Rebuilding the Æolian Orchestrelle
58-Note Player Reed Organ, 1912 Model "W"
by Richard Vance
Copyright (C) 2002 by Richard Z. Vance
rev. A, 16 July 2002

Chapter 21.1 Assembling the Ranks, Introduction.

    Now for the hard part, putting the ranks with the pallets and pouch boards all together, to make speaking stops.

    While doing the preliminary tests of the leak tightness of the pouches (see Chapter 21.3), I discovered all sorts of leaks between the pouch boards and the vertical channel panels.  Close examination of the vertical panels disclosed that they were slightly warped.  The array of cardboard washers that are supposed to concentrate the gasket force were not perfectly level, and some of the seals were imperfect.

    I had to level the array of washers, by building some of them up with additional cardboard punchings.  Piano fron rail punchings, 7/8" diameter with the centers punched out to match the holes, were glued on as required.

    Then the completed gasket seat array was recoated with shellac.  When reinstalled, there were no more leaks here.  A rather tedious task, but necessary because the organ had been kept in an unheated barn for decades.

    The Chapters in this section are:
        Chapter 21.1 - Introduction
        Chapter 21.2 - Gluing the pouches
        Chapter 21.3 - Testing the pouches
        Chapter 21.4 - Chest assembly
        Chapter 21.5 - The pallet tiewires
        Chapter 21.6 - Functional test

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