WIND PIPE

Not a lot of people know all of this - well I did not until today . . .

Stopped Diapason, Lieblich Flute, and Dulciana are among the wonderful names given to organ pipes. All organ pipes belong to one of two families, the Flue pipes (as in a flute) and the Reed pipes (as in a trumpet).

An organ requires lots of wind in order to work. Wind from the bellows (electric or manual) is controlled by Stops that determine which pipes are allowed to speak and which pipes are to remain silent.

It is the length of a pipe that determines the pitch of the sound it makes.Organ pipes are grouped together in rows, or ranks, according to the particular sound that the pipes make. Each rank has enough pipes for every note on the keyboard and so there are usually 61 pipes in a rank. There has to be one Stop for each rank of pipes.

In this filtered image are simple Flue pipes. Wind enters the pipe at the Tip and fills the Foot of the pipe. Under pressure, the wind is forced through the narrow gap called the Flue or Wind-Way, near the Lower Lip. It is the movement of air molecules up and down the Body of the pipe that produces the sound waves.

Latest news re this blip - the Church Graveyard Plan only goes back to 1970 but I am still hopeful that full details may be found.