Lap organ

Lap organ portable free-reed organ made in the U.S. from 1825 to the mid-19th c., in form of a deep rectangular box. The name is derived from its being held across the lap; 37 ivory buttons are arranged like piano keys on the upper surface. When depressed they open valves admitting air to the reeds. The left hand works double bellows divided diagonally into 2 chambers, the lower (left) being a feeder, the upper a wind chest. Dynamics are made possible by shutter sliders placed on the upper…