I have just finished rebuilding a Western Cottage Organ Co. (Mendota,
Ill.) reed organ.  It has a type of coupler that I had not seen before.
The coupler has a "Patented June 30, 1874" sticker on it.  It consists
of two sticks set at a "V," so that front end of one stick went over
the pallet stick on note 1 and, when activated, would push on a leather
ring glued to that pallet stick, while the front of the other stick
went over the pallet stick on note 13, just under the key, with a short
rod sticking up so that, when activated, the key would push down on the
stick.

The back ends of the two sticks were joined by a short threaded rod
with a leather nut to make fine adjustments.  There is a wood rod
running the long way of the keyframe, which is split into two sections,
so that the bass and treble couplers are separate.  It is of a diamond
cross-section and is located between the two sticks.  When the rod is
turned so that the narrow cross-section is up and down, the couplers do
not engage; however when it is rotated so that the point of the diamond
is top and bottom, it holds the two sticks apart, so that when key 13
is pressed, it pushes down on both pallet stick 13 and pallet stick 1.
This continues in a similar fashion for the rest of the coupled notes.

For my own curiosity, I wonder whether anyone else has seen this style
of coupler and whether anyone has more information about it.

I will send some pictures.

John Dewey

  [ John did send pictures; but Robbie, who knows how to post them to
  [ the MMD Gallery, is away until October 12th.  Anyone wanting to see
  [ the pictures in the meantime should send email to me using the editor's
  [ address: editor-1201@mmdigest.com.geentroep [deleting .geengroep]
  [ --Relief Editor.