Music Trade Review

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8
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS IN THE ART OF MAKING HAMMERS
Hammer Plant of the Standard Felt Co., Chicago, a Fine Example of a Well-equipped, Scien-
tifically Organized Factory—Careful Supervision of C. E. Platte Shown in Every Department
JULY 12,
1919
sheet of top-felt showing white in the picture
lies flat in the machine, under the molding,
which can be seen above the felt, with the dark
under-felt already glued in place on the lower
and middle sections. The operator is adjusting
the sheet of felt in order to insure its being set
in place correctly under the moldings. When
this has been done the top screws of the
machine will be turned down, pressing the mold-
ing into the felt and both into the caul below,
which determines the shape. Then, when the
glue has been applied the side screws will be
interesting pictures showing the most important
of the processes involved. The result is to give
the reader a clear idea both of the complexity
of the process and the exactness required in its
execution.
The Standard plant is on the sixth floor of a
very large loft building and its available work-
ing space exceeds that of many complete small-
er buildings. Entering to the right of Mr.
1 Matte's desk one passes up the large room, leav-
ing the packing department to one side, and
arrives at the benches where the first impor-
tant work is performed. This is the cutting of
the sheets of felt, according to the taper re-
quired by the particular piano maker whose
order is being filled at that moment. The pic-
ture (Eig. 1) shows clearly that the cutting is
done entirely by hand. Numerous attempts
have been made, says Mr. Platte, to perfect a
machine for the same purpose, but experience
has constantly showed that no knife yet pro-
duced can be kept on the job without constant
stropping by the hand of the expert user. In
No. 1.—Cutting the Felt Sheets
which converted the harpsichord into the piano- fact, the felt-cutter will tell you that he spends
No. 5.—Boring Moldings for Bending Wire
forte. Cristofori, harpsichord maker to the more time sharpening his murderous-looking
Medici family two hundred years ago, gave to blades than he does in the cutting itself. At the tightened and the side of the felt forced down
the instrument which he worked out in his little cutting bench to the right hand may be seen the around the molding. In this condition the ham-
shop among the outbuildings of the palace at stropping board. Beyond the bench are some mer-set is left as long as required, when the
Florence the name "gravicembalo col piano e
machine is unscrewed and the hammer-set taken
forte," or loud and soft playing clavier. Thence
out.
dates the piano. The hammer, in a word, is the
From here it goes to the trimming and
characteristic of the piano as the bow is of the
cleaning department shown in the next picture
violin.
(Fig. 4). Here the workmen are seen trim-
The piano hammer has gradually been de-
ming-, sandpapering and finally separating the
veloped from a wooden head lightly covered with
hammers. The men to the right of the picture
leather into an elaborate and beautifully worked-
are trimming the edges of the molding and sand-
out structure of felt, glued on wood and fined
papering the felt, while the man on the left is
down in the most exquisitely skilful manner
cutting apart the individual hammers.
from one end of the scale to the other. The
The next step is to deliver the hammers in
manufacture and refinement of the special ham-
sets to the girls, who bore them for the inser-
mer-felt, the tapering of the hammer-line, the
tion of the binding wire. Many expert hammer-
determination of the relative hardness and re-
makers feel that this wiring is rather superfluous,
siliency of the hammers for each individual
but piano makers demand it and so they get
scale, are all matters of the utmost importance
what they demand. The boring is done at
and have been worked out gradually by those
the machines shown, which are so devised that
who have devoted themselves to this one spe-
the girls cannot make a mistake, even if they
cialty. In fact, it is more than doubtful whether
try, while the operation of inserting and tight-
the hammer could ever have been developed to
ening the wires is one which they come to per-
No. 3.—Centering Felt on Moldings
its present point of mechanical excellence if of the sheets of hammer-felt complete, as these form with lightning speed and skill. A good
come from the company's California felting operator in the bunch makes better wages than
plant, while a pile of cut strips for hammer- the average skilled stenographer.
Towards the end of the room, as shown in Eig.
sets may likewise be clearly perceived.
Passing to the right of the cutting-benches the
visitor now enters the great machine room, of
which one corner is shown in the accompanying
picture (Fig. 2). Some idea of the size of this
department may be gained by glancing at the
relative sizes of the operator and machine shown
in the next picture (Eig. 3) and then count-
ing the machines, some three dozen, to be seen
in the one corner shown herewith. The men
are seen preparing the cauls in which the mold-
ings and felt are forced together in the ma-
No. 2.—Gluing the Felt
each individual manufacturer had been obliged chines. Others are preparing the machines for
gluing-up the sets of hammers. The "close-up"
to work out his own ideas alone.
The hammer shop of the Standard Felt Co.,
No. 6.—Inserting Binding Wire in Hammers
devoted to the making of piano hammers, is
6,
may be seen the expert packer, busily en-
located in Chicago at 844 West Adams street,
gaged in wrapping the sets of hammers, which
and constitutes an object lesson to any one who
may be seen piled up all around her.
may be inclined to doubt any of the statements
made above. Under the very expert adminis-
"The selection and felting of the wool, its
tration of Charles E. Platte this plant has de-
proper treatment in the felting mill and all the
veloped the manufacture of piano hammers to
other details of the sorts are not less impor-
a degree of exactness which to the layman is
tant, of course, than what you have already
quite astounding. Like every expert specialist
seen here," said Mr. Platte to The Review's
Mr. Platte may sometimes wish that his clients
representative at the close of the journey
would be a little less capricious in their demands,
through the shop. "But what I have here shown
but this does not prevent him from giving them
you represents that phase of hammer manu-
a service of the utmost completeness.
facture which is really vital. Our business, like
that of most -supply branches of the piano in-
The making of a modern piano hammer can
No. 4.—Separating the Glued-up Hammers
dustry, has suffered in the past from the capri-
be studied in the Standard plant with any
amount of detail required. During a recent in Fig. 3 shows the operator "centering" the ciousness of clients and from traditional meth-
visit by the technical editor of The Review sheet of felt under a set of hammer-molding on ods. But the day is at hand when scientific
the opportunity was seized to take some very which the felt has already been glued. The methods will revolutionize the individual con-
The making of piano hammers is not alone
a highly specialized trade, but one which has
had a great deal, indeed, to do with the won-
derful development of the modern piano. It
was the invention of a hammer of wood cov-
ered with leather, swinging on a leather hinge,