Many historic organs have winding systems which, in earlier times, were manually operated. In today’s organs, the bellows are provided with wind by an electric blower. However, the high number of revolutions of the electric fan results in air turbulence in the wind trunk which, in turn, has a negative effect on the sound of the organ.
Making use of our experience and research, we have created a prototype whereby the bellows are mechanically manipulated (opened and closed) in the way they would have been by human power in historic times. This results in small fluctuations in the flow of wind which add to its ‘breathing’ quality, whilst eliminating the disruptive turbulence in the wind trunk.
The system is a valuable addition to historically conceived new organs, but the concept has also been developed to be integrated into existing (historic) organs in a relatively simple way. The concept is modular and can be applied to organs with three or more bellows, irrespective of their relative positions.