I made a very exciting discovery over the weekend: at least 120 letters
personally typed and signed by Edwin Welte!  They were written to
Richard Simonton, my father, between 1947 and 1957.  There were also
more than 20 letters from Karl Bockisch, who apparently controlled the
Welte company after Welte was forced out "by a court ruling" in 1930.

There was an interesting atmosphere of cooperation and rivalry in the
letters.  Welte called Bockisch "an old man."  One legend says that
the master Welte-Mignon rolls were hidden in a cave during WW2.  In
September of 1947, Edwin Welte wrote that Karl Bockisch had just told
him that 4000 rolls were still under the roof of the parsonage in the
Black Forest and must be brought out and organized.  There is much more
in the letters to read and digest.

While a description of the recording process would be most welcome,
it doesn't seem likely that Welte or Bockisch ever put it in writing.
One Welte roll catalogue has many photos of recording sessions -- the
most I've ever seen in one place -- but all they show of the recording
machines internal workings is the occasional open spool box.

In a sequence of letters, Karl Bockisch found a Steinway-Welte piano
for my father to purchase.  He recommended August Schelb (whom I
remember) as a qualified technician to work on the player mechanism
in California, but added that only he, Bockisch, could make the final
adjustments.  That never happened, of course.  Bockisch died in 1952
and the final business of acquiring the piano with additional master
rolls was transacted with his widow.

There was a surprising amount of information about the Welte Lichtton
Orgel, or Phototone Organ.  Original printed material about the 1936
prototypes was included, and even a program from a concert.  Then I
found a stack of material relating to a Model II, which Edwin Welte was
trying to develop after the war.  Pages of sketches and descriptions
showed that it was ready to produce, and there was reference to some
prototype parts already fabricated.  In the late 1940's, Welte had 50
new brochures printed.

My father obviously aided in researching this effort because the boxes
contained a great many patent documents about musical instruments that
optically reproduced the wave forms of real instruments.  There was
one patent (1932, as I recall) granted to E. Welte and K. Bockisch, but
there were others before and since that had the same idea.

I don't know what became of the Model II project, but I suspect Welte's
age had something to do with not continuing.  And my father probably
advised against it, since such a mechanical device would not be state
of the art nearly 20 years after my father's electronic organ patents
had been issued, and because there might have been many patent
conflicts for the optical system.  But it was a clever idea and would
have impacted the course of Hammond Organ history in the 1930's if
Hitler had not intervened.

Mostly, the letters expressed gratitude for life-saving parcels of food
and clothing.  Lilo Welte, Edwin's daughter, wrote to remind my mother
of her 1948 visit when local German girls had laughed at my mother's
relatively modern American attire, yet Lilo was thrilled when she was
sent similar things to wear.  Karl Bockisch once wrote, "Don't send
more macaroni."

Edwin Welte often expounds at length about political views.  He was
understandably bitter, but having officers of the French occupational
forces share his house, and eventually confiscate his custom-made
dining furniture and move him into the loft, certainly added insult
to injury.  The combined letters would not make a valuable technical
document, but they certainly portray the life of a great man who
suffered and survived an unimaginable ordeal.  That he still dreamed
of producing the Lichtton Orgel is proof of an indomitable spirit.

Lots of other information turned up.  Wonderful brochures for Welte
orchestrions, organs, and pianos.  There was a description in one
letter of the difference between the 100-pitch red rolls and the
98-pitch green ones, information which was new to me.  All of this
material belongs in a museum.  First I will photocopy everything and
organize it.  Then interesting facts will be shared with MMD readers
as they come to light.

Richard Simonton, Jr.

 [ Some of the patents related to Edwin Welte's pneumatic
 [ inventions and the Lichtton Orgel are summarized at
 [ http://mmd.foxtail.com/Pictures/Welte/  -- Robbie