Limonaire Frères

Limonaire Frères were an amusement ride, street organ and fairground organ builder, based in Paris, France, during the 19th and early 20th century.

Started by the Limonaire brothers Joseph and Antoine in 1839, as piano and organ builders, after only three years the two brothers separated and set up their own companies. Joseph concentrated on the piano business while Antoine continued to expand into the organ building.

By 1852 the company, under Antoine's management, was based in the , and by the 1870s had added a workshop in the , building portable barrel and orchestral organs.

After the death of Antoine aged 70 in 1886, his two sons Eugène and Camille established a new factory in the , in the same area of Paris as the organ building firms Gasparini and Gavioli. A steam engine was installed in 1890, and the company expanded at a fast pace.

The two brothers attended many international expositions including those at London (1888), Chicago (1893), Amsterdam (1895) and St Louis (1904). In total, between 1849 and 1906, 29 medals from the expositions were awarded to the Limonaire company. Between 1895 and 1916, the company filed patents for twelve inventions and one brand name, the Orchestrophone. In 1894 the piano range of instruments was withdrawn from general sale, but in its place came a large variety of fairground rides, some made in partnership with other companies.

Limonaire never opened an office in the United States, due to the imposition from 1892 of high import tariffs by the United States Government. In 1893, carousel builder William Herschell traveled to London, England to meet Limonaire employee Eugene de Kleist. Backed by Herschell, in 1893 DeKeist set up band organ production in North Tonawanda, New York, founding the North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory. As parts were not subject to the import tariffs, many of the companies early organs had Limonaire components.

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