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Cassotto question

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This does not look exactly like my understanding of a cassotto. This may be more like a tone modulator. The rendering shows a chamber but it does not show any perpendicular reed blocks within the chamber, and it also includes some sort of external control knob/cable that can be used to control airflow into the chamber.
 
I'm sure somebody will know; what (and when) was the first known accordion with 'cassotto'? Busilatcchio may have dreamed it up but not necessarily made the first accordion. Many of the Italian families making accordions were related to each other. (A 'flie' connection as we say here).
 
Ken Iorio, who passed away over 20-25 years ago told me that his grandfather, Candido Iorio was the inventor of the tone chamber for the accordion. I have no further proof, but I do remember seeing all sorts of framed diagrams on the wall of their showroom.
 
Zevy said:
Ken Iorio, who passed away over 20-25 years ago told me that his grandfather, Candido Iorio was the inventor of the tone chamber for the accordion. I have no further proof, but I do remember seeing all sorts of framed diagrams on the wall of their showroom.
Click to expand...
I'd *tend* to go that way too, Zevy. Paul Rammuni has a really old accordion that displays one of the first versions of Cassotto ever made. It holds the name Iorio on it and is of such a unique style, that I've never seen anything like it elsewhere.
 
I have a 1938 Candido Iorio 4 reed treble with 2 in tone chamber. I have found no other American or Italian made accordions that
offered a tone chamber (Cassotto) this early. The craftsmanship is unique and the sound quality is very full BUT, the accordion
itself is quite large & heavy compared to a modern 4 reed tone chamber. A few accordionist friends have played it and jokingly
have named it "Godzilla" because of it's large size & weight . I won't refurbish it for resale but on my next trip to see my friend
Paul Ramunni I'll place it in his Museum ---


And as far as who invented the double tone chamber -- Zevy you were on the right track -- the original Iorio firm started business
in 1907 on 44 Baxter St in New York, NY . By 1923 the Iorio Co. had already established one of the finest reputations among the
manufacturers in New York. By that time Candido had already INVENTED THE DOUBLE TONE CHAMBER , along with a long list of
refinements that included invisible bass & treble shifts, aluminum shift plate mechanisms, and celluloid cases.
 
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I was looking through some of my pics and found the accordion I was referring to:
1628444187025.png
One of the first accordions in the world with "Cassotto".
I don't know if this is a production model, a one-off custom or experiment, but it is amazing to see in person. :)
 
Scuromondo said:
This does not look exactly like my understanding of a cassotto. This may be more like a tone modulator. The rendering shows a chamber but it does not show any perpendicular reed blocks within the chamber, and it also includes some sort of external control knob/cable that can be used to control airflow into the chamber.
Click to expand...
Sorry to disagree here, but the picture in that patent document looks exactly like a cassotto to me. It does not shows reed blocks outside of cassotto but it does show the reed blocks in cassotto, exactly where they are in modern accordions with cassotto as well.
 
That patent you speak off is from the 1950's In the 1920's Iorio was already producing accordion models with
double tone chambers. Although very scarce today, models show up as did mine.
 
JIM D. said:
That patent you speak off is from the 1950's In the 1920's Iorio was already producing accordion models with
double tone chambers. Although very scarce today, models show up as did mine.
Click to expand...
My interpretation of the patent (which, admittedly, nay be wrong!) is I that it is for an external control system which provides a method for the user to open/close an additional volume (which may be the tone chamber, or another volume altogether) and not for a tone chamber itself
 
JerryPH said:
I'd *tend* to go that way too, Zevy. Paul Rammuni has a really old accordion that displays one of the first versions of Cassotto ever made. It holds the name Iorio on it and is of such a unique style, that I've never seen anything like it elsewhere.
Click to expand...
Jerry - The funny thing is that I don't think I knew what a tone chamber was at the time that Ken was telling me that story.
 
Scuromondo said:
My interpretation of the patent (which, admittedly, nay be wrong!) is I that it is for an external control system which provides a method for the user to open/close an additional volume (which may be the tone chamber, or another volume altogether) and not for a tone chamber itself
Click to expand...
That is quite possible. That patent isn't old enough (only 1955) to be the cassotto patents. I had not looked at the dates before.
 
boxplayer4000 said:
The Hohner Morino 1 which appeared in the late 1930s included a cassotto version during course of its construction. Rare, but they are around.
Click to expand...
Interesting, so what happened to that cassotto? The Morino 1 accordions I have heard have no cassotto.
Something similar happened to the Hohner Artiste line after the D series which Hohner produced: when the N series started (made by Excelsior) the (CBA Morino) Artiste IV and VI did not get cassotto, and later in the S series also not. But... a friend of mine plays an Artiste VI S *with* cassotto (a one-off prototype). It's a wonderful instrument. I wonder why the Artiste IV and VI did not get cassotto unlike their PA "sisters". The largest models (Artiste IX X or XI) all do have cassotto.
 
Some examples of cassottos, or cassotto-like designs, at the Swiss Akkordeon Museum. Assuming the dates are accurate, it means these already existed in Europe before the 1920's.
~1862: https://akkordeon-museum.ch/joh-klein-wien-ca-1862/
~1895: https://akkordeon-museum.ch/stornati-massimo-premiata-fabb-ponte-s-marco-brescia/
~1913: https://akkordeon-museum.ch/zwei-manual-piano-1913-norditalien-stradella-vercelli/
~1914: https://akkordeon-museum.ch/bortolo...ri-trentino-12-8-1914-miorelli-ameno-torbote/
~1920: https://akkordeon-museum.ch/c-franck-socin-fabt-berne-c-griff-ca-1915/
~1925: https://akkordeon-museum.ch/morino-ft-geneve-ca-1925/
~1925: https://akkordeon-museum.ch/paolo-rogledi-weiss-cassotto-bassetti/
~1928: https://akkordeon-museum.ch/dallape-stradella-weiss-luftkammern-register-cassotto-bassetti/
~1930: https://akkordeon-museum.ch/hohner-morino-1930/

Some of those might look primitive compared to our modern constructions and it is not clear whether the earlier designs were due to space or due to an intentional sound influence.

The above also include (pre-Hohner) Venanzio Morino's bass cassotto from somewhere in the 1920's.
 
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So much information. It looks like the cassotto evolved rather than being an overnight flash of inspiration for a single individual.
Darwin has some theories on the same process.
(I was lucky enough to visit Darwin's house a couple of years ago).
 
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