Letter from H.W. Homer

I was delighted to receive your letter dated Jan 31st. but am astonished that it found me amongst a town's population of over 100,000 with quite a number of `Homers' therein, especially as it seems to have come without any lost time.  I am wondering whether the information as to my whereabouts was post office or police knowledge, and feel somewhat uneasy at apparently being somewhat notorious.

I read with great interest all you had to say and envy your facilities for getting both material and expert assistance.  I am not sure however that I would really appreciate the latter.  I am a `lone wolf' who prefers to
work alone and get quite a kick out of some new idea if it works (which it usually doesn't..) but although I enjoy any discussion on organ matters I hate having people around when I'm at work, especially as my shop is very small.  I confess that much time is wasted by having ideas and then trying them out instead of continuing the construction on orthodox lines, but its much more fun, one gets plenty of exasperation and irritation but its worth it for the occasional spasm of elation and exhilaration experienced when something goes right for a change!

Turning now to direct electric actions, I'm afraid I should write a book on them if I attempted to give you all the data collected over the past five years or so.  The direct electric actions have had a great attraction for me
because of their apparent simplicity and obvious adaptability, particularly for low wind pressures.  I found on coming to use them however that they were not all they appeared to be and possessed several disadvantages.

For one thing, the comparatively heavy armatures means that the inertia is considerable; this results in sluggish opening (since the actual power available is really very small) but when the pallet closes, the pressure
of the wind makes it slam like a door in a gale so that the action is very far from noiseless, a most serious defect in a chamber organ. 

In order to save a lot of typing I am sending some photos (13 in all) including various electric actions, both pallet and relay and you may be able to gain from these (with the aid of a magnifying glass) some idea of what I've been doing.  So far as pallet actions are concerned I much prefer the `reversed type' which you will find on the drawing enclosed.  The latter was made because it seemed worthwhile getting at least a provisional patent cover for the idea.  Its method of working will be obvious to anyone familiar with organ actions so I will spare myself the labour of a full detailed description. 

You will however note that the `B' type (....hole in page here...) .. a comparatively feeble magnet to operate a large pallet owing to the balancing action of the pneumatic; moreover, the latter is arranged with a simple non-return valve and adjustable leak which enables the pallet to open quickly yet controls the rate of closing so that the larger pipes (for which this type of pallet is designed) can obtain sufficient wind to generate their tone however quickly the key is struck. 

The action illustrated at A' comprises the ordinary commercial action (drawn full size) fixed in a small box instead of acting directly under the pipe hole, this makes it quicker opening (it does not have to overcome the wind pressure as well as the return spring at the moment of opening) and much quieter closing.

The all electric relay action for the extended pipes is modeled on the Compton pattern but uses rocking contact bars for the stops instead of metal rods which work in a vertical plane in the commercial action. This relay (on my Swell Organ) was made in 1942 and has not been touched since it was installed, not even to clean the contacts, and it has given no trouble whatever. The power required is quite small, both the key magnets and those working the stop contact bars are simple lever magnets taking 100 millamps at 12 volts.  This system also has the advantage of reducing the console wiring. 

I am using only one contact per key.  Of course if you want super and sub. couplers on individual manuals then extra multi-contact switches and extra key contacts are essential but I have avoided these and the usual inter-manual couplers (and ped.) can all be worked off the main relays, whether unison or super and sub. I seem to have typed an awful lot but have left much out, however, if there are any other points on which you would like information let me know and I will do my best to help.

I was interested to hear of your experiences with old `Mark Wicks' and I have a soft spot for the gentleman since he provided me with many happy hours in my early youth.  I have Milne's book but don't think much of it, I doubt whether the author in question ever really built an organ; if he did then he doesn't write as if such were the case.  I have a strong suspicion that he `lifted' much from Wicks, some pages and passages are practically identical! Dr Barnes's book I agree is exceptionally good but for real detail and fundamentals you cannot of course beat `The Art of Organ Building'.  It is a pity this could not be revised, or rather brought up to date by someone equally competent because there are so few books covering in this detail modern actions.

Thank you very much for your kind words and good wishes, I can only hope that the enclosures will provide you with some food for thought (and material for work) of a congenial nature.  I also trust that they will arrive safely.

With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,

H.W. Homer