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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
OCTOBER 1, 1921
OuirraiNICAL DEPARTMENT
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM BRAID WHITE
THE WILLIAMS INVENTION
A Description of the Principles Upon Which
the Williams Tone Amplifier Is Based and
Some Thoughts on the Piano of the Future
J. H. Williams, of Baltimore, who has invented
a method of construction designed to increase
•the sonority of the piano, is the latest of many
ingenious men who have devoted their efforts to
improving an instrument in many ways singu-
larly imperfect. In his case the effort is directed
toward exciting-, in the highly ingenious manner
which was described some weeks ago in this
paper, a much larger volume of air than is usually
available into sonorous vibrations sympathetic
with the vibrations of the piano strings. The
reader will remember that Mr. Williams does this
by channeling through the back structure of
the upright piano, so as to secure, under the
sonorous control of the strings, a number of air
columns, the area and cubic content of which
can be determined to any desired degree of pre-
cision. The conception is bold and its embodi-
ment ingenious. I have great hopes that Mr.
Williams will be able to blaze out a pathway
along which inventive effort may travel for a
long time before reaching an end.
Tone-stifling Construction
My own interest is very great, for it seems to
me that Mr. Williams has opened up a very great
number of most interesting questions. It can
scarcely be denied by any one who knows the
piano well that the sonorous possibilities of the
strings do not'become developed to a sufficiently
high amplitude before ithey are extinguished 1
through atmospheric inertia. The ordinary up-
right piano, for instance, decidedly does not give
one the impression that it is yielding up all its
tonal possibilities. When one plays it there is
always the sense that, in some way or another,
the tone is being smothered, and that what of it
emerges represents only a comparatively small
fraction of the total tonal energy which the
strings release. I think that no one who plays
with any discrimination or is accustomed to lis-
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tciiing for tone will deny the validity of this
contention.
There is much talk to-day about the small
grand and the forthcoming disappearance of the
straight upright piano. Without venturing to
predict t)he course of future development I shall
content myself with remarking that what is said
below applies with equal force to pianos of both
types, and indeed is almost equally applicable to
the largest and finest grand pianos made.
The Back as an Obstacle
When William Bauer, of Chicago, brought out
his "New Construction" pianos some few years
ago he completely abolished one of the most
important and customary features of piano con-
struction—the heavy wooden back. In his opin-
ion the existence of this massive wooden struc-
ture represented one of the most powerful ob-
stacles to the free propagation of tonal energy.
In substituting for this his peculiar iron-plate
construction Mr. Bauer seeks to do in one way
what Mr. Williams is seeking to do in another
way. There is no sense in trying to draw com-
parisons. The two ideas represent the same
ideal. What is important, however, is the ques-
tion which lies at the base of them. Does the
ordinary construction of the piano actually mili-
tate against the due release of tonal energy?
That is the question, wlhich is not at all modified
by the fact that different men have sought to
answer it satisfactorily and have arrived at dif-
ferent results.
Wood and Vibration
A whole field for fruitful investigation lies
waiting in connection with our knowledge of
the vibratory properties of wood. Very little has
been done up to the present time in this direc-
tion. The analogies presented by the experience
of violin makers and of piano makers with the
sound board of the piano are not really valid,
for the basic structure of the piano is built of
.massive wood's chosen for their ability to with-
stand stresses of considerable magnitude and of
various direction. The ideal sought is strength.
Now, strength can, of course, be had in abun-
dance. It is simply a matter of cross section.
But if no other factor be taken into account the
fact soon develops that strength can be far too
dearly bought. When cross sections become too.
large the back construction ceases to possess
any value as a tone carrier. And when it ceases
to possess this value it also becomes a definite
obstacle to the release of tone energy. There is
no neutral point here. If the wooden structure
does not help it actually hinders.
And I think we cannot deny that the wooden
back, as" ordinarily constructed, is an actual hin-
drance to the circulation of tonal energy.
Area vs. Transmission
As I said before, there is a large field for
investigation here open. We do not know as
much as we ought to know about the vibraitory
properties of wood, and especially about the
relation between area and vibratory ability. Nor
do we know as much as we ought to know
about the relation between the molecular struc-
ture of various woods and their ability to trans-
mit vibratory motion. The experience of violin
makers is not useful here, as I said before, sim-
ply because the thicknesses of the wood used
are so different. The back and belly of a violin
are built of wooden sheets only a small frac-
tion of an inch in thickness. The same is true
of the piano's sound board. But where we have
failed is in investigating the relations between
tone-carrying structures, specifically designed as
such, and structures which influence tone trans-
mission, but which are designed and constructed
without reference to this ability on their part.
Plainly, if it were a question of dimensions
only, the study required would be designed to
discover how the needed stress-carrying power
could be had without excessive size. For it must
be evident that the tendency to smother vibra-
tions, Which we perceive to be inherent in the
ordinary wooden-back construction, is propor-
tional to the mass of the pieces which make up
the complete structure. There, in fact, is the
(Continued on page 14)
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