Editing Vibraphone (section)

=== Invention ===
Around 1916, instrument maker Herman Winterhoff of the [[Leedy Manufacturing Company]] began experimenting with ''[[vox humana]]'' effects on a three-octave (F{{sub|3}} to F{{sub|6}}) [[Marimbaphone|steel marimba]]. His original design attempted to produce this effect by raising and lowering the resonators, which caused a noticeable [[vibrato]].{{Sfn|Blades|1992|p=408}} In 1921, Winterhoff perfected the design by instead attaching a motor that rotated small discs underneath the bars to achieve the same effect.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Graiser |first=Brian |date=February 2021 |title=The Vibraphone At 100: Why 2021? |url=http://publications.pas.org/Archive/February2021/2102.06-09.pdf |journal=Percussive Notes |publisher=[[Percussive Arts Society]] |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=6–9}}</ref> After sales manager George H. Way termed this instrument the "vibraphone", it was marketed by Leedy starting in 1924.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Strain, James Allen |title=A Dictionary for the Modern Percussionist and Drummer |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-8108-8692-6 |location=Lanham, MD |pages=222 |oclc=972798459}}</ref> The Leedy vibraphone managed to achieve a decent degree of popularity after it was used in the novelty recordings of "[[Aloha ʻOe]]" and "Gypsy Love Song" in 1924 by [[vaudeville]] performer Louis Frank Chiha.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stallard |first=Carolyn |date=July 2015 |title=The Vibraphone: Past, Present, and Future |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320386245 |journal=Percussive Notes |publisher=[[Percussive Arts Society]] |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=43–44 |via=[[ResearchGate]]}}</ref>

However, this instrument differed significantly from the instrument now called the "vibraphone". The Leedy vibraphone did not have a pedal mechanism, and it had bars made of steel rather than aluminum. The growing popularity of Leedy's instrument led competitor [[J. C. Deagan, Inc.]], the inventor of the original steel marimba on which Leedy's design was based, to ask its chief tuner, Henry Schluter, to develop a similar instrument in 1927. Instead of just copying the Leedy design, Schluter introduced several significant improvements. He made the bars from aluminum instead of steel for a mellower tone, adjusted the dimensions and tuning of the bars to eliminate the dissonant harmonics present in the Leedy design, and introduced a foot-controlled damper bar. Schluter's design became more popular than the Leedy design and has become the template for all instruments now called a "vibraphone".<ref>Caroll, Barry J. (1977). "The Story of Mallet Instruments". [[J. C. Deagan, Inc.|J. C. Deagan Company]] (film). 18:44.</ref>

Both the terms "vibraphone" and "vibraharp" were trademarked by Leedy and Deagan, respectively. Other manufacturers were forced to use the generic name "vibes" or devise new trade names such as "vibraceleste" for their instruments incorporating the newer design.{{Sfn|Beck|2007|p=399}}