The Rangertone Organ was developed by the electronics engineer
and pioneer of audio recording Richard Ranger (
b Richard Howland Ranger 1899, Indianapolis, Indiana, d 1961 ) in the USA during the 1930's. The instrument was marketed by
Ranger from his own company 'Rangertone Incorporated' on Verona
Ave. in Newark, NJ. Very few of the instruments were sold, one
of which was installed at the Recital hall of Skinner Hall of
Music, Vassar College. After the failure to sell the instrument
Ranger went on to develop a series of high fidelity phonograph
devices that never went into production. During WW2 Ranger spent
time investigating German electronic equipment for the US Army
it was here that he picked up and removed for his own use the
German AEG Magnetophone tape recorder. Ranger returned to the
U.S. and in 1947 announced his new Rangertone Tape recorder, based
on the Magnetophone, which finally gave the Rangertone Inc the
financial success it needed until squeezed out of the domestic
market by larger companies such as Ampex.By the early 1960's,
Rangertone had eliminated its general-pupose sound recorders from
the catalog, concentrating instead on specialized equipment for
motion picture production. At some point, the company purchased
the rights to manufacture a system using 35 mm tape with sprocket
holes, and this product is still in production.
The Rangertone Organ was one of the early tone wheel organs, similar
to the Hammond, the Rangertone had its pitch stability controlled
by tuning forks, therefore it was possible to change the temperament
by changing the tuning of the forks.
Timbre was controlled by push-buttons to the right of the keyboard,
and/or by switching between six different amplifier/speaker combinations,
which had different tremolo and tonal qualities.The original version
was a huge machine, with more than 150 valves. A portable single-keyboard
model was built for concert performance.