Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE
NOVEMBER 20, 1920
59
REVIEW
popular belief that there is a charm in the ex-
pression of "solid ivory" is partly incorrect,
The Progress of an Elephant's Tusk From the Jungles to Its Final Resting Place on the Keyboard not even though they take you to the bleaching
houses where the "gleaming ivory" loses its
of a Piano Forms an Interesting Story—The Pratt, Read & Co. Plant at "Ivoryton"
dirty greyish color under the sunlight or in
The middle of the last century found the jars of peroxide, will you miss the thrill that
The music you get out of your piano is not
half so romantic as the story of how your piano Deep River plant devoted almost entirely to the comes from seeing the adornments of the most
manufacture of keyboards, which is the main gigantic and majestic of beasts transformed
was made.
That story begins somewhere in what used to product of the plant to-day. But, as is the case into piano keys.
Bleached by the sun as it stretches out on
be called the "heart of darkest Africa" and often with the pig whose very squeal is used as a
ends at Ivoryton, at the plant of Pratt, Read & by-product, every part of the huge tusk is util- the skylights of rows of glass-covered houses
Co., of Deep River, where the grayish white ized, for dice, billiard balls, collar buttons, knife and washed out by solutions of peroxide, the
tusks of elephants are sliced and washed and handles, trinkets and other commodities of that ivory, now sliced into sixty proper sizes for the
keyboards, is sorted according to its grain
polished until, finally, they gleam on the key- nature.
and
its delicate shades and tints.
Perhaps the fact that explorers began to open
board in neat, shining rows.
When
the boards have been made and cut the
up
Africa
more
extensively
toward
the
last
part
It was in the first decade of the last century
that two shrewd and daring Yankees, Phineas of the nineteenth century had something to do ivory keys arc glued on in their proper places.
Pratt and George Read, both of Deep River, or with the new phase in the manufacture of ivory, The black keys, either of ebony or a cheaper
that section, began the making of fine tooth with the result that there was a greater supply wood which has been shaped, dyed, nicely clip-
ped at the edges and then stamped with a skin-
combs from ivory. There are few records to of the precious tusks.
show how they got the idea of going into the
The industry of making piano keys has given tight layer of celluloid, arc glued in their places
manufacture of a commodity which, in procur- to part of Deep River the name of "Ivoryton." and you have a keyboard with almost translu-
ing the raw material, entailed such vast effort Agents abroad, in many African seaports and cently joyous rows of ivory keys, while more
and careful planning.
the great centers of trade, including London and sober black keys hold their dignity at the proper
But the New Englanders of those days might New York, look after the job of procuring the intervals.
But the eternally splendm and dawning spirit
have given our present manufacturers a few tips ivory, which is the basis of the production.
At the factory the men say that a certain tusk of old romance that begins in "the heart of dark-
on big business and the industry prospered, with
agents looking after the job of getting the ivory of ivory will make a "nice flat" or a "nice sharp." est Africa," when the majestic beast drops lum-
from the native caravans that came down to Not as a medium of music, but as a manufac- beringly to the forest floor with a bullet in his
African seaports from the interior, where can- tured article, which will gleam and shine in rows brain, and ends when his grayish white tusk has
nibals and natives hunted the elephants in a on the finished keyboard, do they consider the been sliced up, bleached, polished and glued onto
primitive sort of way, often the only method sharp and flats you accept as part of a completed a keyboard, breathes through the "still sad
music of humanity" which you play so care-
being the dangerous one of harpooning them. musical whole.
The beginning of your piano is in the wilder- lessly at your organ or your piano.
ness, where death and bitter injury for life are
often the ingredients which go to make up the
music you play on the keyboard. Nor is the
romance of the piano dead when it reaches the
Manufacturers of Highest Quality
Deep River plant, nor can it die even though em-
ployes there speak of "nice flats" and "nice
will stand the most tensile strength
Player-Piano Hardware
sharps." Not even though they tell you the
Transmissions and Gearings
and Metal Specialties
HOW IVORY IS SECURED AND MADE INTO PIANO KEYS
ELGIN METAL NOVELTY CO.
American - Made
Tuning Pins
"AMSCO"
BRAND
ARE MADE OF SPECIAL STEEL
Thirty-five years of experience in mak-
ing tuning pins enables us to give you
the most reliable pins in the market.
Guaranteed to hold for a lifetime.
Send for prices
American Musical Supply Co.
451 Communipaw Avanue, Jersey City, N. J.
NEW YORK
WOOD FINISHERS' SUPPLY CO.
INCORPORATED
B. MEIER, President
Special Built Machinery
and Tools
Powder and Liquid Wood Stains
Wood Fillers, Shellacs, Varnishes
Shellac Substitutes, Paint Specialties
Office.
304 Eighth Avenae
NEW YORK
Factory
17-19 Ninth Street
BROOKLYN
INVISIBLE HINGES
"OUT OF SIGHT
EVER IN MIND"
HEED OUR ADVICE
The man who uses Behlen's Varnish
Crack Eradicator can afford to figure
lower, yet makes more profit on a re-
finishing job, than the man who does
not use it.
The reason—he saves the time, trouble
and expense of scraping off the old var-
nish and shellac and the finished job is
just as satisfactory too—if not more so.
Send for a sample can to-day and try
it.
H. BEHLEN & BRO.
Anilines
Shellacs
Stains
Fillers
10-12 Christopher St., New York
Near 6th Ave.. and 8th St.
ILLINOIS
ELGIN
Manufacturers
And when you're satisfied
that we've the best punch-
ings on the market, cut
clean and accurately from
the best of material in
celluloid, cloth, felt, fibre,
leather, paper, rubber or
whatever you want, give
us credit and send your
orders to
100
When you fail to
see an unsightly
Hinge protruding
you know "SOSS"
is the answer.
Soss Hinges
emphasize beautiful
wood finishes as
there is no project-
ing metal on either
side of door.
Made in
numerous sizes.
C. F. GOEPEL & CO.
137 E. 13th STREET
NEW YORK
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Send for Catalog "S" 1
SOSS MANUFACTURING CO.
f= Grand Ave. and Bergen St.,
BROOKLYN, N. Y.