Allen Organ Company Museum Tour
Early Analog Years: 1937 - 1958

-- continued


Pearce Organ
Pearce Organ
This organ was sold in 1946 to Robert Pearce, who later became Allen's first Vice-President of Sales. As a freelance organist, Pearce entertained at Strickland's Mountain Retreat in Pennsylvania with this instrument.

The organ's "Gyrophonic Projector" speaker cabinets were developed by Allen and rotated at various speeds for different effects. This patented system was the first method for imparting motion to electronically produced sounds. Stationary speakers were used to produce the low pedal tones.
Coil-Winding Machine
coil-rack assembly
    Early coil-rack assembly.
Coil-Winding Machine
This early coil-winding machine (photo on left) was used to manufacture coils used to produce the various sounds of the organ. The size of the coils, roughly the shape of a doughnut, determined the sound's tuning. The larger the coil, the lower the pitch. By the 1950s, Allen research and development had reduced the size of tone generation so that it could be installed in the organ console, eliminating the external racks needed for earlier organs.


Coil Winding Machine