Discussion:
Chorus Tone Generator of the Hammond BC
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Quadibloc
2012-08-01 20:00:23 UTC
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Recently, I heard about the tone generator which was used to provide
the Hammond BC with a chorus function.

I was able to get more information about it than some sites present
from the service manual, but as noted on many sites, it doesn't give
the number of teeth on the gear.

This page:

http://www.dairiki.org/HammondWiki/ChorusGenerator

gives information on the detailed description in the patent for the
chorus generator, but it seems to be incompatible with what could have
been used in the production unit, given the description in the service
manual.

Thus, on my web page, at

http://www.quadibloc.com/other/mus03.htm

on the bottom of the page I present a set of possible gear ratios that
would make the chorus unit perform as described.

I make the unusual assumption that the tone wheels in it must have had
(nominally) 192, 96, and 48 teeth, rather than, say, 128, 64, and 32
teeth for two reasons:

to avoid having the driveshafts turning 50% faster than in the regular
tone generator, but instead at about the same speed, and

so that adding or subtracting four teeth from a 96-tooth tonewheel,
for example, allows shifting the frequency about 0.4% either way, this
not being achievable as easily with a 64-tooth tonewheel.

No doubt, though, those who have had the opportunity to examine actual
units would be able to improve on my hypothetical reconstruction.

John Savard
Quadibloc
2012-08-01 20:24:29 UTC
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I've found out one significant fact:

U.S. patent 2,498,367 describes a Hammond chorus unit as well - one
that is significantly closer to the actual production unit, although
there still seem to be differences.

John Savard
Quadibloc
2012-08-07 19:42:54 UTC
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The relevant information, having been expanded, has been moved to its
own page,

http://www.quadibloc.com/other/mus05.htm

John Savard

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