[Harp-L] re: Pipe Harmonica

[Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Winslow wrote:

"The flue-pipe harmonica has me fascinated as well."

We aren't the only ones.  It does fit particularly well with what I  
do for a living, I must say.

"I'm also not entirely sure
that the flue-pipe harmonica includes draw notes. The appearance of
the thing from the scant pictures - sort of a harmonica mouthpiece
attached to a row of pygmy organ pipes - and the sound of a calliope
clearly being driven by harmonica techniques has me intrigued."

The pipes are actually the length I'd expect for stopped flutes in  
the harmonica range.  Only the bass of most organ ranks are large-- 
the trebles can get quite small indeed.  A stopped flute at 8' pitch  
is about 4' long in the lowest note (assuming a C compass manual),  
then 4' at tenor C, 2' at middle C, 1' at the C above middle (c2), 6"  
at c3 and 3" at c4 (the highest note commonly found--though many  
organs actually stop the keyboard at the a below that).  So, from the  
sound I'd guess this is the equivalent of a 4' pitched set of pipes,  
with the lowest note being an octave above middle C, and thus about  
1' long (which seems about right by the pictures).

It does most certainly work on the draw as well as the blow--that is  
the entire point of the beast.  Otherwise it would just be a variant  
of the flue-type panpipes which are fairly common (you often find  
little plastic ones of these sold as toys).  I could easily make a  
flue-type panpipe, but a blow/draw flue pipe instrument is much, much  
harder.  There have been several patents on this subject, but the one  
by Theodore Folsom is certainly the most interesting, and possibly  
the only one to make it past basic prototyping.  It was patented on  
July 17th, 1956 with patent number 2,754,714:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/image-2754714-1.html

Or:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2754714.pdf

The key difference between this and most previous designs is the lack  
of valves for shutting off the airflow from one pipe to the other.   
The version produced (from what the pictures in Hinton's CD tell me)  
was the first, more compact type in the diagram.



 ()()    JR "Bulldogge" Ross
()  ()   & Snuffy, too:)
`----'