it may be pressed
with four or more screws against the margins of the openings with which
it is in communication, and will thus be removable at any time if the
organ is taken down or altered. The interior of wind-trunks should be
well coated with thin glue, and the exterior should be painted. Some
builders prefer to cover the exterior of their trunks with paper, and
to line the ribs of the bellows with the same material, applied with
common paste. Trunks have been made, too, of zinc, and oval in section.
The frame of the organ, whatever its form or plan, should be very
strong and solid, and should stand firmly in its place on the floor
without any tendency to vibration or unsteadiness. The pieces of which
it is composed should be of good deal, 1-1/4 inch thick, and from 3-1/2
to 4-1/2 inches wide, according to circumstances, that is to say,
according to the weights which it has to carry. The essential points
are these, namely, that the keys, or manual, shall rest upon firm
supports at the proper height above the floor; that the sound-board
shall be borne upon bearers at a sufficient height above the keys to
admit the intervening mechanism; that the bellows shall be carried on
cross pieces far enough removed from the floor to admit of the free
play of the feeder.
You will take into consideration, in designing your frame, the question
whether you will have pedals, and the still more important question
whether you will have separate pipes for them, and how they are to
be connected with the lower keys. Room must be provided for all the
apparatus involved in these arrangements, and, as in every part of
our work, so in this, we say that the reader himself must think over
carefully all contingencies, and make a preliminary drawing to scale
for his own guidance.
Enough if we lay down here the following rules:--
1. The under side of the key-board must be 25 inches from the floor,
or from the upper surface of the pedal-board.
2. The under side of the wind-chest should, if possible, be at least 15
inches above the key-board.
3. The middle board of the bellows should be fully 12 inches above the
floor, or above any trackers or other mechanism connected with pedals.
4. The front edge of the key-board should project about 1 foot in
advance of the panels closing in the lower part of the case.
5. Ample space should be secured for a large book-board by allowing
a still greater distance between this front edge of the keys and the
front edge of the sound-board above.
These are not quite all the considerations involved in designing the
frame. The draw-stops and their connection with the sliders must be
well considered, and room left for the requisite apparatus; and the
position of the bellows-handle should be determined, and the part of
the frame on which its fulcrum or centre will rest.
Fig. 23 gives, perhaps, the simplest form of frame usually adopted for
a small organ. It is made of four distinct frames, united at the angles
by screws, so that the whole can be easily taken to pieces. It must
be understood that the key-board is carried upon two cross-bearers,
leaving the under part of the tails of the keys accessible; and the
sound-board in like manner rests upon two bearers under its extreme
ends. If any longitudinal bar is introduced to assist in sustaining
the weight of the sound-board, it must be after careful consideration
of all the arrangements for the action or movements of the keys.
Similarly, the entrance of the trunk must depend on the mechanism of
the action and of the draw-stops. It is unnecessary to screw down
the sound-board to the bearers. Its own weight when loaded with the
pipes will keep it down, while a couple of dowels (short wooden pegs),
one in each bearer, fitting into sockets in the bottom board of the
wind-chest, will prevent it from moving laterally.
[Illustration: Fig. 23.]
There is another form of frame well suited to small organs, and which
we ourselves greatly approve. According to this plan, which is sketched
in Fig. 24, the bellows are enclosed in a stout low structure rising
no higher than the level of the key-board which rests upon its top. The
sound-board is carried upon cheeks screwed or otherwise attached to the
bottom board of the wind-chest either at its extreme ends or at points
nearer to its centre, according to your plans for the action and the
draw-stops. Or the cheeks may be united by a stout transverse piece or
girder, the sound-board being then kept in place by dowels only.
[Illustration: Fig. 24.]
The present writer has further modified this arrangement by
substituting a wide and shallow trunk for one of the cheeks. This trunk
is screwed by its flange to the bottom board of the wind-chest, where
the wind enters, and it is closed at the bottom, where it rests upon
the cross-bearers of the frame. A lateral aperture is cut in it an inch
or two from this lower end, and a short mitred trunk connects it with
the bellows. All this may be sufficiently understood by inspection of
Fig. 24.
_Remark._--The late eminent builder, Mr. W. Hill, we believe, exhibited
an organ at the London International Exhibition in 1851 which had
hollow framework, serving as trunks. It is evident that by making
one end of our bellows rest upon a hollow bearer we might omit the
trunk-band entirely, since this hollow bearer might be directly
connected by a mitred trunk with the hollow cheek supporting the
wind-chest. And by making one leg of the bellows-frame hollow, and
connecting it at top with a hollow cross-bearer, carrying the cheek on
which rests the wind-chest, it is plain that we supersede the separate
trunk altogether. Such plans as these may amuse some of our readers.
[Illustration: Fig. 25.]
If the feeder is worked by the foot of the player such a pedal as
that shown in Fig. 25 will be found convenient. It is made of hard
wood--oak, birch, ash, or walnut--with iron or brass hoops and
pivots, and is screwed to the floor of the room, independently of the
organ-frame. The little roller should be covered or muffled with soft
leather, and you will see that it rolls clear of the valve-holes in the
feeder. By lengthening the middle piece or shaft we may work with the
right foot, a feeder having its play on the left side; but in such a
case the whole machine will be best made of iron by a smith. He will
coat the pedal for you with india-rubber where the foot rests upon
it--a much better plan than roughening it like a rasp. The pedal, as
figured, is intended to be on the extreme right of the player, and to
be clear of a pedal-board of two octaves.
The reader will see that by reversing the positions of the arms of the
pedal it may be made to suit any little organ with a manual only. In
this case the muffled roller will traverse the feeder not crosswise,
but lengthwise.
We pointed out in a former page that the position of a bellows-blower
must be considered in your plans for the finished instrument. If he
stands close to the player on either side of him the lever will be
easily poised upon a strong pin projecting from the frame. A piece of
web or a leathern strap will be a better connection with the feeder
than any rigid bar of wood or of iron. If the organ is not placed
against a wall the position of the blower may with equal ease be
precisely reversed. The lever, however, may be arranged parallel to the
back wall by constructing your bellows in the first instance with a
view to this, the hinge of the feeder being on one of its long sides,
as we have explained in a former page. Or, with a feeder hinged as
usual at its end, the lever may still be parallel to the back wall by
acting upon an arm with a roller precisely similar to our foot-blower.
[Illustration: Fig. 26.]
Another mode of effecting this is shown in Fig. 26. _a b_ is the
handle turning on a strong pin at _a_, fixed to the back of the frame.
_c d_ is a shaft which should be of iron, but might be of hard wood,
hooped at the ends, having two arms, _e_ and _f_, projecting from it
in opposite directions. This shaft turns on stout iron pivots which
enter holes in stanchions securely fixed to the frame. These holes
will be better for being bushed with brass. _g_ is a short wooden link
connecting the handle with the arm _f_; and _h_ is a wooden rod which
connects the arm _e_ with a forked lug screwed to the feeder. All these
connections are by stout turned pins of iron or brass. It is plain
that every downstroke of the handle _a b_ will bring up the feeder. All
this is a matter of mere mechanical arrangement; the simpler you can
make it, by diminishing as much as possible the number of pivots or
turnings, the better it will be.
We conclude this chapter, and turn to the next branch of our subject,
with the assumption that the organ is thus far satisfactorily advanced.
When the new bellows are worked we assume that no hissing is heard,
and no escape of air perceived at any of the holes when a slider is
drawn, or at any part of the junctions of the trunk. We assume also
that when any pallet is opened by drawing down the ring of its wire, a
strong rush of wind will immediately follow, and will be as instantly
stopped by releasing the ring, when the pallet will close with a ready
and prompt snap. The sliders, too, must glide to and fro with perfect
smoothness and ease.
Pass over no serious fault. Remedy all defects with unwearied patience,
even if it involves a reconstruction of your work.
It is usual to paint the frame and bellows (leaving the ribs untouched,
however) with some dark priming. A dull red was formerly in vogue;
chocolate, dark brown, or a slaty black have now found favour in the
eyes of builders.
CHAPTER VII.
_PLANTATION OF THE PIPES._
WE explained in a former page that it is well to plant all the pipes
upon the sound-board before the pallets are fitted, because dust and
chips are inseparable from the operation, and may be troublesome and
mischievous if introduced into the grooves and conveyances. Some of our
readers, therefore, having their stock of pipes by them, have perhaps
already perused this chapter and acted upon its suggestions. It has
been reserved, however, for this place in our work, in accordance with
our wish to meet the case of workmen and young beginners who are under
the necessity of proceeding by degrees.
Possessing a turning-lathe, and resolving to turn the wooden pipe-feet
yourself, you will doubtless commence by boring four or more holes in
a bit of thin board with centre-bits of different sizes as a guide or
gauge for the diameters of the pipe-feet. If you mount this little
board at a height of 4-1/2 inches above another board or stand, by
pillars or legs, it will represent a portion of your rack-board, and as
you rapidly throw off the feet in the lathe they will be as quickly
sorted by passing them into these trial holes. The billet of wood,
pine, willow, sycamore, or any other suitable stuff, should be bored
while still in the rough by a bit revolving in the lathe. The bore
cannot then fail to be central. It should ultimately be scorched with
a hot iron, unless, indeed, your borer has been so well suited to the
wood as to render unnecessary any further smoothing. The feet will be
slightly conical, the smaller end tapered off to fit the countersunk
hole on the board, the larger formed into a neck with a shoulder (see
Fig. 1).
The rack-pins should be of mahogany or oak, with a shoulder at each
end, the necks fitting tightly in the holes provided for them already.
These necks may be blackleaded, to facilitate removal.
All the holes may now be bored in the rack-board corresponding to our
two wooden stops (Nos. 2 and 4), at the points marked long ago, when
the grooving was finished; the board may be placed on its rack-pins,
and the feet dropped into their places, adjusted, where necessary,
with a half-round file. The pipes may then receive their feet one by
one, and if your calculations have been correct and your measurements
accurate they should stand in orderly array. Use the spirit-level,
square, and plumb-line in planting the pipes, to ensure truly
horizontal and perpendicular lines. The feet should not be actually
glued into the blocks until the last little adjustments have been given.
In planting the metal pipes, holes 2 inches or more in diameter will
be required in the bass, while those in the extreme treble will be
little larger than a common quill. Adjustable bits may be bought,
clever contrivances producing beautifully true circular holes (see
Chap. II.). In the absence of these, we recommend you to use discs of
stiff paper or cardboard, representing the exact size, as ascertained
by callipers, of the conical foot of the pipe at about 5 inches from
its lower extremity; from these discs the outline of the holes may be
traced on the board, and all the holes, great and small, may be cut
out with a pad-saw, or bored with common bits, in every case a trifle
smaller than they are ultimately to be. Then, the rack-board being in
place, each pipe may be adjusted in its position by using a half-round
rasp, and similar or rat-tail files. With these you will easily give a
conical form to the holes in the board.
Great care will be well bestowed in this operation. If, unfortunately,
you cut any hole too large, line it with a morsel of soft leather. But
every true workman will desire to resort as seldom as possible to this
expedient.
Probably none of the metal pipes will require to be grooved off. But
this you have attended to long ago. If any of them are grooved off,
take care that the grooves are of ample size, that the wind may not be
throttled.
When all the pipes are planted, whatever the arrangement which you have
adopted, they should gratify the eye by their perfect symmetry.
"If they do not look well they will not sound well," was a good maxim
long ago impressed upon the writer by an ingenious German workman, to
whom he was indebted for much valuable information.
CHAPTER VIII.
_THE ACTION._
THIS important subject will be prefaced by a few definitions,
superfluous, perhaps, for some readers, necessary for others.
_Backfall_. A lever of any clean wood, 3/8 inch or less in thickness, 1
inch or 2 inches in width, and seldom more than 1 or 2 feet in length,
turning upon a wire as its axis or fulcrum.
[Illustration: Fig. 27.]
_Bridge_. Backfalls occur in sets, corresponding to the number of keys
in a manual or of pallets in a wind-chest. They are arranged side by
side in notches formed by taking out the wood between saw-cuts in a
balk of mahogany or oak 2, 3, or more inches square. This balk is
called a bridge. Fig. 27 shows part of a set of backfalls and their
bridge.
_Square._ Squares are now usually of metal, but may be easily made of
wood, and consist of two arms, 2 or 3 inches long, united at a right
angle to each other, or cut at once from a single piece, and turning
on a wire as an axis passing through a hole at the intersection of
the arms. Like the backfalls, they may be arranged side by side in a
bridge, but the modern metal squares are screwed separately in their
places (Fig. 28).
[Illustration: Fig. 28.]
_Sticker._ A slender rod of light wood, not larger than a common cedar
pencil, and from a few inches to a foot or two in length (Fig. 29).
[Illustration: Fig. 29.]
_Tracker._ A flat riband of pine, sometimes several feet in length,
about 3/8 inch in width, and less than 1/8 inch in thickness. Trackers,
however, are now frequently slender round rods, like the stickers (see
Fig. 30).
[Illustration: Fig. 30.]
_Tapped Wires._ Formerly of brass, afterwards of tinned iron, and now
generally of phosphor-bronze or some other alloy. These are pieces of
wire about 3-1/2 inches in length, from No. 16 to No. 18 in gauge, and
cut with a screw-thread upon about half their length, with a ring or
hook at the untapped end.
_Buttons_. Round nuts of old and thick leather, or latterly of a
composition into which gutta-percha enters, pierced at their centre to
receive the tapped part of the wire.
_Cloths._ Little discs of woollen cloth, mostly red, used as mufflers
to prevent the rattling noise of wood against wood, or metal against
metal.
[Illustration: Fig. 31.]
_Roller._ An axis or shaft of light wood (but in certain cases of
iron), turning easily on two wires as pivots, which enter holes in
studs fixed firmly. The roller has two (or more) arms, 2 or 3 inches
long, projecting from it, generally near its ends. It is plain that
any motion given to the roller by acting on one of these arms will
be transmitted to the other arm. Rollers are in sets, like backfalls
and squares, and are arranged symmetrically on a board called a
roller-board (Fig. 31).
The nine articles just described are all brought together in the action
of an organ, even of a simple kind. We shall endeavour in this chapter
to show how they are combined in ordinary circumstances, involving no
peculiar complications.
[Illustration: Fig. 32.]
A simple and rudimentary example of the principle underlying all
systems of organ-action may be seen in Fig. 32. _a b_ is the key-board,
in which each key (as always in England) is balanced on a pin-rail near
its centre, and has a pin, _c_, passing through a little mortice cut in
it, while another pin, _d_, out of sight, near its fore end, keeps it
in its place, parallel to its fellows. At the tail of the key, _e_ is
a sticker, having a wire thrust into each of its ends, and projecting
about 1 inch; one of these wires is inserted in a small hole drilled
in the key-tail, and conical beneath, or cut into a little mortice.
A "cloth" is slipped upon the wire to prevent the end of the sticker
from rattling upon the key-tail. The upper wire of the sticker slips
into a similar hole (a cloth interposed as before) in the end of _f_, a
backfall working in its bridge, _g_. The other end of _f_ is connected
at once to the pull-down of the pallet by a tapped wire and button.
Clearly, if a finger is placed upon the key, its hinder end will rise
and will push up the back end of the backfall, which will draw down the
pallet; and by simply reversing the position of the backfalls as shown
in the cut, we may pull down the pallets in the wind-chest when placed
under the back of the sound-board.
If, then, we have fifty-four keys in the manual, a repetition of this
simple apparatus fifty-four times will be requisite to bring every
pallet, with the pipes controlled by it, under the command of the
player.
But this is taking no account of the fact that the pipes are not
planted in an unbroken chromatic series from bass to treble. In the
arrangement shown in Fig. 5 (and in its reverse or opposite plan) it is
plain that our simple backfalls would fail us; while in Fig. 6 some of
the bass pipes are planted to the right of the player, equally out of
reach.
Here we resort, then, to rollers. Fig. 33 shows a single roller, in
which _i k_ is the roller, turning on pivots in studs, and having arms,
_l_, _m_, of wood or of iron, projecting from it. The sticker from the
key-tail pushes up the arm _l_ when the key is depressed; the roller
turns on its pivots, and the arm _m_ pushes up the tail of the backfall
by another sticker, the pallet being thus opened as before; and it is
plain that by arranging a set of rollers on a board, as in Fig. 31, we
may act with ease upon pallets to the right and left which could not be
reached in any other way.
[Illustration: Fig. 33.]
The roller-board as here described is placed above the key-board,
with action by stickers; but it might be as easily placed immediately
under the wind-chest, with action by trackers. In this latter case,
the key-tail will push up the end of the backfall, the other end of
which will draw down a roller arm by means of a tracker; the other arm
of the roller will be hooked to the pull-down of the pallet by means
of another tracker. If so placed, room must of course be left for the
roller-boards by fixing the wind-chest at a sufficient height above
the backfalls. Figs. 34 and 35 show, sufficiently for our purpose, but
without any pretension to exactness of detail, the two positions of the
roller-board, and it is easy to see that by reversing the backfalls,
and in Fig. 35 the roller-board also, we can act upon a back wind-chest.
[Illustration: Fig. 34.]
Probably the reader has already surmised that the notches in the bridge
are by no means necessarily parallel to each other, or, in other
words, that the backfalls themselves are not parallel. The left-hand
pipes, as shown in Fig. 6, are reached by cutting the notches in
the bridge askew, so that while one end of the backfall is over the
key-tail, the other may be under the pull-down; and as this applies to
the whole set of backfalls, except those connected with the rollers,
the whole of the notches will be cut at varying angles to the central
line or axis, and the complete set of backfalls, when put in their
places, will present a fan-shaped plan. Hence it is sometimes called a
"fan-frame."
[Illustration: Fig. 35.]
But parallel backfalls occur constantly as transmitters of motion from
the keys to the rollers, and in other positions which will be noticed.
The plantation of pipes shown in Fig. 5, for instance, and the reverse
of it, which has the larger pipes in the centre, can only be adopted by
having a roller for every pallet; and in this case the backfalls will
be parallel, whether the action be by stickers or by trackers.
Already, we hope, we have given explanations so far intelligible that
ingenious reader's might have no difficulty in devising for themselves
some one of the numerous distinct combinations which may be made of the
nine pieces or members which we began by defining.
Let us take, however, the very common arrangement of Fig. 6 as that of
our organ, and apply to it the rules already laid down.
1. The keys will be procured, of course, from a maker, unless the
cost--fifty to sixty shillings--can be saved by adapting an old set.
We ourselves are admirers of the old-fashioned claviers with black
naturals and white sharps, or sharps of bone or ivory with an ebony
line down the middle of each. We possess two specimens of double
manuals of this kind; one of them, taken from an organ by the elder
England, is extremely handsome, with a mahogany frame almost black
from age, purfled like a highly finished violin. It was presented to
the writer many years ago by the late excellent builder, Mr. Walker.
The other double set, in a plainer frame, was bought at a sale for the
sum of one shilling and sixpence! The chief objection to the use of
old claviers is that the keys, from long usage or from original faulty
construction, rattle audibly against their guide-pins. This, however,
may be quite obviated by bushing the little mortices which receive the
guide-pins with fine cloth, as modern piano keys are bushed, or with
thin leather--for instance, the kid of old gloves. If the keys are
handsome, a little patience bestowed in this way may well reward the
operator, who will find the movement of his old manual when this is
done as silent as he can wish it to be.
2. We shall assume that the front board of the wind-chest is above
the keys, and that the organ is to stand against the wall. Hence the
backfalls will be turned towards the player, as in Figs. 32 and 34. But
all that we shall say will be applicable to backfalls acting on a back
wind-chest.
The keys, whether new or old, will probably be 18 or 19 inches in
length from their front edges to the rear. Their position in the frame
should be such as to allow the front edge to project 10 inches at least
beyond the front line of the wind-chest, in order to allow room for
a book-board; hence our backfalls will be short. But their shortness
will not be an evil, since the extent of their play or oscillation is
extremely trifling. One-third of an inch will be a sufficient descent
of the pull-down; the other end of the backfall will traverse a similar
space, and it will easily be seen how small an arc will be described by
any point near the centre. Backfalls from 4 to 6 inches in length will,
therefore, present no practical inconvenience. At the same time it must
be admitted that with such short backfalls the obliquity of those to
the extreme left will be somewhat embarrassing, and we shall recommend
the use of rollers for the six pallets to the left as well as those
to the right, especially since, as we shall show, the width of the
roller-board will not be materially increased thereby.
The backfalls should be of oak or mahogany, and the bridge of the same,
or other hard wood. If the bridge is not sufficiently strong and rigid,
a disagreeable and perceptible yielding of the whole manual will take
place when the player presses down a chord. The backfalls, if parallel,
or if only at a moderate degree of obliquity, will oscillate upon a
single wire extending throughout the whole range. This wire should be
sunk in a score or channel made with a =V=-tool before the notches of
the bridge are cut; and it should be held firmly down by small cross
slips of oak screwed with very fine screws into the wood of the bridge
between every six or so of the backfalls. This is much better than the
common way of driving in little staples of wire, which are apt to split
the wood, and are not easily extracted in case of repairs becoming
necessary. The small holes for such screws may be bored conveniently
with a drill, revolving by means of the Archimedean drill-stock, now
sold in all tool-shops for the use of fret-cutters.
Stickers may be quickly, easily, and neatly made by a bead plane. Take
a piece of three-eighth pine board of the requisite length and dress
it over. Then, with a three-eighth bead plane, strike a bead along one
edge, reversing the board when cut half through, and using the plane
as before. A slender wooden rod will be the result, which will only
require a little smoothing with glass-paper. To fit the wires into the
ends of the stickers, mark the centre of the rod with a punch or other
suitable pointed tool, and pierce a hole with a fine drill revolving in
the lathe. The wire may then be driven down without fear of splitting
the sticker or of entering it obliquely and penetrating the side of it.
For trackers we prefer round rods, made precisely as above, but with
a 1/4-inch bead. If tapped wires are to be inserted in the ends of
the trackers, it is well to flatten the inserted end of the wire by
hammering it, that it may not turn round in the wood when the button is
afterwards applied. A fine saw-cut is made in the end of the tracker,
the flattened part of the tapped wire inserted, and strong red thread,
well waxed, neatly tied round. The ends thus whipped are sometimes
varnished with a red composition. But this is superfluous.
If flat trackers are unavoidable, they may be cut from a three-eighth
pine board with a gauge, armed with a cutting-point instead of the
usual scoring-pin. A smoothing plane should be specially prepared by
fixing two slips of wood to its face. These slips will prevent the
plane from cutting anything thinner than themselves. Then, the plane
being held firmly down upon the bench, an assistant, walking backwards,
draws the tracker beneath the blade until it is reduced to the same
thickness as the slips, say 1/8 inch. The tapped wires will be inserted
and the ends whipped as before.
The squares shown in Fig. 28 are cut from thin boards of oak or
mahogany. Perhaps it will be found less troublesome and laborious to
make each square of two distinct arms, halved together and glued at the
angle, or more effectually joined by tenon and mortice. Metal squares
can be bought ready made, or they may be cut with shears from brass
plate. But we should use wood ourselves.
The rollers will be of pine or deal. They are cut out and dressed up as
square or rectangular rods of the requisite length, but two of their
sides are afterwards rounded or curved. It follows from this that when
arranged side by side on their board the curved sides may be nearly in
contact. As our rollers are short, three-quarters stuff will suffice
for them, but rods inch or more square should be used when rollers have
a length exceeding 2 feet or 30 inches.
Iron roller-arms have some great advantages, and they may be bought at
a moderate price per gross, neatly bushed at the holes to prevent a
rattling of metal against metal. But we ourselves deliberately prefer
arms of wood, involving, as they do, much greater labour. If these are
used, they should be made of oak or other hard wood, and let neatly
into a little mortice in the flat side of the roller. After they are
glued in, the holes may be pierced in each end of the roller to receive
the wires or pivots on which it revolves, and which should be stout and
rounded smoothly at the external extremity. One of the reasons why we
prefer wooden arms is this, viz. that the pivot can be driven into or
through the arm, which may thus be at the extreme end of the roller;
while if iron arms are used a margin or surplus must be left at each
end of the roller to allow room for the insertion of the pivot without
interfering with the arm, the screw of which passes through the axis of
the roller. But it is undeniable that iron arms abridge labour and save
time.
The studs in which the pivots are supported are also among the fittings
which can be obtained from the shops; but we have always made our own
of oak, turning the peg or shank in the lathe. These studs must be
bushed with cloth. Drill the hole truly through the stud, using a borer
much larger than the pivot-wire. Cut a strip of red cloth about 3/8
inch in width. Point one end of it, and draw it through the hole in the
stud. It will adapt itself to the circular hole, and will take the form
of a cloth pipe lining the hole, and effectually preventing a rattling
noise which would certainly be heard in its absence.
The planning of a roller-board, so as to economise space as much
as possible, is one of those operations which call for forethought
and ingenuity. The forms which it may assume are numerous; we shall
indicate by one or two simple diagrams some of the combinations of the
fan-frame with rollers which occur in ordinary practice.
Fig. 36 shows the usual way of carrying the touch to the pallets on
the right and left in the common form of sound-board shown in Fig.
6. A set of backfalls is assumed as _in situ_ under the wind-chest,
parallel to each other as regards the six pallets at each extremity,
but fan-framewise as regards the pallets from Tenor C to the top. As
the actual key-board (disregarding its frame) is about 2 feet 6 inches
in width, while the row of pull-downs on which it is to operate extends
to a length of 4 feet or more, we see that there will be an overhanging
margin or surplus of the wind-chest on each side of some 9 or more
inches, and it is probable that all the pallets affected by rollers
will be included in these overhanging portions of the chest.
[Illustration: Fig. 36.]
Take a piece of three-quarters or five-eighths board, the full length
of the wind-chest, and wide enough for your twelve rollers when placed
as we shall now direct. Dress it up, and give it two coats of priming.
At its lower edge mark the exact centres of the key-tails from end to
end of the key-board. At its upper edge mark the precise centres of the
tails of the twelve backfalls on which the rollers are to act, fixing
the board temporarily so that precision may be secured. Along the two
side margins of the board (which has been squared up true) mark rows
of dots at equal distances, say 1 inch or considerably less, according
to the scantling of your rollers, which may be placed as close to each
other as possible without actual contact when made to revolve through
a small arc on their pivots. You have now all the _data_ which you
require, and may draw pencil lines showing the exact place of every
stud on the board, the exact length of every roller, and the exact
spots on each roller at which the arms must be inserted.
Fig. 36, in which _x y_ is the key-board, the rollers and stickers
being represented by lines only, shows that the longest roller, that
of CC sharp, is placed by itself at the top. This is done in order to
enable us to use a single stud, common to two rollers, throughout the
board until we come to the last, which will stand alone. If the rollers
of CC and of its sharp were thus placed in a line, running into a
single stud, there would be hardly room enough for the latter, as the
arms would be in immediate contiguity. By giving the CC sharp roller
a place by itself, we get the following pairs: CC and DD sharp; DD
and FF; EE and G; FF sharp and A; G-sharp and B natural; A sharp will
have its own two studs. Thus we obtain a distance of fully 1-3/4 inch
between the centres of the contiguous arms of these pairs of rollers;
and if iron arms are used, there is room to drive in the pivot without
meeting with the interruption of the screw in the heart of the wood.
When these measurements have been made, and lines drawn in pencil or
chalk, the holes for the shanks of the studs may be bored, and the
board cleaned over and perhaps repainted. When the work is complete,
the cleanly planed rollers with their neat studs on the dark background
of the board should present a pleasing appearance.
[Illustration: Fig. 37.]
Sometimes the roller-board lies horizontally. It is then usually called
a roller-frame. Fig. 37 is a slight sketch showing how a roller-frame
may be united with squares in certain cases. _a b_ is a key-board,
acting by stickers on a set of squares, _c_, arranged in a bridge. _d_
is another set of squares in a longer bridge under the pull-downs of a
chest, _e_, let us say that of the second manual in an instrument of
considerable size, placed at the back of the case, and possibly some
feet from the player. _f_ is a roller-frame, transmitting the touch by
trackers to the extreme pallets right and left.
If economy of height is no object, however, the roller-board will be
placed between the squares _d_ and the chest _e_ in the usual vertical
position, or it may be above the keys.
Sometimes space is saved by inserting the roller-arms on _opposite
sides_ of the rollers, cutting apertures in the board through which
one arm of each pair may protrude. This plan may be regarded as a
compromise between the fan-frame and roller-board, the latter doing
duty as a set of backfalls.
[Illustration: Fig. 38.]
This arrangement is sketched in Fig. 38. The roller-board, _g_, is
above the key-tails, which act by stickers on arms brought through
openings in the board. The opposite arms, _h h_, in front as usual,
act on the pull-downs by trackers. We have adopted this plan in a very
small organ, and under the necessity of economising space as much as
possible, with complete success, although every pallet had its roller,
the fan-frame being entirely absent.
Rollers are often made of iron, especially in the case of pedal
movements, where space is not abundant. It will easily be understood
that iron tubes of small calibre, plugged with wood at the ends to
receive the pivots, and having iron arms screwed into drilled holes,
would present no serious difficulties to the workman, and might be
arranged upon a board little more than half the size of that required
by a set of rollers in wood.
We must not close this chapter without explaining that the plantations
of pipes sketched or indicated in Figs. 8 and 9 may be contrived
without grooving by an arrangement involving no serious difficulty or
complication.
[Illustration: Fig. 39.]
In Fig. 39, _a b c_ is a sound-board shown in section, divided
internally into two unequal parts by a longitudinal bar at _b_. The
front part, _b c_, nearest to the player, has 42 channels, and carries
all the pipes from Tenor C upwards. The hinder part has 12 channels
only, and supplies the bass octave. These two separate internal
divisions will have their pallets and springs as usual, and a single
wind-chest may include both sets of pallets, or two wind-chests may
be united by a short trunk, or separate trunks may be fitted to each,
at the discretion and convenience of the builder. We have now only
to adapt a set of backfalls in a fan-frame to the front pallets, and
a roller-board acting on twelve parallel backfalls to the pallets of
the bass octave, and we have a very compact and sightly arrangement
of pipes without a single groove, every pipe standing on its wind. If
the back pipes were these--Stopped Diapason, Bass, 4-feet tone, and
open Flute, wood, 4 feet; while the front pipes comprised a Dulciana,
Stopped Diapason, and Principal, or some equivalent--this little
instrument might be entirely satisfactory in all respects.
We may add that this arrangement of a double sound-board and wind-chest
has been successfully applied by the writer to an organ with two
manuals. The sound-board was about 5 feet 3 inches in length. The front
division had 84 channels, viz. 42 for each of the two manuals from
Tenor C to top F; the hinder division had 24 channels, viz. 12 for each
manual bass octave. There were practically eight stops, two of them
grooved to each other in the bass. Of this grooving, when there are two
manuals, we shall have something to say in a subsequent page. It is
not quite so simple an affair as the grooving already described.
When the key-board is in its place, the stickers adjusted, and the
keys levelled by attention to the buttons on the tapped pull-downs, a
heavy damper or "thumping-board" should be laid across the key-board.
In modern organs this is generally a solid bar of lead, about 1/2 inch
thick, and about 1-1/2 inch in width; it is covered with baize on its
under side, and a guide-pin, moving loosely in a little vertical groove
cut in the key-frame at each end, keeps it in position. Our damper may
be of oak or mahogany, very straight and true, and loaded with lead,
run when fluid into cavities made with a large centre-bit. The damper,
lying upon the keys, and supported by them, helps to keep them level,
and by receiving the blow or shock of each key, as the finger leaves
it, it prevents a tapping noise which might be heard if the rising keys
were stopped only by the board of the key-frame.
The descent or fall of the keys when pressed by the fingers should not
exceed 1/3 inch.
CHAPTER IX.
_VOICING AND TUNING._
THE time has now come when we may bring our little organ into musical
order, and reap some of the fruits of our toil.
If the processes described in previous chapters have been steadily
carried out, the instrument is now complete (so far as the manual only
is concerned) with the exception of the draw-stop action, which we
intentionally reserve, and the external case.
We shall insert here, therefore, a few pages on voicing, the important
and delicate operation by which the correct speech and distinctive tone
of organ-pipes is imparted to them.
Let us warn the reader at once, and with emphasis, that the process
of voicing metal pipes is so complex that a complete mastery of its
practical details is by no means uniformly attained, even after years
of steady practice under skilled guidance. A very sensitive and
educated ear, a delicate sense of touch in the handling of fine tools,
and a thorough familiarity with the tonal quality, or _timbre_, of
the best examples of the many varieties of pipes--these gifts are
essential to the successful voicer. Hence we cannot counsel beginners
to attempt the voicing of metal pipes, unless they are fortunate enough
to find themselves in a position to obtain lessons from some clever
operator willing to give them, or unless they can gain permission to
attend at some first-class factory, for the express purpose of watching
the pipe-makers and voicers at work.
We shall not be deterred, however, by these considerations from
describing, to the best of our ability, the business of voicing and
regulating an ordinary metal pipe, pointing out specially, as we go
on, all that may be necessary for the removal of defects and faults in
pipes already voiced by other hands. But we must acknowledge our own
obligations to the little treatise on voicing and tuning mentioned in
the preface to this work. Those who obtain and peruse this thoroughly
practical little tract will find all the information which they can
require.
Figs. 40, 41 show the well-known forms of metal organ-pipes as seen
in the Open Diapason, Principal, &c. Figs. 42, 43 give details. The
languid, Fig. 42, is a little enlarged. It will be seen that the
essential features of wooden pipes have their counterpart in those of
metal--the language, or languid, answering to the wooden block, the
conical termination to the wooden pipe-foot, the cylindrical body to
the rectangular wooden tube.
[Illustration: Fig. 40.]
[Illustration: Fig. 41.]
[Illustration: Fig. 42.]
[Illustration: Fig. 43.]
We have never made any metal pipes ourselves, and we doubt if our
readers will do well to embark upon an undertaking requiring special
"plant" and appliances in a separate workshop, and calling for great
dexterity and neatness in a class of operations familiar only to
trained artisans. For the information, however, of those who choose to
make the experiment, we may explain that the metal sheets from which
the pipes are made are thus produced:--
"The ingredients (viz. tin and lead in various proportions) are melted
together in a copper and then cast into sheets, a process effected by
pouring it in a molten state into a wooden trough, and running the
trough rapidly along a bench faced with _tick_. The metal escapes from
the trough through a narrow horizontal opening at the back, leaving
a layer of metal behind it as it proceeds; and the wider the cutting
is, of course the thicker will be the sheet of metal produced. After
being cast to an approximate thickness, the metal is planed down to the
precise thickness required. It is then cut into portions of the shape
necessary to give to the pipes the required size and form, and is thus
finally worked up."[2]
[2] Hopkins and Rimbault, p. 76.
The three parts which compose the pipe are first separately prepared.
The sheet of metal is rolled round a wooden cylinder or cone, called a
mandrel, and the edges are soldered together. The extreme neatness of
this soldered joint is secured by smearing the metal with composition,
which is scraped off at that part only which is to retain the solder;
but a steady hand, and long familiarity with the manipulation of
the heated copper tool and with the properties of soft solder, are
absolutely essential to success.
At the lower part of the body thus soldered, the mouth is formed by
flattening a portion of the cylinder and by cutting away a horizontal
slip of the metal. The width of the mouth is to be in all cases a
quarter of the circumference of the pipe. In the case of large pipes
the mouth is formed by cutting away a piece of metal of considerable
size, and replacing it by a sheet called the "leaf," having the mouth
cut on its lower edge.
The foot is formed in a similar manner, and has a flattened portion
corresponding to that of the body.
The language, or languid, is a circular disc of much thicker stuff,
bevelled off round its periphery, which is altered into a straight
line at that portion which will lie beneath the mouth when the pipe is
complete.
The three component parts are thus worked together.
The languid is placed on the wide opening of the foot, and the windway
formed by leaving a narrow slit between the straight edge of the
languid and the flattened lip of the foot. The two are then neatly
soldered together. The body is then soldered to the foot, care being
taken to adjust the mouth exactly opposite to the windway.
The larger pipes have ears, namely, rectangular pieces of metal
soldered on each side of the mouth.
Thus completed and cleaned over, the pipes are handed to the voicer.
It will be remembered that we left a wooden pipe, similarly put
together but unvoiced, in an earlier portion of this book. We have
now to explain that both classes of pipes pass through a similar or
analogous course of treatment at the hands of the voicer.
With small metal tools, called notchers, of which he has four or five,
he cuts a row of nicks in the straight edge of the languid, causing it
to resemble somewhat the edge of a saw. These nicks or notches, coarse
or fine, close together or at rarer intervals, as the case may be,
conduct the sheet of wind from the foot-hole against the upper lip of
the mouth, and influence to a most important extent the character of
the tone.
In a similar way, and using a file ground to a saw-like edge, the
operator on a wooden pipe cuts nicks in the slightly bevelled upper
edge of the block, and continues or prolongs these notches obliquely
across the front of the block, letting them die away or come to nothing
at their extremity. Fig. 44 shows the front of a block thus treated.
[Illustration: Fig. 44.]
The art of the voicer, however, is by no means expended upon this
notching of the languids and blocks. It extends to the accurate and
nice adjustment of the height of the mouth, the aperture of the
foot-hole, and the width of the windway. All these will bear strict
proportion to the scale or size of the body of the pipe, and to the
weight or pressure of the wind.
It will be seen, therefore, that the tone, quality, or _timbre_ of an
organ-pipe, and therefore of a "stop" or set of organ-pipes, depends
upon skilled attention to at least six distinct considerations, viz.:--
_a._ Scale of pipe.
_b._ Height of mouth.
_c._ Diameter of foot-hole.
_d._ Width of windway.
_e._ Character of notching.
_f._ Weight of wind.
It is the thorough mastery of the art of manipulating pipes, with
all these essential points kept in view, which enables the voicer to
produce the exquisite contrasts of tone heard in good organs between
the tranquil Dulciana and the delicate Salcional; between the Violin
Diapason and the Gamba; between the Keraulophon and the Viola, as
variously constructed; between the fluty-toned stops, of wood or of
metal, to which various names have been given: and the full chorus
or combined power of a large instrument will be majestic, imposing,
and dignified, or, on the other hand, shrill, harsh, and unpleasing
(quality of materials being assumed to be similar), in proportion to
the skill, taste, and judgment with which it is finally voiced and
regulated.
We have said enough, perhaps, to justify our advice that metal pipes be
procured in a finished condition from competent makers.
Our little organ contains two metal stops, viz. a Dulciana (or a small
Open Diapason) from Tenor C to f in alt, and a Principal of 4 feet
throughout. Each of these, made of good metal, should cost £6 or £7.
Cheap pipes mean inferior metal, and this we cannot recommend in any
organ, great or small. The nearer the approach made to pure tin the
better (other essential points being assumed) will be the quality of
the tone.
In ordering the pipes, the weight or pressure of wind on which they are
to speak must be carefully specified. This may be easily ascertained
by using a wind-gauge, a little instrument which we sketch in its
simplest form in Fig. 45. It consists of a glass tube, bent as shown
in the figure (this can be done at any glass-blower's or optician's),
and having its lower end inserted in a wooden pipe-foot. Planting the
gauge on any hole of full size in any part of the sound-board, we pour
a little water into the bent part or dip of the gauge. On blowing the
bellows steadily, and depressing the key on the manual corresponding to
the groove on which the gauge is placed, the water will be depressed in
the inner column, and will rise in the outer. By adjusting the weights
on the bellows we may make this difference in the levels of the two
columns greater or less as we please. In our organ we shall have a
"2-inch wind;" that is to say, we shall load the bellows so that the
gauge may indicate a difference of 2 inches between the two columns.
[Illustration: Fig. 45.]
We may note here that about 7 lbs. per square foot of surface of
top-board will be required to give this pressure. Pieces of old cast
iron about an inch thick may be procured at any foundry, and form the
most suitable material for weights.
The voicer having worked to a 2-inch wind, it is probable that when
the new metal pipes are planted in their places they will speak
with charming evenness and truth. If some or any of them, however,
betray some defects, it will be well not to meddle with them until we
have satisfied ourselves that the fault does not belong to our own
mechanism. If, for instance, one pipe should be softer or less prompt
and clear than the others, let us be sure that the flow of wind to that
pipe is not interrupted or throttled by a chip in the wind-hole or
(if there is conveyancing) in the channel. This will be ascertained by
planting the pipe for the moment on some other groove than its own. If
the holes and channels are all clear, and the pallet is opened freely
by the key, the fault must be in the pipe. This may have suffered some
little injury in the packing case, _e.g._ the lower lip may have been
nipped too close to the edge of the languid, thus reducing the width of
the windway. This may be carefully rectified with the flat blade of a
common table-knife, or similar object. Or the languid itself may have
been bent or depressed by the weight of another pipe, packed within it
to save room in the case. If this is so, the languid must be carefully
pushed back to the level by a stout wire or rod inserted through the
foot-hole. If the _upper_ lip has been pressed inwards, we must counsel
the utmost care in bringing it back to its position. The pipe should be
sent back to the maker if the distortion is serious or considerable. If
it is slight we may rectify it by passing a slip of iron bent into the
shape of the letter =L= through the mouth, and thus pulling forward the
whole of the lower par of the "leaf," preserving its regular slope as
before. If the mouth, lips, and languid are all right, it is possible
that by some accident the size of the foot-hole has been reduced. It
may be cautiously enlarged with a penknife or with a broach; and if
under other circumstances the foot-hole requires reduction, this maybe
done by gently rapping or hammering the metal round the aperture with
the flat side of a chisel. The builders have a heavy brass cone for
effecting this reduction called a "knocking-up cup." Similar brass
cones, we may here add, are used in tuning. They are expensive, however.
All that we have said of possible defects in metal pipes applies,
_mutatis mutandis_, to wooden pipes; and as we make these ourselves we
may deal more boldly with them.
An unvoiced wooden pipe will generally emit a chirp or whistle before
its note. The nicking of the block will remove this, but if we overdo
this nicking we shall hear a huskiness or buzzing equally or more
disagreeable. This husky quality may also be due to a too wide windway;
in this case, remove the cap and rub the inside face of it on a sheet
of glass-paper pinned down upon a board, or plane off the inside face
and file the windway anew. If the mouth has been cut too high, there
may be nothing for it but to take off the front board and remake the
pipe. If the pipe, in other respects good, is too loud, plug the
foot-hole with neat flat plugs. If it is too soft, the pipe-foot may
have been imperfectly bored, or may be defective in some way, or chips
may have been left in the throat of the pipe. Ill-fitting stoppers
are a fruitful source of defects in wooden stopped pipes. Refit them
in every case of doubt, and leave no room for misgivings as to the
soundness of the joints of the pipe near the top.
We must point out to our readers that strength, sonority, or power
must on no account be expected from wooden pipes. A tone utterly harsh
and intolerable will be the result of over-blowing the Stopped Diapason
or Flute, stops of which the characteristic quality should only be
tranquil sweetness and softness. The flute of 4-feet tone, especially,
cannot be too delicate, and in its upper octave great patience will be
requisite in the adjustment of the tiny mouths and windways to prevent
shrillness.
These remarks apply also to our fifth stop, which we have been content
hitherto to call simply "Fifteenth" 2-feet. The Fifteenth proper is
a metal stop of strong shrill quality, having its value in large
instruments, where it is balanced by other stops in affinity with it.
Such a stop would be quite unsuitable to our little organ. If we are to
have a 2-feet stop at all, it should be a "Flageolet" or "Flautina,"
an echo, in fact, of the 4-feet Flute. This may be successfully made
by diligent operators in wood, the lower part stopped, the upper part
open. The professional voicers produce the fluty quality from ordinary
metal Fifteenths by peculiar treatment of the mouth. In foreign organs
such stops are generally or often of conical form, the narrow aperture
at the top. These stops (which may also be of 4-feet or 8-feet pitch)
usually bear the names "Gems-horn" or "Spitz-flute."
We may dismiss the subject of Tuning with a very few remarks. The
general principles of Temperament--that is to say, of the compromise
or adaptation requisite in the modern scale of an octave containing
twelve semitones--are not peculiar to organs, and may be studied in
any treatise. Mr. Hopkins exhausts the subject in a very interesting
chapter of his great work. Our useful little tract on voicing gives
all needful information. A sensible and practical pamphlet on the same
subject has been published by Mr. Hemstock, organist of Diss.
You will begin with Regulation, that is, with equalising the power or
strength of the pipes composing each stop. Bestow every care on this,
especially in the upper ranges of the small wooden pipes. The pleasing
effect of the organ will greatly depend upon success in this operation.
When satisfied on this point, tune your wooden pipes to the metal
Principal, which has been sent from the maker's ready tuned and voiced.
After this rough approximation to absolute correctness, go over the
whole organ with great deliberation and care, following the rules given
in the works which we have cited, or in any one of them. A second or
third tuning may be requisite before a sensitive ear is quite satisfied.
Cones and cups of boxwood, or made of sheet copper with brazed seams,
may be used in the absence of the expensive cast-brass articles.
CHAPTER X.
_THE DRAW-STOPS._
WE have provided no means as yet for bringing the sliders under the
control of the player. The mechanism by which this will be effected
must depend upon our plans for the case and book-board.
_Method 1._--As we have only five stops we may have resolved to arrange
the knobs in a horizontal row above the key-board, and below the edge
of the book. We shall soon see that this arrangement will result in
much convenience and simplicity.
The ends of the sliders project at each end 2 or 3 inches beyond the
margin of the sound-board. To the cheek of the wind-chest, below these
projecting ends, will be screwed a stout balk of oak or mahogany (say
2-1/2 inches square), constituting a bridge, and having stout levers,
after the manner of backfalls, working in notches. These levers should
be of oak, birch, or other hard wood, at least 1/2 or 5/8 inch in
thickness, and not less than 2 inches wide; and the pins on which they
work should be very stout, say 1/4 inch in diameter, and should be
held down in their places by slips of hard wood firmly screwed down
to the bridge. All this is sufficiently shown in Fig. 46, and it will
be quite plain to the comprehension of every reader that these levers
(like backfalls) may be askew to the straight line of the bridge, so
that while their upper ends spread out to reach the sliders, their
lower extremities may be brought into any position convenient of access.
[Illustration: Fig. 46.]
The arms of these levers will of course be of unequal lengths. About
2 inches, or a trifle more, will be found a sufficient and agreeable
play for the draw-stops. If the sliders have a play of 1 inch only, it
is clear that the lower arm of the levers must be twice the length of
the upper arm. At any rate the adjustment of the play of the draw-stops
to that of the sliders should be made in fitting these levers, and not
in any other part of the mechanism. The upper end of the lever, shaped
into a tenon or tongue, will enter a square aperture in the end of the
slider, and the edges of this aperture should be bevelled, in order
that the lever may bear equally upon it in all positions. Rub the end
of the lever with blacklead, and use this wherever there is friction of
wood against wood.
The levers being fitted, three at one end and two at the other, or
all the five at the same end, as may best suit the position of the
wind-trunk, the form of the frame, and other considerations, it will
be easy to connect them with the draw-stops by means of squares or
bell-cranks.
[Illustration: Fig. 47.]
Fig. 47 shows these squares or bell-cranks arranged upon a board which
is screwed upon the key-frame. They may be cut out of sheet iron or
may be made of oak, the arms halved together or joined by tenon and
mortice. They should work upon a strong pin of iron or brass, and a
small block underneath each square lifts it above the level of the
board. A trace, or light rod of pine, 1 inch or 7/8 square, notched at
one end to receive the arm of the crank, and at the other to catch the
end of the lever, is connected with each by a pin of iron or brass, and
blacklead is used as before.
The draw-stops are generally turned and polished for a few inches at
the end which appears in sight, and which carries the knob, and it is
usual to line the holes through which this turned and polished part
protrudes with scarlet or other cloth. The tails of these draw-bars,
left square, should work in guides cut in a vertical piece at the back,
or otherwise arranged to ensure parallel movement. A short slip of hard
wood or of metal connects each draw-bar with its bell-crank. The action
of this mechanism must not be considered satisfactory unless each stop
operates with ease and exactness, and without any sense of elasticity
or unequal resistance.
The knobs will be easily fashioned, from a good pattern, by any turner
possessing a light lathe; nor is it difficult to engrave the names on
the ivory faces. A convenient tool for this latter purpose may be made
by grinding down the end of a small triangular file. But the engraver's
"burin" may be bought at the tool-shops. The knobs will not be glued
into the ends of the draw-bars until all is complete, that the engraved
titles may be rightly adjusted at a true level.
_Method 2._--If it is preferred to place the draw-stops to the right
and left of the player, as in large organs, we shall have the bridges
and levers as before. The draw-bars will run through guides at the
back, fixed to some part of the frame, and their polished ends will
be brought through lined holes in the cheeks of the case, fitted
according to taste. The connection of these horizontal draw-bars with
the vertical levers will be effected by squares or bell-cranks of a
form known as "trundles." We give a representation of one of these
in Fig. 48, where _a_ is the slider, _b_ the lever acting upon it,
_c_ the trace connecting it with _d_, an arm of the trundle _e f_.
This trundle should be of oak, birch, or other hard wood; it has pins
at each end, which are received into holes bored in bearers arranged
accordingly, and not shown in the figure, or in the frame itself of the
organ. (It is well to char these holes.) The trundles are of course
placed parallel to each other in a row, and the second arm of each
trundle will be inserted at the level answering to the position of the
draw-bar. In the cut _g h_ is this second arm and draw-bar.
[Illustration: Fig. 48.]
The trundles are easily made of iron, and with manifest increase of
strength and neatness. We have used gas-pipe for this purpose, 1/2
inch in external diameter. The arms made from iron slips, 1/2 inch
wide and 1/4 thick, were brought to a round pin at one end in the
lathe. This round pin passes through a hole drilled through the trundle
(whether tubular or solid), fitting it tightly, and the projecting
end is spread out with a riveting hammer. All this may be done cold,
but still more effectually with the aid of a forge. The ends of the
trundle will be received in charred holes in bearers as before, using
tallow as a lubricator; or if tube is adopted, brass or iron pins may
be jammed into the ends of the tube, and trued up in the lathe. All
such iron-work, introduced here or elsewhere in the organ, may be
painted over with the composition known as "Brunswick black varnish,"
which will prevent rust. The holes in the arms, to receive the pins of
the traces and draw-bars, will be drilled with ease in the ever-handy
lathe, or with a bow and breast-plate, or by any blacksmith.
[Illustration: Fig. 49.]
_Method 3._--In small organs, with short sound-boards, the iron
trundles may be made to act at once upon the sliders, without the
intervention of the levers and bridge. When this is done the upper arm
of the trundle will be quite at its top, and will be sloped or bent
upwards as shown in Fig. 49. Near its end will be a short and strong
pin, which will enter a little slot or oblong hole in the slider. The
trundle will revolve in a wooden collar screwed to the cheek of the
wind-chest, and at its base in a hole in a bearer or in the organ-frame
as before. The draw-bar will act directly upon the lower arm of the
trundle, and the lengths of the two arms must be proportioned to each
other, so as to compensate for the difference between the play of the
slider and that of the draw-stop.
Cases of peculiar construction may be easily imagined, in which two
sets of trundles may become necessary, communicating with each other
by long traces. In some other cases the trundles may be horizontally
placed, like a roller-frame, and common squares may act upon the
sliders; with upright traces connecting them with the arms of the
horizontal trundles; while combinations of these various plans will
suggest themselves to the inventive reader to meet possible exigencies
of position or arrangement.
_Method 4._--We may still further explain that trundles may be
discarded by fixing common squares or bell-cranks upon steps or stages
cut on the edge of a piece of thick plank, screwed to the organ-frame,
the steps or stages corresponding to the levels of the draw-stops as
arranged in the cheeks or jambs of the organ. The draw-bars will act
directly on these squares, which will transmit the movement to the
levers by traces; but in this case it is plain that the levers will
be of varying lengths, and must be provided with separate bridges, in
order that the proper relation may be maintained between the play of
the several parts. This plan has much to recommend it.
We have entered at some length into the subject of the draw-stop
action, because much of the comfort of the player depends upon its
efficiency. The arrangement to be adopted should be well considered,
and the plans for it matured at an early stage of the work. All the
pins used should fit accurately, and it is well that means should be
taken to prevent the dropping or working out of these pins. A very
neat way of guarding against this common accident is to reduce a small
portion of the end of the pin with a file or in the lathe, and to cut
a screw-thread upon this reduced portion; a leather button will then
render failure impossible. The other end of the pin is usually bent
down at a right angle.
Composition pedals, for drawing and shutting off the stops in groups by
the foot, are not wanted in so small an organ as ours, and we need not
describe them.
CHAPTER XI.
_PEDALS._
WE have hitherto said nothing of pedals. What we shall now say will not
occupy much of our remaining space.
We have to fit our little organ with a set of pedals pulling down the
bass keys of the manual, but commanding no separate pipes of their own.
What is to be their compass? On this we have to remark that when an
organ is intended for the practising of a student or professional
musician, or for the performance by any player whatever of genuine
organ music, the full compass of thirty notes, C to f, is quite
essential. On this point no room must be left for misconception. But
small organs, designed for humble and unambitious players, or for the
accompaniment of voices in a room or in a village church, may be fitted
with pedal-boards shorter by a whole octave than this complete or full
compass. A range of seventeen notes, C to e, will certainly suffice for
the ordinary practice of the great majority of persons who are at all
likely to sit down to our little organ.
Observe, however, that this curtailed pedal-board must be placed in
the same position relatively to the key-board which would be occupied
by one of full range. In other words, it must _not_ be located, for
appearance sake, in the middle of the case, but must be pushed away
to the left of the player, leaving a blank space on the floor to the
right. If this were overlooked, it is plain that a player accustomed to
the imperfect pedals would be utterly at fault when introduced to an
instrument of higher character.
An excellent rule on this subject has been laid down by Mr. Hopkins,
whose opinion in such matters is judicial. It is this:--To place the
central C of the pedals--the thirteenth note, commencing from the
left--directly underneath the middle C of the manual. If this rule be
observed, the foot will easily find all the notes of the lower octave,
whether the compass be complete or curtailed; and we must leave to
our readers to decide upon the range of their pedal-board after a
due consideration of circumstances. Seventeen notes (an octave and a
third) must be taken as a minimum; twenty notes (octave and a half) and
twenty-five notes (two octaves) are alternatives still falling short
of the full compass of thirty notes necessary for the practice of the
preludes and fugues of Bach and other great masters.
The pedals should be made of oak, and should be from 18 to 20 inches
in length, 1 inch wide or thick, and at least 1-1/2 or 2 inches in
depth. The sharps, or short keys, should be about 5 inches in length,
but they are glued or otherwise fastened upon strips of oak as long as
the other pedals. The front or near end of the sharps should stand up
about 1 inch above the level of the naturals; from this point they may
slope up to 1-3/8 inch. The long tails or bearers of the sharps must
be sunk about 1 inch below the level of the naturals, in order that
they may not be touched by the foot. The fore-end of the sharps will be
well rounded off, and the upper edge of all the pedal keys will be made
slightly convex. Lastly, the distance between the centres of any two
adjoining naturals may be 2-1/2 inches precisely. Of course an empty
space or gap will appear between E and F and between B and C in each
octave, as those intervals have no intervening short key.
We have found the following arrangements convenient and satisfactory.
Make the pedal-frame of stout oak; the back bar, behind the heels of
the player, a balk 3 inches or more by 2 inches. The fore end of the
frame under the organ-panel is formed by an upper and a lower bar,
between which strong round pins of oak are placed, making a rack
through which the ends of the pedals protrude an inch or two. These
protruding ends, where they pass through the rack, are muffled with
cloth to prevent rattling, and each pedal descends upon a small pad of
vulcanised india-rubber, and is met by a similar pad under the upper
bar when it recovers its position. If this is properly managed the
movement will be quite noiseless.
The builders commonly use a spring, screwed at one end to the under
part of each pedal, and pressing at the other extremity upon a board or
bar; or, on the other hand, the springs are screwed to this board or
bar and press against the under sides of the pedals. In this case the
tail of the pedal key, out of sight under the back bar of the frame,
works upon a pin passing into a mortice.
We ourselves, however, have long used a spring which serves both for
spring and for hinge. It is a simple slip of steel, 5-1/2 inches long,
5/8 inch wide, and 1/16 inch thick, having two holes near the one end,
and one hole near the other. This latter is screwed firmly down to
the back bar of the frame, which, as we have already explained, is a
balk 3 inches by 2. The fore end of the spring is screwed by its two
holes to the under side of the tails of the natural keys (cut away to
receive it), and to the upper side of the tails of the sharp keys. Or,
the spring may be quite concealed from view by being let into a saw-cut
in the tails of all the pedals. We have found this plan perfectly
effectual, and we strongly recommend it to our readers. The springs can
be made by any smith for twopence or threepence each. Their strength or
resistance can be easily regulated by screwing them, not to the plane
surface of the back balk, but within grooves cut in it, 1/2 inch deep
at the back, diminishing to nothing in front. A few turns of the screw
(which should be well greased with tallow), by lowering the tail of
the spring, will bring on it a strain or tension which enables us to
adjust with accuracy the resistance of each pedal to the pressure of
the foot.
The pedal-board should be laid upon the floor so that the distance
between the upper surface of the pedal natural keys and the upper
surface of the manual natural keys may be 28 inches.
The manual should overhang the pedal-board so that the front of its
sharps may be just over the front of the pedal-sharps.
The seat of the player, to correspond with these arrangements, should
be 22 inches above the pedals. The dip, or fall, of the pedals, under
the foot of the player, need not exceed 5/8 inch, or at most 3/4 inch,
where they pass through the rack.
The connection between the pedals and keys will be by backfalls,
working in a strong bridge secured to the frame below the key-board.
These may be parallel, in which case a roller-board will be requisite,
or disposed as a fan-frame. The hinder end of each backfall has a
tapped wire passing through a hole in it, and carrying a button on its
top, muffled with a disc of cloth or baize. The lower end of the wire
underneath the backfall is bent into a ring, so as to be easily turned
round by the finger and thumb. These adjustable buttons push up the
tails of the keys when the fore ends of the backfalls are drawn down
by trackers connecting them with the pedals. The eyes or rings on the
pedals, to which these trackers are hooked, should be bushed, and great
care should be taken to secure noiseless action in every part.
The pedal-board is usually secured to the floor by a couple of screws
passing through the side cheeks. But it is sometimes convenient,
especially in small rooms, to make it removable at pleasure. This can
be easily done by fitting a set of false or dwarf pedals, about 6
inches in length, in a bridge spaced to correspond with the keys of
the pedal-board, and screwed to the floor under the organ. These false
pedals are practically short backfalls, turning on a wire near their
hinder end, and having the trackers hooked to them an inch or two
from their fore end; and some simple form of spring should be placed
under each. Then we have only to adjust matters so that the protruding
ends of the organ-pedals may rest upon the fore ends of these false
pedals, either or both of them being leathered or otherwise muffled at
the point of contact, and it is plain that the pressure of the foot
on any pedal will pull down the manual key as before. Two iron pins
should be fitted to the pedal frame, going into holes in brass or iron
plates screwed to the floor. These guide-pins will insure instantaneous
fitting of the pedal-board at any time.
CHAPTER XII.
_TWO-MANUAL ORGANS._
THIS treatise must not close without some reference to organ work of a
more advanced kind than that which we have taken as the groundwork or
medium of our hints on this subject.
Some of our readers may very naturally wish to understand the
construction of an organ with two or more manuals and a pedal with
separate pipes; and this implies a description of coupling movements
and of the swell-box and its appliances.
In the first place, let us remark that as the swell-organ is a modern
invention, innumerable examples of organs with more than one manual and
with numerous stops, but entirely without the swell, were in existence
in England up to a recent period, and are still to be found in every
part of the continent of Europe. A great number of the most renowned
organs of Germany and of Holland, organs furnished with four manuals
and an immense aggregate of pipes, are without the swell to this day.
This is not the place to discuss the question whether the introduction
of the swell, as the second division of an organ with only two
manuals, has been an unmixed advantage, and whether it has or has
not tended to raise the standard of organ music and organ-playing in
England. But some few musicians may agree with the present writer that
it is quite possible to sacrifice sound principles of organ-building to
the prevailing worship of the pretty and fanciful effects of the swell,
and may even go so far as to regret, with him, the supersession of the
old "choir organ," with its sweet tranquil tone and quiet cheerful
brightness. We ourselves make no secret of our wish that in the design
and erection of organs with only two manuals, the second manual should
act upon a choir organ, while the swell should be reserved for those
instruments in which a third manual is introduced. But we are quite
aware that these views will be received with derision by a great
majority of persons, who have become accustomed to the constant use of
the swell and of the pedal Bourdons which characterizes the playing of
many English organists on modern English organs.
Quite apart, however, from these views, which must be taken for what
they are worth, there are reasons why any reader, resolving from the
first to construct a small organ with two manuals for chamber use, will
do well to resist the temptation to introduce the swell. These reasons
will become apparent if we sketch out one or two plans for such chamber
organs, and we should only occupy space needlessly by stating them in
advance.
Resolving, then, to indulge ourselves with two manuals, but compelled
to be economical of space and of pecuniary outlay, we decide at once
to plant all the pipes, belonging to both manuals alike, upon a single
sound-board, and by the system of borrowing to avoid the reduplication
of large pipes in the bass octave.
To our original design of five stops on a single manual, let us suppose
that we have added three, played by a second key-board. We must assume
that the five stops belonging to the first manual (the lower), will be
all throughout, and may be something like this, viz.: an open Diapason
with wood bass octave; a Clarabella, with stopped bass octave; a
Principal, Flute, and 2-feet stop as before. Then the second or upper
manual should have some such stops as these: Stopped Diapason, the
bass octave borrowed from that of the Clarabella; Dulciana to Tenor C;
Gems-horn, or some other light 4-feet stop, the bass octave borrowed
from that of the Flute or Principal.
As the sound-board will have two grooves for each note throughout
its whole extent, namely 108 grooves if the manuals are of the usual
compass, its length might be unwieldy and inconvenient, ill adapted
to the size of ordinary rooms. We must strongly recommend, therefore,
that the arrangement shown in Fig. 39 (see p. 112) be adopted. On the
front portion, _b c_, containing eighty-four grooves, and carrying
eight sliders, all the stops from Tenor C to top F may be planted. On
the back portion, _a b_, which will have twenty-four grooves only, all
the bass pipes will be placed, unless, indeed, we assume that the large
open 8-feet pipes are conveyanced off. This back portion will carry one
slider for this open bass, one for each of the 4-feet and 2-feet stops,
and two pairs of twin sliders, placed close together, for the borrowed
stopped bass and borrowed 4-feet bass.
Our readers may feel confidence in the directions now given if we say
that we are describing an organ built by ourselves and now in our
possession.[3] The sound-board, admitting of eighty-four grooves in
its front division, is 5 feet 3 inches long, and its seven sliders (we
have no stopped Flute), with the bearers, occupy a width of 16 inches;
but the 4-feet octave of the Open Diapason, and six pipes of the
Dulciana, are brought into sight as a "speaking front," and therefore
fill no space on the board itself. The back part of the board, with
four sliders (two of them twin), has also a width of about 16 inches,
our large open wood bass being on a board at a lower level, as in Fig.
10. Thus the whole board, carrying practically eight stops (one of our
stops is of two ranks, viz. a Twelfth and Fifteenth) throughout, is 5
feet 3 inches long and 32 inches wide.
[3] This organ is sketched in the frontispiece.
We hope we have said quite enough in former pages of roller boards and
backfalls to enable any intelligent reader to devise for himself the
double action of such an organ. An inspection of Figs. 37, 38, and 39
may suggest ideas to him. An essential point is that everything should
be within reach if defects should require attention; and access to the
back as well as to the front of such an organ is indispensable.
A word about the borrowing. It is plainly not enough to groove the two
channels of each note together in the bass, as in the case of a single
manual. If this were done the wind would fill the _whole_ of the two
channels upon lowering a key in the bass octave of either manual, and
_all the stops_ of which the sliders happened to be drawn at the time
would speak together. Thus our purpose of borrowing one particular stop
would be defeated. We must effect it thus: the twin sliders will be
closely contiguous, and will only be separated by short pins of brass
or iron let into the table, to prevent the friction of actual contact.
Thus the two holes which are to be brought into connection are near
to each other, and the communicating groove will be short. If this
is cut in the upper board itself it must be neatly executed, and the
bottom of the groove must be level and smooth. Over each of the two
holes within the groove so cut must be placed a valve, consisting of a
small piece of pallet leather covering the hole completely, and rising
with complete freedom by a hinge along its edge, like the clacks of
the bellows. Each pair of holes being furnished with these valves the
grooves are roofed in and the pipes planted, as described in earlier
pages of this book. On lowering one of the keys the wind will affect
the borrowed pipe only, since the little valve will stop the twin
hole and prevent the flow of air through it into the channel. If the
key corresponding to the same note be pressed down on both manuals,
then both the little valves will be blown open by the wind; but if
all the channels, grooves, and holes be of ample size, so that there
is no throttling of the wind, the speech of the pipe will be entirely
unaltered, since it will only receive a given _quantity_ of wind
through the perforation in its foot, and this wind will be of the same
_weight_ or _pressure_ as before.
The borrowing grooves may be cut in the under surface of a separate
board, which will then form a roof or cover to the several pairs of
valves arranged over the holes on the upper surface of the sound-board
itself. Or this borrowing-board may be put together with bars, cheeks,
and an upper table like a light sound-board. The essential point is
that all the openings be of ample size, and that the valves fly open
widely at the slightest breath of wind, and close the holes as promptly
when the wind is withdrawn. If due attention is given to all this no
failure need be anticipated with the borrowed basses.
We have proposed the lower key-board as "Manual I.," in accordance
with the German usage, and because that arrangement will facilitate
some of our mechanism, for instance, the pulling down by the pedals of
the bass notes. But lovers of old English organs, among whom we must
reckon ourselves, may prefer to make Manual I. the upper manual of the
two. A beautiful instrument of this class, built by the late J. C.
Bishop, stands in the chapel of Jesus College, Cambridge, and was the
gift of an accomplished amateur, whose performances on it are still
remembered.[4] The same gentleman was the possessor of a chamber organ
of exquisite tone by Bernhard Schmidt, of such remarkable composition
that it merits description here. The lower manual, or Choir, had three
stops, an Open Diapason, a Stopped Diapason, and a Principal, all made
of oak, and of extreme delicacy and beauty. The upper manual, or Great,
had likewise three stops, all metal, namely, Stopped Flute, Fifteenth,
and Mixture of two ranks (19th and 22nd in the bass, 12th and 17th in
the treble). The Stopped Diapason could also be played upon this manual
by borrowing. A coupler united the lower to the upper at pleasure,
and then the "Full Organ" was produced upon the upper manual with an
astonishing effect of sprightliness and brightness. Such an organ as
this, with some changes (its key-boards were very antiquated, and so
high from the ground that the player was perforce erect), might afford
an admirable model for imitation.
[4] The late Sir John Sutton, Bart., author of "A Short Account of
Organs built in England from the Reign of King Charles II. to the
Present Time." Masters, 1847.
Let us add that if pedal notes of 16-feet tone are added to an
organ of this class, namely of two manuals, Great and Choir, only
twelve large pipes will be necessary, even though the compass of the
pedal-board be of thirty notes complete. This great economy of space
and outlay will be secured thus: 1st, by making the pedals pull down
on the chief manual throughout their whole extent as before; 2nd, by
adapting the twelve deep pipes to the lower octave of the pedals, and
by making their upper octave and a half pull down upon the lowest
keys of the second manual. A moment's reflection will show that the
16-feet tone is thus obtained throughout the whole compass, and no
inconvenience whatever will ensue to the player.
The mode of introducing the large bass pipes, and of pulling down as
above, will be described before we conclude this work.
Still desiring to erect a _chamber_ organ, and, therefore, to be chary
of space and cost, we must now show how the swell-box may be included
in our design.
We shall suppose that the organ has been completed so far as the lower
manual is concerned, with all that pertains to it, according to the
rules which have now been given at length and in detail. In laying it
out we must assume that care has been taken to give increased size to
the bellows, and to arrange the frame for the reception of a second
sound-board.
We feel it due as well to our readers as to ourselves to explain that
we confine ourselves in all that follows to a description of work done
by ourselves in our own workshop.
We shall place only three stops in our swell, which will have a
compass of forty-two notes, from Tenor C to top f. The stops will be
a Diapason in wood, partly stopped, and the rest open; a Flute of
4-feet tone in wood, open throughout; and a Gamba of reedy quality, in
metal, of 8-feet pitch, but only descending to Fid. G., 3 feet, the
remaining notes being grooved to No. 1. This curtailment is greatly to
be regretted, but such imperfections are among the objections to the
swell-box, which would assume dimensions inconsistent with a _chamber_
organ if an attempt were made to give full compass to its 8-feet stops.
The sound-board for these three stops will be only 2 feet 9 inches in
length, and 1 foot in width; but the upper boards must have an ample
margin or surplus in both directions to afford support for the box
which will rest upon them.
This box must be made of thick stuff, say 1-1/2 inch deal; it will
therefore be very heavy, and care must be taken to provide for its
weight in planning the frame. It should be put together with screws,
so that it can easily be taken to pieces for transit, and it is usual
to line the whole of its interior with sheets of thick brown paper,
applied with glue. It will be very convenient, if access can be had to
the back of the organ, to fit the back of the box with hinged doors,
or to make the back removable like a shutter; in this case the pipes
should be planted so as to present themselves readily to the tuner.
If access to the back cannot be had, then a space is inevitable in the
middle of the organ for a passage-board, on which the tuner may stand,
or at least place his foot, while he removes the front shades in order
to reach the pipes planted accordingly. In the swell-boxes of church
organs the sides of the box are generally fitted as doors; then, the
pipes being planted with the tallest in the centre, diminishing in
height to each end, half of them can be tuned at one operation. When
the pipes are thus planted, the top of the box will slope towards each
side from a central ridge, like the roof of a house.
[Illustration: Fig. 50.]
We cannot doubt that many of our readers have had, or may have,
opportunities of examining the construction of the shutters or shades
of a swell-box. We have sketched it, however, in Fig. 50. The shades
are 6 inches in breadth, and of the same thickness as the rest of the
box, and each shade turns on pins let into the ends of it at a distance
of 2 inches from its upper edge. These pins work in notches cut in the
cheeks of the box, so formed that any shade may be easily lifted out
and replaced. The edges of the shades are bevelled to half a right
angle so that they overlap when closed, and the bevelled surfaces are
faced with leather or cloth to shut in the sound more effectually.
[Illustration: Fig. 51.]
The mode of opening the shades, and so producing a _crescendo_, is
shown in Fig. 51. _a_, _b_, _c_ are arms of oak, morticed into the
shades at the level of the pins, viz. 2 inches from the upper line;
_d e_ is a long rod or tringle of wood, connecting all these arms by
pins passing through them and itself. It is evident that by drawing up
this rod at its top, or by pushing it up from below, we shall open all
the shades at once, and as they are hung on axes placed at one-third
of their breadth, they will close by their own weight when released.
The leverage by which this movement is brought under the control of
the player may be safely left to the inventive powers of the reader.
It is usual to give promptness to the return of the swell-pedal, and
therefore to the closing of the shades, by attaching a strong spiral
spring to the pedal, and to some firm point in the frame.
[Illustration: Fig. 52.]
As the swell-box is at the back of the instrument, its key-action will
have to pass or cross that of the Great organ. The way in which this
will be effected must depend a little upon circumstances--for instance,
upon the length of the key-tails in the two manuals. If the swell
manual acts by squares and trackers, while the Great has backfalls
and stickers, the small trackers, being thin ribands of wood, can be
easily made to pass between the Great stickers. Or if the swell-keys
act on backfalls, these backfalls may be thinned down behind the line
of key-tails, so as to allow the stickers of the lower manual to pass
between them. This may be understood from Fig. 52, though that figure
refers to another subject. The worst plan of all is to make the lower
stickers pass through holes or mortices in the upper key-tails, since
this prevents the removal of the upper key-board without a disturbance
of the whole action.
We believe that these constructive details contain in themselves the
grounds on which we based our advice to hesitate before including a
swell-box in the design for a small chamber organ. It has been made
apparent that it brings with it a considerable increase of bulk,
weight, and complication, and that it cannot possess the full compass.
We must add that if the bellows are worked by the foot, the use of the
swell-pedal at the same time is of course impossible.
The large swells of church organs owe their grandeur of effect to their
reed-stops; the trumpet, of which the oboe is a soft echo and our
little gamba a faint and humble imitation, the horn or cornopean, and
the double trumpet or bassoon, a stop of 16-feet pitch. All reed-stops
are quite beyond the range of amateur construction, and each of the
above will cost about £25 if purchased from a good maker and made of
first-class material. Beautiful as such stops are when made and voiced
by highly-skilled workmen, they may easily be unpleasing and even
offensive.
Let us add that the twelve notes of the swell manual, below Tenor C,
may be made to act on the lower manual by a "choir coupler" (see next
section, and Fig. 52); or, if there is a complete pedal Sub-bass or
Bourdon of twenty-five or more notes, the silent keys of the swell
manual may borrow the pedal notes from CC, 8-feet tone upwards. An
easy mechanical movement of squares and trackers will effect this.
Two manuals imply couplers, though we greatly regret the incessant use
of these contrivances by modern organists.
[Illustration: Fig. 53.]
We shall treat, very briefly, of couplers under three heads, viz. the
coupling of--
(_a_) Upper Manual to Lower Manual.
(_b_) Lower Manual to Upper Manual.
(_c_) Manuals to Pedals.
(_a_) The common Tumbler coupler is represented in Fig. 53. _a_ is
a slender bridge, having as many notches as keys in the manual,
and fitted with short stickers called tumblers. These tumblers, or
stickers, are generally rectangular in section, and they must fit the
notches neatly but with freedom of motion; the notches are closed in by
a tringle of wood glued over them, thus forming a series of mortices;
and each sticker has a little pin, or a pair of pins, to prevent it
from falling out of its notch or mortice. Or, the tumblers may be made
from round rods, and may pass through round holes in the bridge. They
are well blackleaded in either case. Now if this bridge, with its
tumblers, is placed between the manuals near their hinder extremities,
if the length of the tumblers is equal to the interval between the
upper and lower key-tails, it is evident that on pressing down a key of
the lower manual the tumbler will push up the tail of the corresponding
key on the upper manual, and so on throughout the full compass of both.
To reverse this, and to leave the manuals separate and independent as
before, the bridge is made to take a quarter of a revolution in sockets
fitted to carry its ends, which are rounded or turned in the lathe; the
tumblers, by this partial revolution, are then no longer perpendicular,
but parallel to the key-tails, as shown by the dotted lines in the
figure, and cease to be touched by them. On the whole, this is the
simplest form of swell-coupler.
[Illustration: Fig. 54.]
The tumblers may also be placed on or off by causing the bridge to
slide between guides for a distance of 1 inch or 2 inches. When the
bridge is pushed back by drawing a stop-handle (which acts upon a
horizontal trundle with arms and traces to give the sliding motion),
the tumblers act on the key-tails; when it is drawn forward by
thrusting in the stop, they fall into a hollow cut in the key-tails,
and are too short to be of use. The hollow in the key-tails is
bevelled, and the inclined plane so formed is leathered and blackleaded
(see Fig. 54).
[Illustration: Fig. 55.]
The ram coupler, Fig. 55, acts in a way closely resembling the last.
Instead of tumblers, the bridge carries a set of short backfalls,
turning on a wire as usual, and cut at the free end into a circular
form. The sliding of the bridge brings these circular ends into contact
with the key-tails of both manuals, or places them in a hollow cut
in the keys, bevelled, leathered, and blackleaded as before. The
ram-coupler can be used between manuals arranged too closely to admit
of tumblers.
(_b_) It will facilitate our description of the choir-coupler and
pedal-couplers if we here point out that if a bridge with backfalls
(or squares) be made to rise or fall 1/2 inch or more at pleasure, the
action connected with it will be thrown into or out of gear at the will
of the player. If, in Fig. 32, for instance, the bridge _g_ be made to
rise 1/2 inch by drawing a stop-handle, the stickers _e_ will then be
too short by 1/2 inch, or the pull-downs _h_ will be too long in an
equal degree, and the manual will be silenced.
[Illustration: Fig. 56.]
An easy way of making such a bridge rise and fall is shown in Fig. 56.
The bridge _a_, which cannot be too solid and heavy, is held between
guides, _c d_, which are blackleaded and accurately adjusted. At each
end of the bridge is fitted a little roller or wheel of box-wood,
turning freely on a pin. To the frame below is fitted another such
roller, or two, as in the figure. Between these two or three rollers,
at each end of the bridge, an inclined plane of wood, _e_, is made to
traverse by means of a horizontal trundle and arms. It will be seen at
a glance that when the inclined plane is pushed between the rollers
by drawing or thrusting in a stop-handle, it lifts the bridge between
the guides and dislocates the action; when it is withdrawn, the bridge
resumes its place by its own weight, and the action is again in order.
It is now easy to understand the construction of the remaining
couplers. The choir-coupler (Fig. 52, p. 152), has two bridges, _x_,
_y_, with two sets of short backfalls and communicating stickers. If
the bridges are fixed, then on depressing any key on the upper manual
its tail raises the backfall, which presses down the lower backfall,
which in its turn pushes up the tail of the lower key and causes the
note to be heard. If the upper bridge be made to rise or the lower to
fall 1/2 inch, then the keys are at once disconnected.
(_c_) The coupling of manuals to pedals is generally effected by rising
and falling bridges, carrying backfalls which push up the tails of
the keys. These bridges are arranged one above the other beneath the
keyboards in large organs with three or four manuals, each bridge
bringing its own manual into connection with the pedals by the movement
already described. One roller-board (the rollers are often of iron for
the sake of compactness) suffices for all the sets of backfalls, and
the stickers (in this case generally flat strips of wood) pass through
mortices cut in the tails of the lower keys to act upon the tails of
the keys to which they belong.
The reader will easily perceive from these hints how the pedals may be
made to act through their whole extent upon one of our manuals, and
through only a part of their extent upon the other manual, as we have
hinted at page 148. There will be two bridges, one over the other, and
a very little ingenuity will be required to plan the roller-board so
that the central C of the pedals shall pull down the lowest C of the
second manual (be it upper or lower), and thus give the octave below
(or 16-feet pitch) without additional pipes from that note upwards.
But this, perhaps, belongs to the subject of the pedal organ, which we
reserve for the conclusion of this book.
It is right to add here that in old-fashioned organs, both in England
and on the Continent (where many such instruments remain unaltered),
the manuals were made to couple by being drawn out or pushed in about
1/2 inch. A spur or protuberance of wood was glued to the upper part of
the tail of each key, and a similar spur to the under part of the tail
of the key in the manual above. These spurs had rounded ends covered
with leather. On shifting one of the key-boards backwards or forwards
the spurs met each other, and the coupling was effected. Or the spurs
were glued under the front of each key, immediately behind the beading
of the key-frame, and upon the upper surface of each key in the manual
beneath it, and a similar shifting brought about a like result. We
see no objection to this very simple old-fashioned arrangement strong
enough to induce us to discard it from consideration.
The common type of small church organ with Great and Swell (throughout)
would be vastly improved by the introduction of a manual between the
other two, having no stops of its own, but coupled to both by such
spurs. Instead of two qualities of sound, namely Swell alone and
Great and Swell combined (the incessant use of the coupler being
the inveterate habit of most players), we should have three: Great
alone, Swell alone, and combination of Great and Swell. This obvious
improvement could be introduced into new organs or added to existing
instruments at a very small cost. There should be a coupler to connect
this Combination Manual with the pedals.
It is undeniable that the addition of a pedal organ with a Sub-bass or
Bourdon of 16-feet tone is a very important and valuable improvement
to any organ, large or small. It gives a dignified cathedral-like
solemnity and grandeur which every ear can appreciate. We shall bring
our treatise to a close by a few remarks upon it.
1. The pipes will be made precisely like those of the Stopped Diapason,
of which they may be regarded as a continuation, and they should
be of stout material, the last four or five of inch stuff, then
three-quarters to the twelfth or thirteenth note above.
On the question of scale the most diverse opinions have found favour
of late years. A writer whose _dicta_ are entitled to respect[5] urges
that the lowest pipe (CCC, 16-feet tone) should have the enormous if
not preposterous scale of 11-1/2 by 13 inches inside measurement, and
that the next six pipes above it should be in proportion. After that,
he says, a smaller scale may suffice. It is clear that if this ruling
be correct we may dismiss the idea of introducing a Sub-bass into our
chamber organ. Mr. Hopkins, on the other hand, prints two scales for
16-feet toned Bourdons, the larger of which gives 6-1/8 inches by 4-5/8
as the inside measurement of the CCC pipe; while the smaller gives 5
inches by 3-3/8 for the same pipe. We may safely adopt this larger
scale of Mr. Hopkins; and we will only say further that with our light
2-inch wind the mouths should be cut up one-third of the width, or
rather less, and the foot-holes should be of ample size.
[5] Rev. F. G. Hayne, Mus. Doc., "Hints on the Purchase of an Organ."
Novello, 1867.
2. Their location in the organ must depend very much on special
circumstances. When they can be placed in a row at the back of the
instrument, their connection with the pedals becomes very simple, two
sets of squares with trackers running under the bellows being all that
will be necessary. If the room has abundance of height, the back set of
squares may act on a roller-board, and then the pipes can be disposed
symmetrically, the largest at each end.
3. The board on which they stand will not require a slider. It will be,
in fact, a wind-chest only, a long box of stout pine or deal, having
holes in its top countersunk to receive the pipe-feet. Under each hole
is placed a pallet or valve, held up by a strong spring, and having a
pull-down wire passed through a brass plate in the usual way.
The aperture of the wind-trunk is in the lower board of this chest, and
over it, before the board is in place, is fitted a valve, faced with
leather, and made to slide to and fro between guides. An iron spindle,
turned to fit accurately in a brass collar, carries an arm jointed
to the valve by a connecting rod or trace; and outside the chest it
carries another arm, at right angles to this, jointed to the draw-stop
handle or its trace. We have, in fact, a trundle passing air-tight
through a collar, and by this simple contrivance we can shut off the
wind at pleasure from the chest. Other methods of effecting this are in
use, and may easily be devised. The pipes are very frequently placed
on both sides of the organ, to the right and left. In this case the
two chests will be at right angles to the manual chest or chests, and
the action will be less direct. But it will be readily arranged as
follows:--The pedal roller board will be long enough to act upon sets
of squares, carried on the organ-frame to the right and left of the
player, and at any convenient height. The other arms of these squares
act by trackers on roller-frames placed under the chests.
There are cases in which this roller-board will be better placed at
the back of the organ, the connection between it and the pedals being
by squares and trackers; and there are also cases in which a large
roller-frame lying upon the ground under the bellows may be made to
answer every purpose. Bell-cranks, or horizontal squares, may also
transmit the pressure of the foot on the pedal by other squares and
trackers to the pedal pallets in a manner analogous to that of the
draw-stop action, Fig. 49. There is abundant room for ingenuity and
contrivance in all these details; the essential points are strength,
quietness, and accessibility for repair or adjustment.
Some of our readers may be able to indulge in the luxury of a second
pedal stop. This should be a Violoncello in metal, of 8-feet tone
and length. In this case the pedal chest or chests will be regular
sound-boards, with sliders; or the Sub-bass may be on a chest as
already described, while the Violoncello may be on another, with two
actions.
We have only to add, that the power and effectiveness of small organs
may be increased by the contrivance called a "Terzo Mano" (Third
Hand), or octave coupler. Let us suppose that an ordinary action has
been fitted with backfalls in the usual positions. Then a second
bridge, rising and falling by a draw-stop, is introduced, carrying
skew backfalls which act on the pull-downs an octave higher than the
first set. Thus the key CC will take down the Tenor C note, and so on
throughout the scale. It is evident that the effect on the ear will
be nearly, though not quite, the same as if each 8-feet stop had its
corresponding 4-feet stop drawn with it. An Open Diapason will sound
like an Open Diapason and Principal; a Stopped Diapason, like a Stopped
Diapason and Stopped Flute, &c. To render the illusion complete, the
pipes should be carried up twelve notes higher than the apparent
compass of the key-board, that is to say, if the key-board has
fifty-four notes the sound-board should have sixty-six grooves.
In a similar way the pedal Sub-bass may be made to play in octaves,
producing the effect of a Sub-bass, 16-feet tone, with a Flute-bass of
8-feet tone added to it.
Of all such mechanical devices it must be said, finally, that neatness,
accuracy, and noiseless precision of action are the conditions
necessary to complete success.
CHAPTER XIII.
_VILLAGE CHURCH ORGANS._
OUR labours have hitherto been exclusively directed towards the
production, in private workshops and by young workmen, of small
organs adapted for domestic use. That such organs should be of varied
character, and that they should represent the differing musical tastes
and unequal mechanical ingenuity and adroitness of their unprofessional
or self-taught constructors, is the legitimate outcome of the
circumstances assumed.
The case of organs for churches must be regarded from a different
stand-point. Designed for public use, and consecrated to lofty
purposes, they should reflect no private fancies or peculiar
tastes; should admit of no experiments or eccentricities; should
be distinguished by excellence of material, finished perfection of
workmanship, and solid stability of structure. We cannot, therefore,
recommend the construction of any church-organ in a private workshop.
The aim and object of this volume would be entirely misconceived by any
reader who should imagine that we encourage such an ambitious attempt.
However humble as to style of architecture the church may be, however
unpretending the scheme for the organ may be, we must strenuously
advocate the placing the order for its erection in the hands of a
well-established firm of professional builders.
Guarding ourselves thus, we trust, against all possibility of
misconception, we shall endeavour in the following pages to offer
some suggestions on the subject of village organs, which may tend
to smooth away perplexities from the path of those who, without any
previous acquaintance with such matters, find themselves called upon to
exercise discretion, and pronounce decisive judgment on estimates and
specifications submitted to them by builders and by musicians.
In using the term "Village," we refer less to locality than to
condition. We desire to be of service to the promoters of the erection
of an organ in those very numerous cases in which no skilled player is
resident in the place, and in which the new instrument will inevitably
be left to the modest efforts of a schoolmistress or of a young
beginner, on whose ability, moreover, no greater demand will be made
than that which is involved in the accompaniment of simple chanting
and psalmody. It is to the dwellers in such quiet corners of the
country that we would offer a few rules or maxims, based, we hope, on
principles, the soundness of which will commend itself to their good
sense.
Let us bring together, in a compressed form, a few of these maxims,
afterwards examining them in detail.
A village organ should be of simple construction, containing no
mechanism liable to sudden derangement. It should stand well in
tune, without attention, even though placed in a building exposed
to alternations of temperature and perhaps not free from dampness.
Its musical effects should be readily and obviously producible by
any person sitting down to it for the first time, and guided only by
experience gained at the harmonium or pianoforte. It should present no
facilities for ambitious attempts at executive display by thoughtless
aspirants. Its power, or volume, should be sufficient to assert itself
unmistakably in a full congregational chorus; and its tone, or quality,
should be that which long experience has shown to be impressive and
pleasing to the vast majority of listeners. Hence, it will be capable
of emitting no sounds which might be described by any uneducated hearer
as odd or curious. Lastly, let us add that its case should be shapely,
even if destitute of ornamentation.
Whole pages of disquisition may be saved if we proceed at once to apply
these maxims to the specification of the smallest and least costly
organ which we shall recommend for a village church: an organ, namely,
with four stops only.
1. Organ No. 1. The manual will be from CC to E in alt, 53 notes.
_Remark._--The key-board is more sightly when its two extremities
are rendered similar by this omission of the top F. But the further
omission of the four upper notes would still leave a compass of 49
notes, amply sufficient for the accompaniment of voices.
2. Its stops will be these:--
(_a_) Open Diapason, metal throughout, or of metal from Gamut G, with
seven pipes of open wood below.
_Remark._--These open wood pipes, when properly scaled and voiced, have
some advantages over metal for our present purpose, and may be placed
so as to close in the back of the case instead of panelling.
(_b_) Principal of metal throughout, being the octave of the Open
Diapason, to which it will therefore be made to conform as regards
scale and voicing.
_Remark._--The two stops, (_a_) and (_b_), when played together, will
furnish the element of power, or loudness, to the organ.
(_c_) Stopped Diapason of wood throughout, or of metal with chimneys
from middle C to top; but not with a Clarabella of open wood as its
upper part.
_Remark._--The metal Stopped Diapasons which have come down to us from
the days of Harris, and other old builders, are often of exquisite
beauty of tone. Modern builders are apt to neglect the stop, and to
treat it as a mere "Coppel," or vehicle for exhibiting the qualities of
imitative stops. We should be glad to persuade them to make the upper
octaves of oak, after the example of Schmidt.
(_d_) Stopped Flute of wood throughout, or of metal with chimneys as to
its three upper octaves. This stop pretends to no imitation whatever
of the well-known musical instrument, the Flute, but is simply the
octave of the Stopped Diapason, of which it should follow the scale and
voicing.
_Remark._--The two stops, (_c_) and (_d_), when played together, supply
to the organ the important element of softness and tranquil clearness;
and when added to (_a_) and (_b_), they enhance the fullness and volume
of those stops, while correcting a certain crudeness or tendency
towards harshness. The Stopped Flute fulfils a further most important
office. When added to the two Diapasons (without the Principal), it
imparts not only a most pleasing silvery sweetness to the tone, but
gives a definiteness of pitch which will correct the tendency of
school-children to sing out of tune. This stop should, therefore, on no
account be omitted, or cancelled in favour of more showy or conspicuous
qualities of tone.
3. Be it carefully observed that the stops (_a_) and (_b_) can be
made to produce sounds of several gradations of loudness according to
the scale of the pipes, the pressure or weight of the wind, and the
character of the voicing. Their tone will be further affected by the
substance and quality of the pipe-metal. Let us confidently assume
that the order for the new organ will be given to no builder who does
not hold his art in such esteem as to be incapable of using inferior
and perishable materials. The metal should be tin and lead only, in at
least equal proportions; still better if the tin be three-fourths,
four-fifths, or seven-eighths of the whole alloy. The wind-pressure
should be light, as we desire that the feeder should be easily worked
by the foot of the player. The scaling and voicing must be left to the
judgment of a trustworthy builder, as they will vary with the capacity
of the church and the requirements of the singing. Enough if we advise
that, even in the case of the smallest church, the two metal stops
be of bold, out-speaking character, asserting themselves distinctly,
and having no tinge of the muffled or subdued quality proper to
chamber-organs.
4. The case of the organ, even if carving be entirely absent, may be
of graceful and pleasing outline by making the upper part, above the
level of the keys, overhang the lower part, or base, which encloses the
bellows.[6] This lower part need not be much wider than the key-board
itself, and about three feet in depth, from front to back. If the upper
part be five feet in width, it will overhang the base one foot or a
little less on each side, obtaining apparent support from a pair of
brackets. The total height, if the open bass pipes be set down at the
back, will not exceed nine feet; but the speaking front may be well
thrown up by the usual expedients if the church be lofty. We strongly
advise that these speaking front pipes be left of their natural
silver colour, which they will not lose if tin predominates largely
over lead in the alloy. For our own part, we are no admirers of the
chocolates, dark blues, and sage greens smeared upon front pipes by way
of decorating them. Too often, we fear, such diapers are a cloak for
very inferior metal, which would soon betray the presence of antimony
and other deleterious ingredients by turning black if left unpainted.
[6] See the frontispiece of this book. Some charming but elaborate
designs will be found in the Rev. F. H. Sutton's "Church Organs,"
published by Rivingtons. Folio. 1872.
The draw-stops will be most conveniently handled if arranged above the
keys, under the ledge of the book-board, as in the harmonium. It will
be well to place the Stopped Diapason and Flute on the left, and the
Open Diapason and Principal (which will be more frequently drawn and
shut off) on the right, leaving an interval of a foot or so between the
two pairs.
The cost of this four-stop organ, made of first-class materials, in a
case of stained deal or pitch-pine, should not exceed £80. A provincial
builder, who works with his own hands, might undertake it for a smaller
sum, but we cannot counsel a diminution of cost by a lowering of the
standard of the pipe-metal or by a resort to inferior woods.
A hasty _résumé_ of our design will show a close correspondence with
our initial maxims.
The organ is:--
1. Of simple construction, containing no mechanism liable to sudden
derangement.
2. It will stand well in tune, without attention, even for years,
especially if the smaller stopped pipes be of metal with chimneys.
3. A new player will be met by no special difficulty whatever.
4. As there is no "swell," there can be no exhibition, on the part of
the player, of the peculiar forms of bad taste to which that invention
lends fatal facility; and as there are no pedals, there will be no
lumbering and blundering attempts to play grand compositions never
meant for village churches.
5. Its power, or volume, will be ample for the accompaniment of the
ordinary congregational singing of two or three hundred persons, and
more than abundantly sufficient for the support of a rustic choir;
and it emits no sounds which can provoke criticism by singularity of
intonation, and which have not been found, by long years of experience,
to be invariably agreeable to all musical ears.
Organ No. 2. To the four-stop instrument just described, a "Dulciana"
might be added, at a further cost of about £10, less or more, according
to quality of pipe-metal, &c. Its compass will be from Tenor C to top,
or, still better, from B flat or a lower note, the remaining sounds
being obtained by grooving to the Stopped Diapason. The Dulciana is of
beautifully delicate tone, slightly nasal; when played with the Stopped
Diapason it gives a charming clearness and sonority to that soft stop.
When the Flute is added, we have a true choir-organ quality, most
useful in the accompaniment of low and solemn music.
_Remark._--Some builders or organists may recommend a "Salicional,"
or "Viola di Gamba," or "Keraulophon," in place of the Dulciana. All
these stops, when properly made, are of beautiful tone, but their
beauty is of a kind which soon satisfies, and then is apt to weary
the listener. They are therefore excluded from our village organ by
one of our maxims. The same sentence of exclusion must be passed
upon the class of stops known as "Lieblich Gedact," and rightly
introduced in large organs as alternatives for the Stopped Diapason
and Stopped Flute. "Their tone in the treble," says Mr. Hayne,[7] "is
so peculiar as to become wearisome, and a little of them goes a very
long way." The imitative Flutes, which have many different names,
as "Flauto Traverso," "Concert Flute," "Oboe Flute," and the like,
find their place in organs of much larger dimensions than our village
organ; and Harmonic stops, of every pitch and quality, are shut out
by their costliness, if not by the character of their tone, which is
unacceptable to some ears.
[7] "Hints, &c.," p. 14.
Organ No. 3. Perhaps greater loudness may be reasonably desired when
the village church is large and the singers numerous. This accession
of power will be gained by adding two more complete ranks of pipes,
namely, a Twelfth of three feet (nominal) and a Fifteenth of two feet,
both in metal. We cannot enter into controversy with modern purists
who object to the Twelfth. Enough that its effect, when duly balanced,
has been accepted as dignified and elevating for centuries past. As it
is never used without the Fifteenth, the pipes of both may be governed
by one slider, and in this case the stop may be called "Mixture, ii.
ranks."
The additional cost of the Twelfth and Fifteenth, with the necessary
enlargement of the sound-board and bellows, may be £20 or £25.
Organ No. 4. The stops which have been enumerated, with one or two
additions, might be distributed between two manuals, with great
advantage to the player, and without a violation of any of our
self-imposed conditions. Instead of suggesting the list of stops
ourselves, we give the names and distribution of those in the beautiful
little organ in the choir of Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge, designed
by the late Sir J. Sutton, Bart., and built by the late J. C. Bishop,
some old wooden pipes by Schmidt being worked in.
_Upper Manual, or Great Organ._
1. Open Diapason 8 feet.
2. Stopped Diapason 8 " tone
3. Principal 4 "
4. Twelfth 3 "
5. Fifteenth 2 "
6. Tierce 1-3/5 "
7. Mixture iii. ranks.
_Lower Manual, or Choir Organ._
1. Open Diapason, wood 8 feet.
2. Stopped Diapason " 8 " tone.
3. Open Flute " 4 "
4. Stopped Flute " 4 " tone.
Such an organ could not be costly, as there is no swell-box, and as
large Bourdons or 16-feet Open Diapasons are absent, together with
couplers and all other complications. But perhaps it is luxuriously
large for a village church of average size. It might be somewhat
lessened thus:--
Organ No. 5.
_Great Organ (Upper or Lower, as preferred)._
1. Open Diapason 8 feet.
2. Hohl-flöte, wood 8 "
3. Principal 4 "
4. Stopped Flute 4 "
5. Mixture iii. ranks.
_Choir Organ (Lower or Upper)._
1. Stopped Diapason 8 feet tone
2. Dulciana 8 "
3. Gemshorn, _a light Principal_ 4 " "
_Remark._--The Mixture, No. 5, will be 15th, 19th and 22nd from CC to
middle B, and 8th, 12th and 15th onwards to the top.
* * * * *
Perhaps we should not conclude without noticing one or two objections
to our plans.
First. "Organs cannot be properly played without pedals."
Most unquestionably true classical organ music cannot be played on
instruments with manuals only. But it was on such instruments that the
illustrious HANDEL, with his contemporaries and predecessors, Croft,
Boyce, Worgan, the blind Stanley, and a host of others, delighted their
audiences by their masterly performance. Pedals were not added to
English organs until the latest years of the eighteenth century. The
nineteenth was far advanced before the pedal-board, of full compass,
had come to be considered an essential part of every organ.
Why should the effective management of organs without pedals be among
the lost arts? Why should not the clever manipulation of such organs be
practised by ladies, and by the modest players in villages, to whom the
preludes and fugues which echo through the aisles of the cathedral must
ever be a dead language? Why should the cathedral player himself, fresh
from his pedal fugues, deem it beneath his dignity to draw sweet music,
in a totally different style, from an instrument on which Handel would
have willingly displayed his powers?
We were present on a certain occasion, many years ago, when the late
Professor Walmisley, of Cambridge, was asked to play on a small and
old-fashioned organ without pedals. The distinguished pedallist and
renowned interpreter of Bach's compositions did not turn away with
contempt. He seated himself, and charmed all who were present by his
ingenious extemporisation. The skill, and learning, and resource of the
true musician were never more conspicuously displayed.
We see no reason whatever why such a bright example should not be
followed; and, while we yield to no one in appreciation of the
pedal-organ, and of the music proper for it, we hold that the typical
organ of the village church has no concern with these, and that no
greater demand should be made upon the executive powers of its player
than that which is made in the acquirement of a pure _legato_ style at
the pianoforte or harmonium.
Second. "Why omit the Swell, the greatest improvement of modern organs?"
The Swell-organ proper owes its effectiveness to its reed stops, and
these are one and all excluded from our village organ by the fact that
they require the frequent attention of a tuner. We grant, however,
that reedy stops of the Gamba class might take their place in small
organs; and we admit that our organs, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, might be very
easily enclosed in swell boxes, while a "Swell" might take the place of
a "Choir" in No. 5. Such alterations would have many advocates, both
professional and amateur.
In adhering resolutely to our plans, we must express the opinion that
the judicious management of the Swell is a gift rather than an art.
It is but occasionally, we think, that refined taste is made evident
by a sparing use of the tempting contrivance. Too frequently, even in
churches of high class and pretension, the tone of the swell-organ,
with its mechanical rise and fall, prevails from the beginning to the
end of the performance, until the ear longs for relief. If the abuse of
the Swell be thus common even in town churches, is it well to trust
an apparatus which may be so easily misunderstood to the discretion of
players in village churches?
Moreover, our village organ is for the accompaniment of singers.
We believe that many musicians will endorse our opinion that as
an accompaniment for singers the Swell-organ is misleading and
unsatisfactory. An accurate ear will often detect a slight difference
of pitch in the pipes of a small Swell-organ when the shades are closed
or suddenly opened. We have repeatedly heard the voices of the men
and boys, even in very good choirs, thrown out of tune by injudicious
persistence in the use of the Swell as an accompaniment. The sense
of discomfort and uncertainty was removed at once when the player
transferred his hands to the Choir-manual, with its quiet and cheerful
brightness.
It is for these reasons, and not from any want of appreciation of the
effect of the Swell in the hands of an educated and gifted performer,
that we counsel our village friends to turn a deaf ear to the praises
of the Swell which will doubtless reach them from many quarters, and
to rest content with genuine organ-tone produced by means which do not
lend themselves to abuse.
A few words may be added for the guidance of those who find themselves
entrusted with the care of old instruments.
The eighteenth century witnessed the erection, in the churches of many
country towns, of noble organs, honestly constructed by true artists,
men who disdained the use of inferior timber or of base metal. A great
number of these costly and beautiful instruments remained unaltered,
or at least uninjured, within the recollection of the present writer,
but demolition rather than restoration has been at work during the last
thirty or more years, and the plea which we would put forward for the
reverent preservation of the works of old masters may now be opportune
in but few and isolated cases.
Nevertheless, if it should happen to any of our readers to discover in
a village church, or in that of some quiet market-town, an organ by
SNETZLER (1749), by his predecessors, or by his immediate successors,
ending with the ENGLANDS, father and son, we would earnestly counsel a
respectful treatment of the valuable contents.
An old picture may have long lain hidden in a lumber-room, with
its face to the wall; when brought into the light, and its merits
recognised by an expert, its possessor replaces the worm-eaten
stretcher and decayed frame by new wood, but he would indeed act
strangely if he permitted the house-painter to touch the precious
canvas with his brush.
Yet we have known many organs by the builders and of the period
indicated above, taken down and carted away; their pipes (in Snetzler's
case of nearly pure tin) sold for a trifling sum or thrown into the
melting-pot; and this wanton destruction has been justified on the
ground that the time is come for a "better instrument," that the old
organ is "screamy;" above all, that the belauded "Swell" is wanting.
Accordingly the modern builder meets the wishes of his customers
by providing an organ of the common-place type, and the reign of
Swell-coupler and Pedal Bourdon is duly inaugurated.
Surely a wiser course would have been this:--Carefully preserve every
pipe, and round out those which may be bruised by rolling them on
mandrils; insist on the inclusion of all these pipes without any
omission whatever in the new structure which the ravages of the worm
may have rendered inevitable; add to these original contents (if funds
permit) some modern ranks of pipes carefully voiced by an accomplished
artist to the same pressure of wind, and calculated to support and
balance the shrill high tones which the old organ doubtless contains;
repair the old case, and even retain the old key-board if possible.
No doubt, in towns, where a succession of skilled players may be
found, the addition of a Swell-organ and of a pedal-organ, both most
carefully designed, scaled, and voiced, cannot justly be disapproved.
The instrument, thus reinstated, will be a most interesting link with
the past; will supply in itself a history of the progress of the
organ-builder's art, and will possess an individuality of tone which
educated listeners will appreciate, and which they fail to perceive in
many or most of the organs erected in the present day.
INDEX.
Action. (_See_ KEYBOARD, PEDAL.)
Backfalls, 94
Bars of sound-board, 36
Bearers of ditto, 38
Bell-cranks, 129
Bellows, construction of, 73
Blacklead, 57
Blowing pedal and lever, 86
Boards, upper, 39
Borrowing in bass octave, 45, 145
Bourdon, 160
Brass, its employment, 63, 67
Bridge, 94, 157
Building-frame, 81
Buttons, leather, 96
Channels, 29
Choir-organ, 142
Clarabella, 25
Cloths, 96
Compass, of pedals, 135
Combination-manual, 159
Conducting-boards, 48
Conveyances, 51
Counter-balances for bellows, 78
Couplers, various kinds of, 152-157
Cuckoo-feeder, 79
Cummins, his invention, 75
Diapason, open, 44, 121
Diapason, stopped, 10
Dip of keys and of pedals, 103, 139
Drilling, 67
Double sound-boards, 112
Draw-stops, 127
Dulciana, 121
Engines, hydraulic, 79
Fan-frame, 101
Feeders, 79
Fifteenth, Flageolet, Flautina, 125
Flute, 125
Frame, building, 81
Gamba, 149
Gems-horn, 125
Great-organ, 147
Grooving, 45, 145
Key-boards, 102
Key movements, 97
Lathe, 5
Leather for pallets, 61
Manuals, 146
Manual and Pedal, their relation, 136, 139
Manual for combination, 159
Materials for sound-board, 7
Names of notes in scale, 10
Nicking. (_See_ VOICING.)
Organ, Old English, 25, 147
Pallets, 61
Pedal-organ, 136, 160
Pipes, wooden, 14, 23
metal, 117
lengths of, 11, 15
plantation of, 30, 99
Principal, 44, 121
Pull-downs, 69
Rack-boards, pins, 42
Reed-stops, 153
Regulation, 126
Ribs, inverted, 75
Roller-board, 96
Running of wind, 50, 55
Scales for pipes, 16
Sliders, 29
Sound-board, construction of, 39
Spitz-flute, 125
Springs for pallets, 63
Squares, 95
Stickers, 95
Stops, methods of drawing, 127
Sub-bass, 160
Swell-organ, box, 141, 150
Tablature, or nomenclature of notes, 10
Temperament, 125
Terzo Mano, 163
Trackers, 95
Trundles, wooden, iron, 131
Tuning, 126
Valves of bellows, 74, 77
Voicing pipes, metal and wooden, 120
Village Church Organs, 165
Wind-chest, 55
Wind-gauge, 122
Wind-trunks, 80
Wind-valve, or ventil, 162
Workshop, 2
THE END.
PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD, LONDON.
Transcriber's Notes:
Bold type is shown as =strong=.
Italics are shown thus: _sloping_.
Small capitals have been capitalised.
Illustrations have been moved out of mid-paragraph.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.
Punctuation has been retained as published.
'Fig 29.' has been added to the illustration on page 95.
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