The following day both Tim and Garm set to work with a will because both had some things worked out to their satisfaction, although only Tim's was the project itself.
Garm had other fish to fry but they could wait now he thought he knew how to locate Blaise which he would do when they came to continue their journey.
Tim was pleased with his solution to the most important part of the mechanism, the actuation levers and how they controlled the linkages to the sound producing components and air supply control. However the making of it was problematic since he wasn't familiar with joinery being far more used to working with metal and miniature mechanisms like clockwork.
Garm on the other hand, the master behind the laundry machinery construction that Tim had designed but only built in miniature form to demonstrate the principles, was quite at home with the sort of precisely jointed woodwork required. Even Sykes, a maestro himself, had to admit the dwarfs work was second to none and the boatbuilder was spending more time helping them as the days passed.
Sykes had the edge on knowing which was the best timber for a purpose but Garm had the advantage in actually cutting the intricate joinery needed to ensure the mechanism worked flawlessly. His handmade tools were a marvel to behold as they cut flawless mortise and tenons for the wind pipes to remain airtight. Special planes cut perfect mortises in a single stroke and his fine toothed saw produced tenons that fit exactly.
Tim worked on the actuators such as his solution to the wineglass sound maker and Sykes it was who suggested how a small horn could conduct the glass sound into the bigger wooden alp horn pipes Garm made which were hardwood and amplified the glass notes considerably.
Very ingenious construction shrank the normal long alp horn into a rectanguler box whose internal partitions produced the same effect allowing the volume to increase and the addition of slides that controlled how much amplitude was required.
The parallel levers worked like seesaws, pushing down on oone made its opposite end rise up and that could operate a direct rod linkage or a rounded end that acted like a cam to vary the air pressure to a pipe.
After two weeks of hard work they had their first result, a somewhat bulky model which was capable of producing four sounds individually or in various combinations that sounded much better than Tim expected and could be used to demonstrate the basic principles behind the operation of the synthesizing harmoniser as he named it for now.
"From this and my notes and drawings they can build as big a device as required with a whole range of sounds some of which will never have been heard before" said Tim with pride.
"They means us I reckon" said Garm "for as clever as they are, the elves aint artificers nor craftsmen neither. They always turn to us dwarves for their mechanical things so we'll be the ones to make it you mark my words. It won't be no quick nor easy job neither. Could be a year if not more and we aint staying away from home that long."
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