t the old low-pressure idea should have held sway so
long, in view of the fact that very heavy wind is employed for the
production of the best tone from the human voice and from the various
wind instruments of the orchestra.

Karl Gottlieb Weigle, of Stuttgart, was a little in advance of many of
his confreres in using moderately heavy pressures, but he departed from
the leather lip and narrow mouth used by Hope-Jones and has obtained
power without refinement.

In employing these heavy pressures of wind, increased purity and beauty
of tone should alone be aimed at. Power will take care of itself.

MECHANICAL BLOWERS.

The "organ beater" of bygone days was invariably accompanied by the
"organ pumper," often by several of them. There is a well-known story
of how the man refused to blow any longer unless the organist said that
"_we_ had done very well to-day." The organ pumper's vocation is now
almost entirely gone, especially in this country, although we know of
organs in England which require four men "to blow the same" unto this
day.

When Willis built the great organ in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, in
1855, he installed an eight-horsepower steam engine to provide the wind
supply. There is a six-horse steam engine in use in Chester Cathedral
(installed 1876).

Gas and petrol (gasoline) engines have been used extensively in
England, providing a cheaper, but, with feeders, a less controllable,
prime mover. By far the commonest source of power has been the water
motor, as it was economical and readily governed, and as water pressure
was generally available, but the decline of the old-time bellows, with
the fact that many cities to-day refuse to permit motors to be operated
from the water mains, have given the field practically to the electric
motor, now generally used in connection with some form of rotary fans.
The principle of fans in series, first introduced by Cousans, of
Lincoln, England, under the name of the Kinetic Blower, is now accepted
as standard. This consists of a number of cleverly designed fans
mounted in series on one shaft, the first delivering air to the second
at, say, 3-inch pressure, to be raised another step and delivered to
the next in series, etc., etc. This plan permits tapping off desired
amounts of air at intermediate pressures with marked economy, and as it
is slow speed, and generally direct connected with its motor on the
same shaft, it is both quiet and mechanically efficient