Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
March 5 th, 1881.
THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW.
NEW MUSICAL INVENTIONS
65
For the holes m in the arm g' of block or lug 0 to receive the strings,
pins F F ' are substituted, which pins are shown in two forms—the one pin,
PBEPABED EXPBESSLY FOR THE MUSICAL CKITIO AND TBADE REVIEW.
F, as provided with a head, n, and driven into the block or lug c', which ia
suitably drilled to receive it, and for it to be turned after such insertion, and
No. 237,528. STBINGING PIANOFORTES. Albert K. Hebard, Cambridge, Mass., the other pin, F', as at the end of a screw-bolt, G, arranged to pass loosely
Feb. 8, 1881.
through a raised flange, o, of the arm/' to block or lug c', and to receive on
Among the attempts which have been made to overcome one of the princi- the other side of such flange o a screw-nut, p. The lug or block c' rests, by
pal difficulties under which piano manufacturers have labored, this invention is its arms/, upon the iron frame, and is between the agraffe or bridge 13 and
most noteworthy. It must prove interesting to practical piano makers, and, the fixed flange E of such frame, and the screw-bolt b connects the arm d' of
although not fully accomplishing all that is claimed for it by the inventor, the block or lug c' to the said raised flange.
still it is a move in the right direction.
The ends of the two lengths of strings making string A 2 are put through
It is well known to those who are at all familiar with the mechanism of the the holes m of the side projection, /, of the arm, g\ to lug or block c, and are
piano, that the wrest pins, to which the strings of a piano are attached, and bent about such projection /, and the two lengths of strings between such
by means of which the strings are tuned, are likely, by means of friction in bent ends and the agraffe B run inside of said bent ends, around the lower
their sockets, or the shrinkage of the wood which holds them, to gradually sides, q, and rear side, q\ and thence over the upper side,
become loose and slip, thereby slacking the strings and putting them out of tions to the agraffe or bridge B.
tune. The invention now before us is a device for preventing this, and a
The ends of the two lengths of strings making string
A 3 are looped
reference to the accompanying diagram and the following description will around
the pin F of the lug or block c' to such string A 3 , and lie under the
make plain how the inventor endeavors to remedy the difficulty.
head n of said pin.
£, .4 / ^ y
Fig:!.
The ends of iwo of the lengths of string making string A t loop around
the headed pin F of the lug or block c' to such string A4, and lie under the
head
of said pin, and the remaining end is hitched, by its eye r, to the pin
F f of said lug or block c', described as at one end of a screw-bolt, G, which
is arranged upon said block.
Second, as to the portion of the iron f iame making the string-plate,
(shown at H,) the separate lengths of strings making the strings As, A3,
and A+, are secured to said string-plate by means of a hitch pin or pins.
The drawings show these hitch-pins in different forms.
The hitch-pin K (shown in connection with the strings A 2 ) has a shank
or stem, s, and a head, s'. The shank s enters the string-plate and is sus-
ceptible of being turned therein, and the head s' is slitted for convenience in
turning the pin; or it may be otherwise adapted in obvious ways for the pin
to be turned.
The string A2 loops around the stem of the pin and lies between its head
s' and the string-plate.
The hitch-pin M (shown in connection with the string A 3 ) differs in con-
struction from the hitch-pin K, described in connection with string A 3 , in
that it has side arms, t, upon which to hook or hang the eyes u, which are at
the two ends of the lenghts making the string A 3 .
The hitch-pin N for the string
A 4 is in one case the same as the hitch-
2
pin K, decribed for the string A , and has the string similarly looped about
it, and in the other case it is a pin, L, of the ordinary kind of hitch-pins,
without a head or other construction and arrangements such as herein de-
scribed.
The headed pin N receives the looped end of the two lengths of the
string which pass, the one length from the pin F ' of screw-bolt G on the
block or lug c' for such string A*, and the other length from one side of the
headed pin of such block, and the ordinary pin, L, receives the end of the
length of the string which passes from the side of the headed pin on block c'
opposite to that from which the length of the string passes to the headed
pin N of string-plate, as aforesaid.
Under the several arrangements of connection between the strings A2,
A3 and A* and the lag or block cc' to such strings, in connection with a screw-
bolt and nut applied thereto and to the iron frame, it is plain that the
strings to each note can be brought to pitch and put under any desired
amount of tension, and that in so doing the strings of each note are simul-
taneously and similarly so drawn; and, again, after such strings have been
so put under the desired tension, and at the desired pitch, should it be
^o
found that the strings to a note are not in unison, such unison can be
obtained by turning the pin to which the strings are hitched or looped—as,
for instance, the hitch-pins K N at the string-plate H, or the hitch-pin F at
the lug or block c'—which turning of such pins, because of the friction
between them and the strings and otherwise, as is obvious, plainly servos to
raise the pitch of the string from the location of which it moves in such
turning, and to lower the pitch of the string toward the location of which it
D
moves in such turning.
Figure 1 is a plan view, showing the strings to three separate notes, as
it were, of a pianoforte; Figs. 2, 3, and 4, sectional views in the direction of No. 237,114. PIANO ACTION. John Ammon, of New York City, assignor to
Wessel, Nickel & Gross, of same place, Feb. 15, 1881.
the length of the strings, and on lines x 1 , xi, a?, ,v\ and.T*, at, of Fig. 1; Fig. 5,
a cross-section on line y //, Fig. 1; Figs. 6, 7, and 8, longitudinal vertical sec-
This invention is described as follows:—
tione of the lugs, with their screw-bolts and nuts, shown in Fig. 1.
In a pianoforte action as ordinarily constructed the jack, after acting
2
3
In the drawings, A , A , and A*, represent, respectively, the strings to three upon the hammer-butt to raise the hammer, is thrown out from the notch in
separate notes of a pianoforte. These strings run between and over a bridge said hammer-butt, and the distance to which it is so thrown out is controlled
or agraffe, B, of the iron frame and a bridge, C, on the sounding-board, all by what is termed the " blocking" of the lower arm of the jack against a
as usual, and beyond each bridge they are secured to the iron frame, as cushion on the jack-bottom, by which the jack is attached to the key. The
means heretofore commonly used for regulating this blocking is to pare
follows:
First, as to the portion of the iron frame covering the wrest plank or away the bottom of the jack, or to build up or add to the cushion, according
block (shown at D) by means of a screw-nut, screw-bolt, and block or lug, as it is desired to let the jack fall farther, or not so far, out of the notch.
The object of this improvement is to provide more conveniently for
which are constructed, the lug to receive such end or ends of the strings, and
the screw-bolt and nut to enter the one into the other, and arranged toge- adjusting or regulating the blocking; and to this end the invention consists
ther and applied to and placed upon the iron frame in such manner that the in the combination, with the jack and jack-bottom, by which it is secured to
lug can be made to draw the strings connected to it to any desired tension, the key, of a regulating-screw placed between the lower arm of the jack and
and to release or reduce such tension, if so desired. The drawings show the jack-bottom, whereby the said adjustment or regulation may be con-
these several parts—screw-nut, screw-bolt, and block or lug—in two dif- veniently effected. The inventor preferably also combines with the above a
ferent forms; but each form, as will appear hereinafter, is the s^ane in prin- let-off screw, which may be fixed in some stationary part—as, for instance,
in the hammer-rest rail.
ciple and operation.
I am aware that it is old to employ a let-off screw inserted through the
In the form shown in connection with the strings A 2 , a is the screw-nut,
h the screw-bolt, and c the block or lug. The screw-nut a is in and through ower arm of the jack, and between it and the jack-bottom, so that as soon as
the thickness of a vertical flange, d, which is secured to the iron frame by a the jack-bottom strikes against the screw, the jack will be thrown out of the
screw, e, or in any other suitable manner; or it may be made iu one piece notch in the hammer-butt, but this inventor's blocking-screw is different
with the iron frame. The screw-bolt b is threaded to screw into this screw- rorn this in that it prevents the jack from being thrown out beyond a cer-
nut a, and it has a head,/, suitably slitted to be conveniently turned; or it ain point.
may be otherwise adapted for the same purpos%|n many obvious ways. The
What Mr. Ammon claims as his invention, and desires to secure by letters
lug or block c is of right-angular shape, and on^gr, of its arms g ;/' has a patent is—
hole, h, through its thickness, suitable for the free passage of the bolt, and
1. The combination, with a jack-bottom and a jack for a pianoforte
the other, g', of its arms has a projection, I, at each side, each of which pro- action, of a regulating-screw between the jack-bottom and the lower arm of
jections has a hole, in, through it of suitable size to receive a string.
the jack, whereby the said regulating-screw serves as a means of regulating
In the form shown in connection with the strings A 3 and A*, the screw- the distance to-which the jack is thrown out of the hammer-notch.
nut a is in one arm, d', of the lug or block c', instead of being in a flange se-
2. The combination, with a jack-bottom and jack for a pianoforte
cured to the iron frame, as before described for the strings A 2 , and the hole action, of a let-off screw for moving the jack out of the haminer-notch, and
h, for the loose passage of the screw-bolt b, which, as before described, was an independent regulating-screw between the jack-bottom and the lower
in one arm, g, of the block or lug c, is, in lieu thereof, in the flange E of the arm of the jack, and serving as a means of regulating the distance to which
iron frame I).
ihe jack is thrown out of the hammer-notch.
.*?£.