Jeff Bridges asked about patents on the "whole organ" as opposed to
improvements in the various parts.  It's extraordinarily unlikely that
such a patent would ever have been applied for or granted due to there
being hundreds of years of "prior art" for organs, both mechanical and
otherwise.

To be patentable, among other things, an invention needs to be "novel",
"useful", and "non-obvious" (these are terms of art, with a vast
literature and many court cases devoted to their definitions, a Google
search will bring up more than you will ever care to read on the
subject).

By the time of Wurlitzer coming into existence there were many
examples, largely from Europe (many, indeed imported by Wurlitzer) of
mechanically played organs rendering the invention of the whole organ
no longer novel and therefore not patentable subject matter.
Improvements, e.g., a better drum beater, may well have met the tests
of novelty, utility and unobviousness and therefore become the subjects
of patents.

Google patent searching is alive and well at
http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en

I think it may have moved down a notch in the menu of possible searches
-- you have to go now to "even more Google" to find it.  Patents can
also be searched at http://www.uspto.gov/ or on the European IP site
http://gb.espacenet.com/search97cgi/s97_cgi.exe?Action=FormGen&Template=gb/en/quick.hts

The EU site is the best for finding worldwide patents and seems to be
better for finding published applications of you are interested in
areas of current activity.  Google is the easiest to use.

Did anyone else notice the assertion in the recent AMICA Bulletin that
patent searching was only available through paid commercial services?
Someone needs to get out more often!

Cheers,
Roger "not a patent attorney, but spends way too much time with them"
Wiegand
Wayland, Massachusetts, USA
http://www.carouselorgan.com/