US251027A - John camidge - Google Patents

Description

(N0 Model.)

. J. AMIDGE.

ORGAN GOUPLER. No. 251,027. Patented Dec. 20,1881.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN OAMIDGE, OF BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO, CANADA.

OReAN-COUPLER.

SPECIFICATION forming pa'rt of Letters Patent No. 251,02*?, dated December 20, 1881.

Application filed July 27, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN CAMIDGE, of Bowmanville, in the county ofDurham, in the Province of Ontario, in the Dominion ot' Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Organ-Couplers; aud I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Figure l is an elevation. Fig. 2 is a plan, and Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line a a of Fig. 2.

The invention consists, in combination with other elements, as hereinafter described and claimed, of a coupler whereby, when playing, say, three notes with one hand only, the octave of the lowest note shall be coupled-that is to say, the octaves of the two higher notes shall be uncoupled-the object of the invention being to prevent disagreeably thickening 7 the harmony by the multiplication of sounding octaves.

A are the keys of the manual, bearing on the inclined end of a coupler-lever, B, rocking between fulcruins a a to lift the opposite end of the lever by the depression of the key, and which end operates the escapeinenthereinafter described to open the valve of the note to be sounded by lifting the connecting-bar O, arranged in the ordinary manner.

The escapement is composed of a series of iiat levers, D, of the yform of an inverted T, placed laterally apart, onev end fulcrumed to brackets F, corresponding in number to the number of levers, which levers have a vertical movement, the free end being lifted by the free end of lever B.

G are fixed brackets, each supporting a lever, H, pivotally connected at the ends, said lever having a free end which is bent or formed at right angle to have contact with the vertical arm of levers D, and which levers H are keptl of the coupler any key that may be under pressure higher up toward middle C, thus making the octave of the lowest key under pressure the real fundamental note sounded. Byreversing the coupling-lever and mechanism to couple up, similar results are obtained in the treble, where by the use of this invention only the top note under pressure, whatever it may be, would sound its octave above.

The levers `D support pitmen K, one end bent to a double-crank form to connect loosely with levers D laterally, and which pitmen pass freely through a hole in levers H.

L are spiral springs connecting with the crank of pitmen K and the outer extremity of leversD, the contraction of the spring returning the pitman toa vertical position after being thrown to an inclined position by the inward movement of levers H.

In ordinary cases of coupling, three keys struck with one hand would sound six notes. With the coupler herein described only four notes would sound. lhus in playing the common chord of G with the left hand, the thumb depressing G, first line, the fourth finger the octave lower, the octaves of B and D used in the chord would be released and only the octave of the lower G sounded. The coupler-lever B and the other levers connect the key A with its valve-bar, and by operation disconnect the valve-bars from operation by their respective levers, so that when the A note is depressed, supposing it to be the lowest note struck, A will sound and also its octave, and all the notes between A and its octave will not be affected by the coupler, thus making the octave of the lowest key the real fundamental note sounded, thereby improving the harmony, which is now impaired by the sound of the intermediate coupled octaves. When too many notes sound harmony is thickened. The strength lies in the octave ot' the lowest note played with the left hand and the octave of the highest note of the right hand.

In an organ without a coupler the foot-pedal is used to sound the one note which I now sound with the finger, and in organs with couplers each note, roughly speaking, is coupled to its own octave, and thereby too many notes sound. In the coupler herein described, if more than one key is depressed with one hand, only IOO one coupled note is sounded, and that one the lowest played with the left hand or the highest with the right hand.

The operation is as follows: Referring to the bass of the in anual, the lowest key being depressed, its lever B will lift its lever D and pitman K vertically, the pitman thereby open-- ing` its valve-bar C, and at the same time the lever D will move inwardly all the levers I-I above it, thereby inclining the pitmen free from the ends of the bars C. The springs L assist to bring the pitmen vertically under the bars C when the pressure on the lowest key struck is released.

It is obvious that, after the ends of the pitmen have been carried clear ot' the ends of bars G by the combined inward movement of levers H, depression of any ofthe keys above the lowest one struck will produce no move ment of the bars (l, and therefore the notes will not be sounded.

I have herein described my device as applied to the bass; but by reversing the levers B it can be applied likewise to the treble. This escapement can be used under the front, also on the top, as well as at the back of the keys, with the same effect as represented in thedrawin gs. In the upper octave of the bass-register,

in which middle C is the top note, any key or collection of keys put down, the lowest key alone takes its octave-key below and releases all the others. In reversing the levers and mechanism an opposite result would be obtainedthe top or treble key would take its octave above and let off all the others.

I claim as my invention- In combination with the key-board of an organ, the coupler-levers B, pivoted levers H, having projections J, levers D, provided with pitmen K, passing through levers H, and the valve-bars C, all constructed and arranged substantially as described,whereby,in playing several keys ofthe key-board at the same time, the coupler-lever of the lowest bass-key or of the highest treble-key will operate its valvebar, but will displace or cause an escapement of all the pitmen of the valve-bars of the others above or below, as the case may be, so that the lowest bass-n cte or highcsttreblenote only of the series will be coupled andthe others sounded singly.

JOHN GAMIDGE.

Witnesses:

S'r. JOHN H. HUToHEsoN, A. MACNAB.

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