Hi Y'all,  While working on Bill's Mortier organ, I found that it
seemed to loose vacuum pressure whenever I played it.  So, through
the process of elimination, I ferreted out the problem.  I started
by disconnecting all feed lines to all instruments and then hooked them
up one at a time.  Still, it seem to be starving for vacuum.  So I by-
passed the distributor and cut-out block, and tried each unit one by
one.  I found that all worked fine.

I then proceeded to put the cut-out and distributor block back in,
only hooking up the valve stack for pipes only and plugging off all
other lines, and -- low and behold -- I found my problem.  The cut-out
pouch in the distributor block was not receding back far enough to let
the vacuum flow strong.

Upon further inspection, I found several things had gone to pot in
the block:

1.  The pouch leather had started to swell up and roll outward.
2.  The bleed cup hole was corroded and the hole got to big.  And
3.  The gaskets (they are rubber?), had thinned out and rotted.

The cure: I replaced the bleed cup, the pouch leather and fiber disc,
and in place of a rubber gasket, I made a gasket out of 1/8 inch thick
leather.

My summation was this, when working on a modified organ that has a
vacuum pump (electric) added to it, disconnect a suction feed line from
the nipple or tube and listen for a whistle.  If you hear a whistle,
then the vacuum is being restricted from everything, thus you have a
very sluggish playing band organ, in every sense of the word.

Now, instead of running the organ with a 90 cfm [cubic feet per minute]
pump, we can take it down to 45 cfm, one-half of what is running it at
the moment.  Also, we have already put colored lights in the organ with
micro-switches operating on registers and trap instruments.  What a
wild effect it adds, and it is fun to watch the different colors light
up as each register turns on and off.

By the way, not to forget, my squashed finger mended very good.  I do
not have a fingernail grown in yet, but it is getting there.

Sincerely,

Gordy Forcier
perrrfectguy@webtv.net