Elias Howe Company

[2] He couldn't afford to buy the expensive sheet music of his day, but his ear was good enough for him to write down tunes that he heard other New England fiddlers play.

[2] Howe eventually acquired a substantial collection of these tunes and managed to get them published in book form in 1840 as The Musician's Companion.

[3] By his own estimate, he compiled and published about 200 "musical works", under his own name, and using the pseudonyms "Gumbo Chaff," "Patrick O'Flanigan," and "Mary O'Neill.

"[3] Sky notes that during the American Civil War, Howe expanded his activities to include manufacturing drums for Massachusetts regiments.

Archival photos of the Scollay Square area of Boston dating from the 1880s often show the "Howe's Music" sign silhouetted against the sky above the buildings at the end of Court Street.

Although company letterhead states that the firm was founded in 1840 (when Elias Howe, Jr. first published his fiddle tune collection), it was not formally incorporated until 1898, three years after the death of its founder.

The mandolins featured an elaborate "E H Co" monogram inlaid in ivory-colored plastic into the instruments' tortoise pick guards.

The Howe-Orme name arises from the association of the younger Howes (William H. and Edward F. Howe) of Boston with George L. Orme of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

[7] Like Elias Howe, Jr., J. L. Orme was deceased by the time that the Howe-Orme instruments appeared and his son, George, ran the company.

[8] The critical feature described in the patent is a "raised longitudinal belly ridge" extending along the top of the instrument, under the strings, from the end of the fingerboard to the tailpiece.

[10] Howe-Orme instruments were among the first to be produced in the United States in multiple sizes analogous to the members of the violin family.

These mandolin-family instruments are unique not only because of the "raised longitudinal belly ridge" but because they are shaped like guitars and have absolutely flat backs.

The catalog also points out the ease of holding a guitar-shaped instrument in contrast to the awkwardness of the bowl-back mandolins of that era.

The guitars had another unique feature in addition to the longitudinal ridge: their necks were easily detachable and their angle could be adjusted without any disassembly.

The J. L. Orme & Son "Lute-Banjo" had a rounded, fat, oval body, with a neck held on by three screws (making the angle adjustable).