Emmons Hamlin

Biography

Emmons Hamlin, while working at the melodeon factory of George A. Prince & Company of Buffalo, made the important discovery of 'voicing' organ reeds so that a given reed could be made to imitate a clarinet, violin, or other instrument. He developed this discovery to perfection and, in 1854, formed a partnership with Henry Mason under the firm name of Mason & Hamlin to manufacture a new musical instrument called the organ harmonium. Hamlin was described as a painstaking, exact working mechanic with considerable genius as an inventor. The firm he co-founded went on to develop the American Cabinet Organ, winning a world-wide reputation, and added piano manufacture to its industries in 1881. Emmons Hamlin is credited as the inventor whose ideas Henry Mason recognized the possibilities of and developed, upon returning from studies in Germany, into the firm of Mason and Hamlin, whose American cabinet organ became a worldwide success.

Highlights

• Discovered how to "voice" organ reeds to imitate a clarinet, violin, or other instrument while working at George A. Prince & Company's melodeon factory
• Formed Mason & Hamlin with Henry Mason in 1854 to manufacture the organ harmonium
• Described as a painstaking, exact mechanic with considerable inventive genius
• His invention was developed by Henry Mason into the house of Mason and Hamlin, maker of the American cabinet organ

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 315; Vol. II (1913), p. 153.

Public domain.