US601318A - Pu m ps - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

L. K. FULLER. REGULATOR FOR ORGANS HAVING ELECTRICAL AIR PUMPS. No. 601,318.

Patented Mar. 29, 1898.

I700 ew/arfFuZZer.

WQZMESSES W fax/J as ea. wnotouma. wunmonm u c UNITED STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

LEVI K. FULLER, OF BRATTLEBOROUGII, VERMONT, ASSIGNOR TO THE ESTEY ORGAN COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

REGULATOR FOR ORGANS HAVENG ELECTRICAL AIR-PUMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 601,318, dated March 29, 1898.

Application filed July 20, 1895. Serial No. 556,553. (No model) To (tZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEVI K. FULLER, of Brattleborough, in the county of WVindham and State of Vermont, have invented certain new and'useful Improvements in Regulators for Organs Having Electrical Air-Pumps, of which the following is a specification.

Heretofore organs, both reed and pipe, have been operated to produce music by an airforcing pump consisting of a rotary fanblower the fan of which has been driven by direct connection with an electric motor, and reed-organs have been operated by an exhaust or suction pump wherein an exhausting fanblower has been driven by direct connection with an electric motor. In such cases the wind-conductor, in which the fan-blower is located, has been connected with the windchest or pressure or vacuum air-chamber of the organ.

Ihe object of the present invention is to control, at the will of the organist, the volume of the air-current created by the fan-blower between the air-chamber of the organ and the mouth of the wind-conductor in which the fan-blower is located, in order that the aircurrent may be properly regulated in accordance with the varying musical requirements of the organ and also in order that the consumption of electrical power maybe proportioned to the volume of tone actually produced.

In order that the present improvements may be clearly understood, they will be described as applied to an air-eXhausting reedorgan.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate such an application of the invention, Figure 1 is a side view of so much of the interior mechanism of a reed-organ as is necessary to show the relation of the improvements to the organ. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the portion of the air-chamber shown in' Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail view of the operating mechanism.

A is the air or vacuum chamber of a reedorgan, and B is the usual mechanical exhaustbellows communicating therewith, and which is adapted, as usual, to be operated by footpedals or a hand lever or crank, so that the organ can be played upon in case of the fail ure of the electric current. This bellows also may be driven by a water or steam motor as a supplementary or emergency motor.

O is the exhaust-fan, which may be of any desired or known construction, such as the wellknown Sturtevant fan, and D is the electric motor operating the same, the fan being located on the armature-shaft thereof. The electrical conductors a b to and from the motor are shown, and the current is switched on and off by a suitable switch or rheostat located at any suitable or convenient point.

E is the wind-conductor, which extends from the air-chamber A. of the organ to the external air and in which the fan 0 is 10- cated-that is to say, the fan-casing is to be regarded as a portion of the wind-conductor, and hence the fan is located in the air-passage formed by this wind-conductor. In case the fan is an exhaust-fan the suction side of the fan is toward the air-chamber A and the fan discharges through the mouth of the said conductor into the external air.

Between the fan and the air-chamber, and preferably at the juncture between the conductor E and the air-chamber, is a regulating-valve or regulator F, which is preferably arranged to slide across the conductor so as to vary the area of the same and consequently to determine the volume of the aircurrent through the said conductor E. This regulator F is operated by suitable intervening connections from a handle G, located 011 the organ within convenient reach of the organist. A convenient location for this handle is in front of and at one side of the usual keyboard projection. As shown in the drawings, the handle is the end of a crank-arm II, carried on a rock-shaft I. The rock-shaft has a second crank-arm J, connected by a pitman K with the crank-arm L on a second rockshaft M, and said second rock-shaft has a second crank-arm N, connected by a link 0 with the regulator F. Consequently by moving the handle G the regulator is moved to open and close the air-passage from the airchamber to the fan. At one extreme position of the handle G (its off position) the regulator completely closes the air-passage, and at the other extreme position of the handle G (its on position) the air-passage is fully open. These positions of the handle are indicated by appropriate designations on the organ-case. At the intermediate positions of the handle G the regulator contracts the airpassage more or less.

In using the present improvements the electric current to the motor is always turned 011 to drive the motor at its maximum speed, and the regulation is entirely controlled by the mechanical regulator F. By simply moving the regulator the volume of the air-current is regulated to meet the musical requirements of the organ, and at the same time the motor regulates itself automatically and correspondingly. The movementof the regulator governs the load upon the motor, and consequently the consumption of electrical energy by the motor is proportional to the work done.

While preferably the regulator F is located in the wind-conductor between the fan-blower and the air-chamber of the organ, such position is not necessary, since the regulator can be located in the wind-conductor between the fan and the mouth of the wind-conductor. In any case, however, the regulator is located in the wind-conductor so as to vary the Volumetric capacity of the air-passage which is controlled by the fan.

Ileretofore, as far as I am aware, where electric air-pumps or fan-blowers have been employed for organs the regulation of the electric motor to meet the musical requirements has been effected by varying the sup ply of the current to the motor, either by introd ucing varying resistances in to the circuit or by varying the number of battery-cells employed. Such regulating appliances are expensive, intricate, and frequently result in burning out the armature of the motor or otherwise injuring the same. All such 0bjections are overcome by myimprovement, by means of which the regulation of the volume of air to meet the musical requirements of the organ at the same time varies correspondingly the load upon the motor and hence automatically its consumption of electrical energy.

It may be here remarked that no claim is made, broadly, to regulating the consumption of current in an electric motor by varying the load, since it is a well-known electrical fact that the load automatically regulates the current required to drive the motor. The essence of my present invention in this respect resides in combining a mechanical regulator controlled by the organist at will with an electrically-driven air-pump and the air-chamber of an organ by interposing the regulator between the air-chamber and the mouth of the wind-conductor, in whichthe air-pump is located, and thereby regulating the volumetric capacity of the air-passage through said wind-conductor.

lVhen the bellows I3 is used alone, the windconductor E is closed by the regulator. The bellows B, it may be remarked, can be used simultaneously with the air-pump.

I claim as my invention- 1. The air-chamber of an organ, a windconductor communicating with said air-chamber and with the external air, an air-pump located in said wind-conductor, and an electric motor operating said air-pump, in combination with a regulator for regulating the volumetric capacity of the air-passage between said air-chamber and the mouth of said wind-conductor, and means controlled by the organist for governing said regulator, substantially as set forth.

2. The air-chamber of an organ, a windconductor extending from said air-chamber to the external air, an air-pump consisting of a suction-fan located in said wind-conductor with its suction side toward said air-chamber, and an electric motor operating said fan, in combination with a mechanical regulator consisting of a valve sliding across the airpassage through said wind-conductor, and means controlled by the organist for moving said valve, substantially as set forth.

The air-chamber of an organ, the mechanical bellows communicating with said air-chamber, a wind-conductor communicating with said air-chamber and with the external air, an air-pump located in said windconductor, and an electric motor operating said air-pump, in combination with a regulator for regulating the volumetric capacity of the air-passage between said air-chamber and the mouth of said wind-conductor, and means controlled by the organist for governing said regulator, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEVI K. FULLER. lVitnesses:

WALTER ll. Cnrnns, J. E. HALL.

Images