J. C. Deagan, Inc. is a former

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...

manufacturing company Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ...

that developed and produced instruments from the late 19th- to mid-20th century. It was founded in 1880 by John Calhoun Deagan and initially manufactured

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

s. It was noted for its development of the

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

, vibraharp, organ chimes, aluminum chimes, aluminum

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

, Swiss

handbell A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle – traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic – and moves the arm to make the hinged cla ...

s, the

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

, orchestra bells, and

marimbaphone The marimbaphone is an obsolete tuned percussion instrument, developed by J. C. Deagan, Inc., of Chicago, Illinois, in the early 20th century. Description The marimbaphone had either shallow steel or wooden bars arranged chromatically with a tu ...

Church bell A church bell is a bell in a church building designed to be heard outside the building. It can be a single bell, or part of a set of bells. Their main function is to call worshippers to the church for a service of worship, but are also rung o ...

s were revolutionized by Deagan through his design of

tubular bells Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the Percussion instrument, percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillons, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the soun ...

, and the

NBC chimes The NBC chimes are a sequence of three tones played on National Broadcasting Company (NBC) broadcasts. Originally developed in 1927 as seven notes, they were standardized to the current three-note version by the early 1930s, and possibly as early ...

were Deagan's creation. Railroad passengers were summoned to the dining car with "G-E-C" played on a Deagan chime. The

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

ultimately was acquired by Yamaha, in 1984, and they distribute and sell products with the Deagan name. The tower of the former headquarters, still bearing the company name, is a landmark in the Ravenswood neighborhood of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

History

The company was founded by John Calhoun Deagan (1853–1934), a professional

clarinetist The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodw ...

, in 1880. The J. C. Deagan company originally headquartered in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, until it moved to

, in the early 20th century. Deagan was unsatisfied with the intonation of the

s used in theater orchestras, with which he had performed. He experimented with the instrument's acoustics and tuning, and developed the first "scientifically tuned" glockenspiel. ''On the Sensations of Tone'' by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

physician and physicist

Hermann von Helmholtz Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (; ; 31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894; "von" since 1883) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The ...

was a strong influence on Deagan's advances. The company remained in the control of Deagan's descendants for two generations beyond. In 1975 the tower chime and carillon division was sold to Verdin. In 1977 the remainder of the Deagan company (instruments and mallets) was sold to

Slingerland Drum Company Slingerland is a United States manufacturer of drums. The company was founded in 1912 and enjoyed several decades of prominence in the industry before the 1980s. After ceasing operation in the early 1980s, Slingerland was acquired by Gibson, ...

, which added the Deagan instruments to its products. Slingerland then sold the Deagan company to the "Sanlar Corporation", a corporation set up by Slingerland accountant Larry Gasp and his wife Sandra, in 1984.Deegan Archive
on The Mallet ShopHall of Fame: John Calhoun Deagan
by James A. Strain on the Percussive Arts Society (archive), 4 Mar 2016''The Slingerland Book''
by Rob Cook Upon Sanlar's bankruptcy in 1986, the Deagan mark and assets were sold to Yamaha.

Legacy

A 25 tubular bell set by Deagan is still in daily use at St. John Cantius Church of

, using its original player rolls. It was originally at Laureldale Cemetery in

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; ) is a city in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 95,112 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fourth-most populous ...

and relocated to St. John Cantius in 1999. The 97-bell carillon at the

Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park is a Florida State Park located in White Springs off U.S. 41, along the Suwannee River in north Florida. Stephen Foster is famous for having written the song "Old Folks At Home," also known as "Wa ...

has the most bells of any tubular-bell carillon. It was installed there during the summer of 1958, after first having been installed (with 75 bells) in the Florida exhibit building of the 1939 World's Fair. Deagan craftsmen required more than a year to build the huge set of bells, perhaps the greatest single manufacturing project in the firm's 78-year history.

Notable employees

Clair Omar Musser Clair Omar Musser (1901–1998) was a marimba virtuoso, a conductor and promoter of marimba orchestras, a composer, a teacher, a designer of keyboard percussion instruments, an inventor, and an engineer for Hughes Aircraft. Early career Musser ...

, engineer, conductor, and marimba virtuoso * Henry Schluter, inventor of the vibraharp

References

External links

The Deagan Resource
– historical reference catalog of Deagan instruments {{coord, 41.9578964, -87.6733299, display=title Percussion instrument manufacturing companies Musical instrument manufacturing companies based in Chicago