A Giant Musical Instrument.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XV, Issue 230, 22 November 1912, Page 1

A Giant Musical Instrument.

ORGAN LARGER THAN SALT LAKE CITY'S.

An American firm of organ-builders have recently completed in Lion City, 111., a pipe organ which is even larger than the famous one in the Salt Lake City Tabernacle, and which possesses many new features in its construction. This giant musical instrument is really three distinct organs, controlled, if desired, from the main console or keyboard. Two hundred feet from the choir organ, in the gallery at the entrance, is an echo organ, operated from the main keyboard during processionals. The second echo organ, in the prayer room at the other end of the tabernacle, can be played independently of the great organ or by the organist at the main console. The organist can also sit at the prayer room organ and operate the main organ. The main console possesses many unusual features. It is mounted to revolve so that the organist may fac?e in any direction. The organist's work is further simplified by the adjustable visible combination tablets on the console. These enable him to produce an effect quickly without having to pull a dozen or more stops. Another new feature is the coupling of the entire pedal organ with the great organ. A wonderful echo effect has been produced by the location of the “vox humana" in the prayer room echo organ. When this repeats the melody on of the “vox humana" of the great organ there is a startling resemblance to a singer's voice, softened by distance. Still another innovation is the set of chimes built into the gallery echo organ, which are used as responses to the melodies of the great organ 2000 ft away. Some idea of the size of the giant organ may be obtained from these figures:—There are 5,055 speaking pipes; the largest is 22ft long and the smallest measures but five-eights of an inch. The instrument contains 1,500 more pipes than the famous organ at Salt Lake City. The main console has 4 manuals, 70 stops, 52 couplers, 54 combination pistons, 9 combination pedals, 5 swell pedals, and 1 crescendo. And in addition to this the prayer room echo organ has a keyboard of its own. Electricity is, of course, the motive pewer. More than 1,300 miles of wire have been used in the cables and on the magnets. It requires a 10 h.p. blower forcing air through an Igin pipe, to keep the bellows of the organ filled. The organ is 40ft wide across the front, 20ft deep, and 30ft high.— ‘Popular Mechanics Magazine,* (Chicago).