Goulburn, R.C. Cathedral, organ by Hill & Son, 1890

7. SOUNDBOARDS AND WIND CHEST

Wind pressure 78 mm (3 inches) measured at c0 Open Diapason 8 ft. (large) and c0 and f0 Open Diapason 8 ft. (small). The wind pressure operating the Barker lever action was not measured, since the special bellows supplying that action was not inflating.


 

Details of soundboards and wind chest

  Great
 Swell
 Choir
 Pedal Pedal
Open Diapason
Construction Slider Slider Slider Slider Pallet chest + wind ventil
Placement* 2.57m 1.93m 1.93m
(transverse) 		1.35m
(transverse) 		-
(transverse)
Width of chest 2.25m 2.20m 60cm 65cm -
Depth of chest 1.15m 1.44m 1.67m 3.0m -
Order of channels Symmetrical
(small in centre, C on left)		 Symmetrical
(large in centre, C on left)		 Assymetrical
- 9 displaced		 See below -


* distance from floor to bottom of pallet chest (Fig.9)

Order of channels for Pedal soundboard

e0 d0 c0 A# G# F# E D C C# D# F G A B c0 d#0
f#0 - - - - - - - - - ->             <- - - - - - - - f0

 

Order of ranks

GREAT SWELL
1 Open Diapason 8 ft (large) 1 Bourdon 16 ft
2 Open Diapason 8 ft (small) 2 Open Diapason 8 ft
3 Hohlflute 8 ft 3 Salicional 8 ft
4 Principal 4 ft 4 Stopped Diapason 8 ft
5 Twelfth 3 ft 5 Voix Celeste 8 ft
6 Harmonic Flute 4 ft 6 Principal 4 ft
7 Fifteenth 2 ft 7 Fifteenth 2 ft
8 Mixture III 8 Mixture III
9 Posaune 8 ft 9 Horn 8 ft
CHOIR 10 Oboe 8 ft
1 Dulciana 8 ft PEDAL
2 Gamba 8 ft 1 Open Diapason 16 ft
3 Lieblich Gedact 8 ft 2 Bourdon 16 ft
4 Suabe Flute 4 ft 3 Violoncello 8 ft
5 Clarionet 8 ft 4 Trombone 16 ft

Measurements of soundboards (mm)

  GREAT SWELL CHOIR PEDAL
Thickness of pallet chest 480 520 370 365
Height of pallet chest 135 135 108 123
Height of note channels 95 97 70 85
Thickness of base board 13 14 15 15
Thickness of sliders 9 7 7.5 8
Thickness of top board 24 25 27 55 (Bourdon)
45 (others)
Pallet form simple (fig 10) split (fig 11) simple simple

Measurements of slider widths (mm)
Rank designations as above

  GREAT SWELL CHOIR PEDAL
Bearer 35 42 48 45
Rank 1 68 80 75 93
Bearer 50 55 45 145
Rank 2 68 66 64 60
Bearer 75 50 55 110
Rank 3 75 58 70 67
Bearer 66 55 43 40
Rank 4 66 69 64 35
Bearer 54 50 27 45
Rank 5 52 55 70  
Bearer 30 38 37  
Rank 6 70 56    
Bearer 28 49    
Rank 7 50 41    
Bearer 55 25    
Rank 8 75 65    
Bearer 33 52    
Rank 9 122 118    
Bearer 44 24    
Rank 10   68    
Bearer   46    

8. WIND SUPPLY

2 double-rise bellows present.

The larger one, situated in the lower part of the organ, supplies wind at 78mm for all of the pipework.

The smaller one, sited to the left of the Swell box supplies wind for the Barker lever mechanism.

Other details are as follows:

  Large bellows for pipework Small bellows for action
Height of base board above floor level 33 cm level with Choir and Swell soundboards - about 1.93 cm from the floor
Thickness of base boards 5 cm 2.7 cm
Height of junction 12.5 cm 10 cm
Width of bellows 3.4 m 75 cm
Depth of bellows 2.35 m 1.45 m
Weights About 30 stone slabs, no inscription 6 lead wights inscribed "B". 2 iron weights (blocks) (no inscriptions)
1 stone slab (no inscriptions)

2 Concussion bellows

  1. Bottom (large) reservoir to Choir soundboard. Situated on the wind trunk. 72 cm x 22.5 cm (Plate 44)
  2. Bottom (large) reservoir to Great soundboard. Situated on the wind trunk. 87 cm x 23 cm.

Wind trunk measurements

  External dimensions Thickness of timber Total length
Bottom reservoir to Choir soundboard 27 cm x 10 cm 10 mm 152 cm
Bottom reservoir to Great soundboard 33 cm x 14 cm 10 mm 225 cm
Bottom reservoir to Swell soundboard 39.5 cm x 14 cm 10 mm 223 cm
Bottom reservoir to Pedal soundboard 27 cm x 10 cm 10 mm 128 cm
Action reservoir to action 13 cm x 5.5 cm 10 mm 226 cm

Swell tremulant (Plate 3)
Hand blowing apparatus is still present and operable. (Plate 45)
The large handle (right hand side) supplies the lower reservoir (i.e. wind for the pipework).
The small handle (left hand side) supplies the upper reservoir for the Barker lever action.
The remains of the two telltales are visible on Plate 45.
The console telltale has vanished, although its hole can still be seen.

Safety vales

Both lower and upper reservoirs have pull-down safety valves.

9. CONSOLE

Order of stopknobs

LH jamb
RH jamb
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
35
13
34
12
33
11
32
10
31
9
30
8
29
7
28
6
27
5
26
4
25
3
24
2
23
1
22

Numbering for the above

GREAT SWELL
27 Open Diapason 8 ft (large) 11 Bourdon 16 ft
28 Open Diapason 8 ft (small) 12 Open Diapason 8 ft
29 Hohlflute 8 ft 13 Salicional 8 ft
30 Principal 4 ft 14 Stopped Diapason 8 ft
32 Twelfth 3 ft 15 Voix Celeste 8 ft
31 Harmonic Flute 4 ft 16 Principal 4 ft
33 Fifteenth 2 ft 17 Fifteenth 2 ft
34 Mixture III 18 Mixture III
35 Posaune 8 ft 19 Horn 8 ft
  20 Oboe 8 ft
CHOIR 21 Tremulant  
22 Dulciana 8 ft PEDAL
23 Gamba 8 ft 1 Open Diapason 16 ft
24 Lieblich Gedact 8 ft 2 Bourdon 16 ft
25 Suabe Flute 4 ft 3 Violoncello 8 ft
26 Clarionet 8 ft 4 Trombone 16 ft
COUPLERS      
1 Choir to Pedal
2 Great to Pedal
3 Swell to Pedal
4 Swell to Great
5 Swell to Choir
6 Swell Octave to Great

 

Face-shape Circular, Diam. 28 mm
Diagonal distance (25 deg. from centre of one draw-stop to the next) 72-74 mm
Vertical distance from centre of one draw-stop to the next 53-55 mm
Shanks Circular section, Diam. 19 mm
Length of head, incl. label 52 mm
Length of draw 74-77 mm (55 mm for tremulant)
Type of lettering Roman sans-serif capitals, 4 mm high
Plates 46-48
Cross-section of stop head Fig 12, Plate 49.
Colour of lettering  
LH jamb, Swell Black
LH jamb, Pedal Dark green
Couplers Red (only 3 originals present)
RH jamb, Great Black
RH jamb, Choir Red

Music desk assembly lifts out to expose mechanism.

Keyboards

Compass C-g3 (56 notes)

Vertical distance between Manual I and Pedal 75 cm
Vertical distance between Manual I and Manual II 68 mm
Vertical distance between Manual II and Manual III 64 mm
Horizontal distance between Manual I and Manual II 105 mm
Horizontal distance between Manual II and Manual III 105 mm
Length of one octave 162 mm
Length of 3 octaves 488 mm
Depth of touch, manual I / II / III 6 / 8 / 7-8 mm

Materials

White keys: ivory
Black keys: ebony

Pedals

Compass C-f1 (30 notes), concave and non-radiating, c-centred. d0 is 50mm lower than extremities.
Fig. 15 and Plate 51.

Keyboard cheeks

Fig. 16 (tracing), Plate 50.

Lighting arrangements

The present light fittings look quite old, and they may well be original.

Composition pedals

3 composition pedals of iron the the Great and Pedal.
3 composition pedals of iron for the Swell. (Plate 51)
These act as follows:

Combination 1 2 3
GREAT
27 Open Diapason 8 ft (large) - + +
28 Open Diapason 8 ft (small) + + +
29 Hohlflute 8 ft + + +
30 Principal 4 ft - + +
32 Twelfth 3 ft - + +
31 Harmonic Flute 4 ft - - +
33 Fifteenth 2 ft - - +
34 Mixture III - - +
35 Posaune 8 ft - - o
PEDAL
1 Bourdon 16 ft + + +
2 Violoncello 8 ft - + +
3 Trombone 16 ft - - o

 

Combination 1 2 3
SWELL
11 Bourdon 16 ft - - +
12 Open Diapason 8 ft - - +
13 Salicional 8 ft + + +
14 Stopped Diapason 8 ft + + +
15 Voix Celeste 8 ft - - o
16 Principal 4 ft - - +
17 Fifteenth 2 ft - - +
18 Mixture III - - o
19 Horn 8 ft - + +
20 Oboe 8 ft - + +

Nameplate of the builder is now missing, but its original position between Manual III and the music desk assembly is clearly visible. The rebuilder's nameplate is shown in Plate 6.

Organ bench - Fig. 17

Swell shutter control by hitch-down pedal (3 positions), Plate 51.

10. CASE

The display pipes are arranged into 5 groups of flats: 5 - 12 - 7 - 12 - 5 (Plate 2)

These pipes are decorated in 2 basic patterns, A & B, in this order: A - B - A1 - B - A.
A1 only differs from A in the band near the top of each pipe.

Additionally the Pedal Open Diapason 16 ft is partly displayed int he left hand side of the case, and has a simple decorative pattern of horizontal bands.

Above the right hand side of the case, the tops fo teh Pedal bourdon 16 ft and the Pedal trombone 16 ft are visible.

Size

Width 5 metres, depth 4.2 metres (incl. pedals), height approx. 6 metres.

Shape of display pipemouths Fig. 18 and Plate 52.

Order of display pipes

Pedal Open Diapason 16 ft: A G F D# C# C D E F# F# A#

Great Open Diapason 8 ft (large)
Great Open Diapason 8 ft (small)
x = dummy pipe.

E D C C D E F# G# G# A# c0 d0 e0 f#0 f#0 x e0 d0 c0 A# B c#0 d#0 x x f0 f0 d#0 c#0 B A A G G F D# C# C# D# F

11. SWELL BOX

Tuning access through 4 side doors and a lift-off reed tuning flap at the front.

Doors are also present on the sloping surfaces.

6 horizontal shutters, each 1.96 m x 25 cm.

Wood 46 mm thick.

Total depth of Swell box = 1.66 m.
Total width of Swell box = 2.28 m.
Total height of Swell box = 2.75 m.

Shape of Swell box Fig. 19.

RACK BOARDS

All 16 mm thick.
Rack pillars 118 mm high (Fig. 20)
Wooden screws for rack nuts.