Music Trade Review

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JUNE 30,
1923
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
Technical Aspects of the Convention
Two of the Outstanding Novelties Exhibited by the Manufacturers Were the Thompson U'nette Grand
Player and the Story & Clark Repro-phraso Expression Device—The Ingenious Thompson
Method of Installing the Player Action in the Grand
New technical features of the various pneu-
matic instruments displayed at the late con-
ventions were not very many, but it is possible
to select a few which made upon the writer a
special impression. It is not suggested that
these were the only technically important
mechanisms or inventions shown, but rather
that as things stood they left upon the mind of
the present writer the deepest impression.
The first of these was undoubtedly the
Thompson U'nette player-grand.
Mr. Thompson has furnished the trade with
sufficiently clear and cogent merchandising ar-
guments for his original and interesting pro-
duction, and from what he says one gathers
that his idea, technically speaking, has been to
fit a personal-control, pedal-played playing
mechanism inside a very small grand piano
without (a) changing the case by building on in
front, (b) using a drawer sliding under the key-
bed or (c) building a special structure to house
both the three pedals common to the grand
piano and the pumping pedals of the player
mechanism. That he has managed to complete
and perfect his design within these limits speaks
well for his ingenuity and patience.
Essentials of Thompson's Method
Essentially, the required results have been ob-
tained by dividing the player action into upper
and lower parts as is customary in the up-
right piano. The spool box and motor have
been placed above the keys and, in fact, above
the tuning pins. The bellows have been built
into the keybed and the pneumatic stack has
been placed in the usual position behind and
under the. keybed.
In order to bring the spool box and motor
above the keybed without upsetting the case or
having to enlarge it in front Mr. Thompson has
made use of the ordinary music desk of the
grand piano. Into this music desk he builds
his spool box and thereby considerably deepens
it, so that it would not ordinarily lie down flat
over the tuning pins when the piano is closed.
In order to overcome the difficulty thus pre-
sented Mr. Thompson alters the barring of the
iron plate of his piano and removes the middle
bar further toward the treble, taking out the
high treble bar altogether. In so doing he is
perfectly justified, for there is not the slightest
engineering reason for putting three bars in
the treble sections of a grand piano. The other
bars in the Thompson plate are enlarged in
cross section by about the amount of iron saved
through the omission of one bar; but this is
really a needless precaution. Most small grand
plates are absurdly overbarred.
The Novel Spool Box
The music desk contains the tracker bar, the
take-up spool and the chucks. It does not con-
tain the transmission gear, for this forms part
of the motor set and is connected with what
may be called the spool-desk by a single
sprocket and chain instantly removable, but not
disturbed by the raising or lowering of the desk.
A slide can be pulled over the tracker bar and
spool when the piano is being played by hand.
The motor set is placed immediately over
the high treble strings in the upper right-hand
corner of the iron plate. The motor is laid in
a horizontal position and concealed from view
by means of an ornamental wooden cover fin-
ished as if it were part of the regular case-
work of the piano.
Lower Action Described
The lower action is equally interesting. The
pumpers of the bellows set are built in a hori-
zontal instead of a vertical position, so that
they lie flat against the bottom side of the
keybed, which is slightly scooped out under-
neath to receive them. When the two pumpers
are at rest there is nothing to betray their pres-
ence in this position. From them two straight
rods drop direct to the pumper-pedals which
thus pull down the bellows without any com-
plicated system of levers intervening. The
pedals are allowed when not in use to fold back
in full sight against the front of the lyre, which
is similar in shape to that of any ordinary
grand piano. The equalizer is placed apart
under the sound board and connected with the
rest of the action by a tube. The pneumatic
stack, which is unusually small and compact, is
placed under and behind the keybed in the cus-
tomary position.
The expression control layout is assembled
behind the keyslip as in the upright player-
piano and consists of tempo lever, sustaining
buttons and levers for raising either half of the
hammer-rail of the piano action. A hammer-
lifting fixed keyboard action is used.
These details are extremely interesting, for
they represent one of the most ingenious at-
tempts so far to combine the player action with
the grand piano in such a manner as neither to
lose an excessive quantity of power through
friction nor to spoil the natural lines of the
structure through artificial additions.
The Repro-phraso Inventions
The other set of devices which specially im-
press the writer comprises the so-called Repro-
phraso player exhibited by the Story & Clark
Piano Co. and based on the inventions of S. R.
Harcourt, of that company, who is well known
as one of the veterans of the technical as well
as of the merchandising side of the player in-
dustry. The arrangements in question comprise
a system of tempo control by the player-pianist
involving an unusual principle and a system of
expression control which can be operated either
by hand or through automatic-expression music
rolls. This is also somewhat novel in its treat-
ment of the problem. This problem is always
that of causing changes of working pressure un-
der personal or automatic control and this state-
ment holds goods as well in the most complex
as in the simplest devices.
To take the tempo control first. This con-
sists of two buttons, one for retarding and one
for accelerating the speed of the motor, after
the same has been fixed by setting the tempo
lever. The working principles are simple and
ingenious.
When the retarding button is
pressed a knife valve under it is opened which
lets atmospheric air into the suction line be-
tween motor and tempo box. The further the
button is pressed down the more air is allowed
to leak in. Thus by depressing the button fur-
ther and further the internal pressure is raised
until there is no difference between the internal
and the external pressures, when the motor
comes to a stop.
On the other hand, the accelerating button,
when depressed, opens a knife valve similarly
graduated, but in this case by so doing connects
the suction line between motor and tempo box
vith a tube running into the bellows, so that, as
the knife valve is gradually opened, a larger
and larger additional passageway is opened to
the bellows, whereby the air flowing out from
the motor is disposed of more rapidly than
would otherwise be possible. Thus the internal
pressure is progressively lowered and the motor
progressively speeded.
Dynamic Principle Explained
The dynamic device is equally simple. The
pneumatic action is divided into two halves,
bass and treble, each provided with its own cut-
off and its own pressure governor. This gov-
ernor in each case is set at a certain spring-
weight which may be adjusted as required. Nor-
mally, all air passing from the stack to the bel-
lows must pass through this governor, the quan-
tity passing through being automatically main-
tained at a constant through the spring acting
on the collapsing wall. There is, however, an-
other large port in the governor. This is nor-
mally kept closed by a large square bellows
valve situated outside the governor and ex-
panded by atmospheric air leaking into it and
thus against the reduced pressure inside the
governor, pressing hard against the port. When,
however, the corresponding expression button
is depressed air is admitted to an operating
valve, which rises, cutting off the atmospheric
flow into the large bellows valve and causing
it to collapse under the suction to which it now
becomes exposed. Thus the port is opened and
the governor ceases to function. Depressing a
button, therefore, destroys the governing func-
tion and gives the additional power needed for
an accent or crescendo. Obviously, the sys-
tem can be worked either through the hand-
controlled buttons or through marginal perfora-
tions in the tracker bar, opened and closed by
corresponding perforations in a music roll. It
is intended to use the instrument in both ways.
These two instruments seemed to the writer
eminently worthy of description, because of
their technical interest.
THE LABOR SITUATION IN MAY
Slight Reductions Roth in Employment and
Payrolls in Trade Reported by Government
WASHINGTON, D. C, June 25.—Slight reductions,
both in employment and the weekly payrolls, are
shown for the piano industry in May as com-
pared with April, in figures just made public
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Returns re-
ceived from twenty-six piano and organ manu-
facturing establishments indicate a decline of
one-half of one per cent in the number of per-
sons employed during the month, accompanied
by a reduction of 1.1 per cent in the weekly
payroll, 7,124 persons receiving $200,937 for one
week in May, compared with 7,160 employes
paid $203,097 for one week in April. Compared
with April, therefore, the per capita earnings of
employes in the industry were reduced six-tenths
of one per cent. The piano and organ industry
is one of but six trades which in May were able
to report operating 100 per cent full time.
THREE PRESIDENTS NOW IN DALLAS
Dallas, Tex., now boasts and boasts loudly
of the honor of having among her citizens three
presidents of music trade organizations, they
being Will A. Watkin, president of the National
Association of Music Merchants; William H.
Beasley, president of the Music Merchants' As-
sociation of Texas, and D. L. Whittle, president
of the Dallas Music Industries' Association.
STELLAR TO OPEN NEW BRANCH
ELDON, TA., June 26.—Stcllar's Music Store, of
Ottumwa, will open a branch store here shortly,
which will be managed by the wife of Rey.
Barber, of the Methodist Church. A full line
of music goods will be carried.
Consult the universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.