Laurens Hammond was an American engineer and inventor. His inventions include the Hammond organ, the Hammond clock, and the world's first polyphonic musical synthesizer, the Novachord.
Laurens Hammond in 1940
Hammond with his invention the Teleview, in 1923
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated sound by creating an electric current from rotating a metal tonewheel near an electromagnetic pickup, and then strengthening the signal with an amplifier to drive a speaker cabinet. The organ is commonly used with the Leslie speaker.
A Hammond C-3 organ
The two manuals of the Hammond B-2
Unlike an American Guild of Organists pedalboard, a console Hammond normally has 25 pedals.
Preset keys on a Hammond organ are reverse-colored and sit to the left of the manuals