117 pipe

117 pipe Monkey Organ English design

This is one of two identical-looking organs one with a paper roll (circa 1970) and the other with magnetised plastic tape (circa 1999). There pipes are 117 pipes made from aluminium and two banks of reeds modified from re-cycled harmonicas.

For those that are interested, the internal tubing is soldered copper, not plastic or rubber as in most of the other organs. Each flexible copper tube is joined to the respective aluminium pipe by freeze-shrinking the end and of the copper tube and wedging it into a tight-fitting hole bored into wooden plug which in turn is wedged into the whistle-end of the pipe. As the copper tubing warms back to room temperature it expands a minute fraction, forming an air-tight seal.

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