Emmons Hamlin was an American inventor and businessman. He co-founded the Mason & Hamlin company.
Background
Emmons Hamlin was born on November 16, 1821, in Rome, New York, United States, the son of Henry and Laura (Munson) Hamlin. He was a descendant in the fifth generation from James Hamlin who came from England to settle in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, about 1639.
Career
Hamlin's mechanical bent led him in his early twenties to seek employment in the melodeon factory of George A. Prince & Company in Buffalo. This firm was a pioneer in the industry and, during the early part of the nineteenth century, probably the largest maker of melodeons (free reed wind instruments with keyboard) in the United States. Hamlin was associated with it for about eight years. In 1850, as the result of numerous experiments, he made certain discoveries which revolutionized and perfected the “voicing” (tone-coloring) of the reeds, thus doing away with the thin, reedy, nasal tone with which the melodeon hitherto had justly been reproached. This radical discovery permitted an increase in the variety of the stops, making it possible for individual reeds to approximate the timbre respectively of violin, horn, clarinet, oboe, or other instrument.
Leaving the Prince Company in 1852, Hamlin went to Boston, where in 1854 he entered into a partnership with Henry Mason, the firm being known as the Mason & Hamlin Organ Company. In 1855 this new house made its first Organ-Harmonium, with double bellows, which secured an unbroken continuance of tone. Hamlin’s inventive gift continued to be exercised in connection with the instruments his firm manufactured, which won recognition as superior to the product of foreign competitors (French harmoniums, Alexandre organs, etc. ) and acquired an international reputation.
In the latter part of his life Hamlin took up the making of violins as an avocation. Through the influence of Ole Bull he obtained from Norway wood that was five hundred years old, and, studying the work of the great violin makers of Cremona, produced some instruments which were said to compare favorably with theirs. He died in Boston in his sixty-fourth year.
Achievements
Interests
Hamlin was also a lover of art, and gathered a notable collection of paintings.
Connections
On February 12, 1843, Hamlin married Elvira J. Patrick.