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The ‘Telharmonium’ or ‘Dynamophone’ Thaddeus Cahill, USA 1897
Thadeus Cahillb. Mount Zion,Iowa 1867, d. New York City 1934 In 1897 Thaddeus Cahill patented what was to become the “Telharmonium” or “Dynamophone” which can be considered the first significant...
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The ‘Hammond Organ’. Laurens Hammond, USA, 1935
The original Hammond Organ was Designed and built by the ex-watchmaker Laurens Hammond and John M Hanert in April 1935. Hammond set up his ‘Hammond Organ Company’ in Evanston, Illinois to produce...
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The ‘Rangertone Organ’. Richard H.Ranger, USA, 1932
Richard Ranger at the Rangertone Organ The Rangertone Organ was a large electronic tone-wheel based organ developed by the electronics engineer and pioneer of audio recording Richard Ranger in the...
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The ‘Choralcelo’ Melvin Linwood Severy & George.B. Sinclair. USA, 1909
The Choralcelo (“heavenly Voices”) was a hybrid electronic and electro-acoustic instrument conceived as a commercial high-end domestic organ, sold to wealthy owners of large country houses in the USA....
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The ‘Wave Organ’. Frank Morse Robb. Canada. 1927
The Robb Wave Organ designed by Morse Robb in Belleville, Ontario was an early pre-cursor, and said to be musically superior, to the Hammond Organ. The instrument attempted to reproduce the sound of...
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The ‘Electrone’ and ‘Melotone’ Leslie Bourn, United Kingdom, 1932
Since the 1920’s the Compton Organ Co had been the premier manufacturer of pipe organs for cinemas, churches and dance halls in the UK. In 1932 Compton developed their first electronic “pipe-less”...
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The ‘Mastersonic Organ’ John Goodell & Ellsworth Swedien, USA, 1949
The Mastersonic Organ was an improved tone wheel organ designed to produce more accurate pipe organ sounds. The designers, John Goodell and Ellsworth Swedien, discovered that if they shaped the...
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The Magneton. Wilhelm Lenk & Rudolf Stelzhammer. Austria, 1930
Rudolf Stelzhammer and Wilhelm Lenk demonstrating the Magenton at the Erfindermesse, London 1935 The Magneton, designed by Wilhelm Lenk at the University of Vienna, was a tone-wheel organ-like...
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The ‘Hugoniot Organ’. Charles-Emile Hugoniot . France, 1921
A diagram from Hugoniot’s patent for a tone-wheel sound generator December 1919 Charles–Emile Hugoniot ( died; France, 1927 ) was a French mechanic, researcher and inventor of an early electronic...
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