The ‘Rangertone Organ’. Richard H.Ranger, USA, 1932

Richard Ranger at the Rangertone Organ
Richard Ranger at the Rangertone Organ

The Rangertone Organ was a large electronic tone-wheel based organ developed by the electronics engineer and pioneer of audio recording Richard Ranger in 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 and 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.

Richard Ranger with the wireless facsimile system
Richard Ranger with the wireless facsimile system. in 1924, Richard Ranger invented the wireless photoradiogram, or transoceanic radio facsimile, the forerunner of today’s fax machines. A photograph of President Calvin Coolidge sent from New York to London in November 1924 became the first photo picture reproduced by transoceanic radio facsimile.
The Rangertone Organ was one of the early tone wheel organs, similar to the Hammond Organ and much earlier Telharmonium (1906). Uniquely, the Rangertone Organ 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.1
Ranger made the first public demonstration of his huge  ‘pipeless organ’ at Newark, New Jersey in 1931:
Press telegram announcing Ranger's new instrument
Press telegram announcing Ranger’s new instrument in 1931. Image: Museum of Magnetic Sound Recordings, Austin Texas, USA. © 2018 Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording https://museumofmagneticsoundrecording.org/ManufacturersRangertone.html
Interior of the Rangertone organ. Image: Proceedings of the institute of Radio Engineers November 1936 Volume 24, Number 11, 1444.

“Ranger’s apparatus consisted essentially of twelve separate sets of motor-driven alternators precisely maintained at given rotational speeds, by tuning-fork control apparatus. One of these sets of alternators, as shown in Fig. 5, generated all the required C’s; another all the C sharps; another the D’s, and so forth. From these alternators he obtained all the desired fundamentals and their true harmonic frequencies for the tempered scale. Timbre control switches selected the partials and their amplitudes for any desired tone quality. Amplifiers were, of course, used with reproducers to translate the feeble audio currents into sound.

Ranger’s improvements over the basic work of Cahill were made possible by the advent of the vacuum tube. For example, he provides means for automatic selection of different amplifiers, for different simultaneously produced tones, to prevent cross modulation in a single amplifier; means for avoiding keying transients, for accentuating high or low frequencies, for restricting tremolo to specific components of a complex tone, and at different tremolo rates, means to provide glissando effects, for regulating the temperament, for providing damped wave trains in simulation of percussive tones, and numerous other details.” 1 Meissner, Benjamin. F,(1936) Electronic music and instruments, Proceedings of the institute of Radio Engineers November 1936 Volume 24, Number 11, 1444.

Ranger, Richard Howard – Inventor, USA *13.06.1889-10.01.1962+ with the Rangertone Organ 1930 – Image:  Sennecke Vintage property of ullstein bild (Photo by Robert Sennecke/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

References:

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    Ranger made the first public demonstration of his huge  ‘pipeless organ’ at Newark, New Jersey in 1931:
    Press telegram announcing Ranger's new instrument
    Press telegram announcing Ranger’s new instrument in 1931. Image: Museum of Magnetic Sound Recordings, Austin Texas, USA. © 2018 Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording https://museumofmagneticsoundrecording.org/ManufacturersRangertone.html
    Interior of the Rangertone organ. Image: Proceedings of the institute of Radio Engineers November 1936 Volume 24, Number 11, 1444.

    “Ranger’s apparatus consisted essentially of twelve separate sets of motor-driven alternators precisely maintained at given rotational speeds, by tuning-fork control apparatus. One of these sets of alternators, as shown in Fig. 5, generated all the required C’s; another all the C sharps; another the D’s, and so forth. From these alternators he obtained all the desired fundamentals and their true harmonic frequencies for the tempered scale. Timbre control switches selected the partials and their amplitudes for any desired tone quality. Amplifiers were, of course, used with reproducers to translate the feeble audio currents into sound.

    Ranger’s improvements over the basic work of Cahill were made possible by the advent of the vacuum tube. For example, he provides means for automatic selection of different amplifiers, for different simultaneously produced tones, to prevent cross modulation in a single amplifier; means for avoiding keying transients, for accentuating high or low frequencies, for restricting tremolo to specific components of a complex tone, and at different tremolo rates, means to provide glissando effects, for regulating the temperament, for providing damped wave trains in simulation of percussive tones, and numerous other details.” 1 Meissner, Benjamin. F,(1936) Electronic music and instruments, Proceedings of the institute of Radio Engineers November 1936 Volume 24, Number 11, 1444.

2 thoughts on “The ‘Rangertone Organ’. Richard H.Ranger, USA, 1932”

  1. Capt. Ranger’s technology was adopted by the National Broadcasting Company in 1932 for its first set of automated signal chimes. The Rangertone apparatus synthesized the famous NBC chimes “G – E – C”, precisely 30 sec before the hour and half hour, to alert affiliates to stand by for the next network program. Previously the chimes had been played manually on dinner gongs by NBC announcers, who didn’t always play it perfectly!

    http://www.nbcchimes.info/nbcmech.php

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