Jim Quashnock wrote:

> I am not aware of any "reed" ranks which are totally made
> with flue pipes.  Maybe someone else can shed light on this.

Jim, (and anyone else who may be interested in this),

Thanks to the genius of William Haskell in the early part of this
century, quite a number of very imitative reed sounds were made by
reedless pipes, such as the Saxophone.  There were not reeds within
them.

Some of the other pipe makers, in deference to the demands of organ
customers who knew that pipe organs were going to go "into the boonies"
[the frontier] when this country was still under development, specified
reedless organs, but obtained a reed-like but not particularly
imitative, with the exception of Haskell (who later joined the Estey
Company) pipes.

Finally, another variant on the theme is the pipework which was
developed by the Aeolian Company whereby a free reed, as used in reed
organs, was fitted in a rather long tube in such a way that wind coming
from the windchest beneath was made to pass through an angular block
which blocked the tube and to which the reed was affixed.  The tube
acted as a resonator, as in any conventional impinging (striking or
beating) reed construction.

These pipes were not able to be tuned with a wire, but with a funnel-
like canister affixed with a spiral ramp on a small solder bead at the
top.  The pipe was tuned by turning the funnel up or down on the main
body of the cylinder.

Hope someone finds this information useful.

Faithfully,

Richard Schneider,
Schneider Pipe Organs, Inc., Organbuilders
41-43 Johnston St., P. O. Box 137, Kenney, IL  61749-0137
http://www.schneiderpipeorgans.com