Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - [permaculture] Re: Compressed Air via the Trompe

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Scott Pittman <pci@permaculture-inst.org>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Re: Compressed Air via the Trompe
  • Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 18:57:58 -0600

Perhaps you misunderstood, I wasn't talking about leather bellows, but a Trompe which is a device that utilizes falling water to produce compressed air which is then used for the pipe organ or whatever. Of course one must have a source of falling water.

Scott P.

At 08:32 PM 6/23/03 -0400, Robert Waldrop wrote:
In pre electricity days, air pressure for pipe organs was provided by
manually pumped bellows. One of the ways that organ students paid for
their lessons was by pumping the bellows while their teacher played for
services or was practicing. The instrument I am responsible for was
originally built in 1865, and is all mechanical inside, except that at
some time in the 20th century the hand pump bellows were removed and an
electric fan was installed to fill the wind chest with air.

A pipe organ, despite its mighty sound, does not actually require a lot
of air. I once questioned our organ tuner about the electrical
requirement for the fan in the organ, and he said it used less than 300
watts.

So a hand pumped bellows would be fine for music, but I'm dubious about
it having much utility beyond that.




  • [permaculture] Re: Compressed Air via the Trompe, Scott Pittman, 06/23/2003

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page