A Vox Continental from mid 1963
Keyboard
Early Vox Continental, keyboard assembly swung up on the hinges on its back edge. The board encompasses four octaves.
The wooden Continental keyboard assemblies were produced for JMI by Herrburger Brooks of Long Eaton, contracted by Jennings at least as early as 1954 to produce keyboards for the Univox.
Herrburger's name and address stamped on the side of the first key of the Continental pictured on this page.
Below, thanks to Steve, shots of the inner labelling in Univox J6 serial number 1736.
Dated ist July 1954.
So far as one can tell, the manufacture of keyboards for Jennings console organs was contracted out (for the most part) by Tom and Derek to Kimber Allen in Swanley, Kents. It may be, however, that Herrburger was also been used - from late 1958 - for the smaller "church and chapel" models. The "Model H" for instance has a keyboard of the exactly the same span as the Continental's.
That Derek Underdown was assisted by Herrburger in designing the keyboard, which is reasonably complex, seems more than likely.
The standard Herrburger advert placed in journals dedicated to the history, design, and promotion of organs.
Below some general shots for orientation; further details to be added in due course. Little will be said about the key contact assembly itself for the time being. A series of videos on youtube gives a sense of its arrangement in a slightly later Continental - this is the first of a series of four.
General views of the organ pictured below can be found here.
Details
The keyboard assembly is number 32479, the lowest encountered so far. The next earliest is 39150. By late August 1963 the sequence had reached 42139 (Continental serial number TC1089). The key (sorry) to the numbering system - which is not immediately clear - may lie in the Herrburger Archive, preserved in the Derbyshire Record Office in Matlock. A visit is planned soon.
All keys were stamped, in order, with a number 1-49. At the front of the keyboard a black metal plate with a felt-covered lip keeps the naturals in place - ie. stops them pivoting upwards (see the image at the head of this page). Sharps and flats are tethered by long thin screws. All slots and potential friction points are cushioned with red and green felt - red felt on the keys themselves, green on the wood of the assembly.
The keys are tensioned at back with springs that hook into a series of notched plates. The plates are capable of being adjusted to provide more or less pull.
The first two keys stamped with the assembly number (32479) - standard Herrburger practice for early Continentals.
A detail showing the rear of the assembly - springs latched onto the tensioning plates. Note at left one of the two hinges that allow the assembly to be swung up for maintenance.
The key contact assembly is the long metal box in the centre. The wires emerging from its left side feed the signals from the buss-bars to the drawbar assembly.
Plaque on the key contact assembly. This probably came from "Jennings Organ Company" days. The patent had long been granted by the time the organ came to be made. See this page.
The resistor distribution array for the keys is cleverly positioned beneath the generator assemblies. There is a resistor set - really a divider resistor set - for every key (note) in the four octaves. The array stands in the circuit between the key contact assembly and the generator-divider circuits.
Last but not least, the keyboard is secured to the lower case (to prevent it hinging) by a simple wood screw that runs from the sloping underside of the organ through to the keyboard frame forward of the key contact assembly.
