Ernest Martin Skinner (born January 15, 1866, in Clarion, Pennsylvania; died November 25, 1960, in Dorchester, Massachusetts) was an American organ builder known for his innovative contributions to the field. In the 1880s, he worked with George H. Ryder and Jesse Woodbury and later with George S. Hutchings from 1889 to 1901. Skinner developed his first electro-pneumatic action for the organ at St. Bartholomew's Church in New York in 1893. He is also credited with numerous other inventions, such as the electro-pneumatic "pitman" wind chest (1899) and various orchestral solo reeds that are still widely used in the United States today.

In 1904, Skinner founded Ernest M. Skinner & Company in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Despite his brilliance in organ building, he struggled with financial management, leading millionaire Arthur Hudson Marks to join as a partner. Under Marks' leadership, the company was renamed Skinner Organ Company. In 1932, Marks merged the Skinner Organ Company with the Æolian Company to form the Æolian-Skinner Company. The new company, guided by the English organ builder Donald Harrison, increasingly embraced the ideals of the organ reform movement. This shift led Skinner to leave the company and start a new workshop with his son in Methuen, Massachusetts. The Æolian-Skinner Company continued operating until 1972.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Martin_Skinner