Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
336
A Sketch of British Pianoforte Inventions.
damped to sympathize or vibrate in unison with
the length between the bridges." It has been
an accepted principle in piano construction—
CURIOUS AND CRAZY INVENTIONS.
founded upon experiment and practice—that the
upper bridge of the instrument should not rest
A Study of Some Old British Pianoforte Patents. upon the sounding-board, otherwise disagreeable
harmonics and overtones would be occasioned.
THE FIRST ENGLISH MUSICAL PATENT—TUMPE'S In 1827, however, Edward Dodd secured a pat-
ENHARMONIC PIANO—PARCHMENT INSTEAD
ent for a method of placing the two bridges on
OF SOUNDING-BOARDS—RYLEY 'S TRANS-
the sounding-board—the wrest plank and belly
POSING PIANO —LOESCHMANN'S
bridge—apparently unconscious of the reasons
*
KEYBOARD — GUNTHER'S
which prevented others of that time from at-
DOUBLE SOUNDING-
tempting the task. The most striking item in
BOARD.
his patent, meantime, is a method for regulating
ROLFE'S SELF-ACTING PIANO—WOLF'S CURIOUS tone quality in a piano, by means of a brass nut
SOUNDING-BOARD—FISCHER'S CROSS-STRUNG
screw at the back of the hammer head. One
PIANO—WHEATSTONE 'S STRINGING SYS-
would imagine that an inventor working in such
TEM—DANIEL HEWITT'S ABSURDI-
trivial and incomplex channels would first try
TIES—NICKEL'S COMBINATION
to estimate the working value of an idea by ex-
INSTRUMENT — BAIN'S
periment before throwing away the large sum of
INTRODUCTION OF
money which a British patent cost in those
ELECTRICITY,
times.
ETC.
Gunther's double sounding board, introduced
in 1828, was the first noteworthy attempt to
Continued from last week.)
make the violin a model for further improve-
he name of David Loeschmann occurs again ment in the structure of the sounding board.
in the records of the British Patent Office Gunther's plan consisted of a thicker sounding
after twelve years—1821—in connection with board, containing the belly bridge and strings
the Patent Terpodian, an instrument employing '' placed over the ordinary one.'' This, while in no
a piano keyboard and hammers for the purpose means successful, led up to a variety of adaptions
of performing upon an arrangement of pieces of of the same idea. In 1829, Thomas Rolfe, previ-
wood similar to the familiar xylophone. Rather a ously mentioned in connection with Samuel
fall from attempting to revolutionize the musical Davis, procured another patent for an '' improved
system to the latter undignified task ! William self-acting piano." Thirty-two years had
Frederick Collard, one of the original founders elapsed since his first invention was registered,
of Collard & Collard, London, was the author of and strange to say the second was of the same
the appended extract from the claims of a pat- far-fetched nature as the first.
ent taken out on March 8, 1821, for piano im-
James Stewart took out a British patent in the
provement of an acoustic nature. It concerns a year designated for a " Brass Rail applied to the
third bridge or " bridge of reverberation placed back part of the action frame." Stewart was at
below the ordinary two, so as to allow that the time in the employ of Collard, having just
part of the strings which is generally listed or severed his connection with Jonas Chickering
t
Established 1808.
and taken up his residence in London. Men-
tion of Stewart is made merely in an incidental
manner, and his invention is not included in
the list of futile achievements given, for he is
known to have been a master in that domain of
activity. In 1835 the same clever inventor pro-
cured a patent for an escapement action, and
his name occurs in these records as late as 1859.
In 1835 another eccentric invention was record-
ed in the British patent office. It consisted of a
scheme for suspending the hammer shanks '' by
an india-rubber thread to the butts.'' F. Dav-
chell was the patentee. A '' hollow bridge on the
sounding board '' was also included.
Passing on to 1835, Wolf's curious substitute
for the sounding-board cannot be omitted from
mention. Wolf introduced a "shell of curvil-
inear shape in lieu of the familiar board. " He
enlisted the attention of a large number of ex-
perts, and even capital, but his labor came to
naught.
Continued next week.
A FRENCH engineer, Mr. Terrier de Villen
euve, who is living at present in New York and
has worked for some time past in connection
with Mr. Edison, is about to send to the Chi-
cago Exposition a unique clock. The clock,
which will be combined with a phonograph, will
in twelve hours perform the four operas of
"Lohengrin," " William Tell," "The Hugue-
nots," and "Faust." The phonograph will re-
produce the voices of the most celebrated singers
who have appeared in these operas, such as
Patti, Faure, etc. The orchestra will be a pho-
nographic reproduction of the Grand Opera of
Paris.
PATRICK CORCORAN, whose advertisement
appears in this issue, is a piano mover of long
experience. He has been employed by the lead-
ing houses of the trade and numberless private
individuals for the past thirty-five years, in re-
moving pianos, and has always given the great-
est satisfaction to each and every one of them.
Incorporated f863.
PIANO IVORY, PIANO KEYS, ORGAN KEYS,
ORGAN REEDS AND REED-BOARDS, COUPLERS.
Factories of PRATT, READ & CO., Deep River, Conn.