Aeolian-Skinner

Key figures were Ernest M. Skinner (1866–1960), Arthur Hudson Marks (1875–1939), Joseph Silver Whiteford (1921-1978), and G. Donald Harrison (1889–1956).

Virtually all major builders of electro-pneumatic action organs, including M. P. Möller, W. W. Kimball (both firms now defunct), Schantz, and Reuter, use some form of the Pitman windchest to this day, although most have only recently begun to credit Skinner with the design and subsequent refinements that make it an industry benchmark.

After several years of conflict between Ernest Skinner and Arthur Marks, Harrison was appointed Vice-President and Tonal Director of Aeolian-Skinner in 1933.

The company’s tonal philosophy continued to turn from the romantic-style orchestral instruments built under the direction of Skinner to a classically eclectic style.

Organists began to look to the past to find direction for the future, and in doing so they found that they were in sympathy with the ideas being developed by Harrison.

During Harrison's tenure from 1933 until his death in 1956 (while doing tonal finishing on the organ at St. Thomas Church, New York City, which was completed by Arthur Birchall after Harrison's death), the tonal design of Aeolian-Skinner organs changed a great deal, but retained and perfected many of Ernest Skinner's mechanical innovations.

His tonal work was not without criticism, including from within the company- e.g. Donald Gillett's unhappiness with Whiteford's "string quartet Greats".