Music Trade Review
Issue: 1945 Vol. 104 N. 8 - Page 5
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
The JSusic jffiaJe
Established 1879
VOL 104, No. 8
REVIEW
2787th Issue
August, 1945
THE PIONEER PUBLICATION OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
The Piano an Important Factor
in Army and Navy Hospitals
HEN Lieut. Col. Howard C.
Bronson of the Special Serv-
ices Division of the U. S.
Army was addressing the members of
the National Music War Council re-
cently, he pointed to the crying need
for musical instruments for the re-
rehabilit a t i o n
centers of t h e
army where
wounded veter-
ans are gradual-
ly being brought
to normal. That
t h e piano plays
no small part in
this type of work
was force f u l l y
m a n i f ested re-
cently at the St.
C. BROWN HYATT
Albans N a v a 1
Hospital, St. Albans, Queens, N. Y.,
in the case of Alan C. Wagner, avia-
tion motor mechanic, third class, of
the Navy.
Wagner, who is 21 years old, was
severely wounded while a member of
the crew of the escort aircraft carrier
Bismarck Sea, which was struck by
several Japanese aerial torpedoes and
sunk on Feb. 21 last, while supporting
the landing of the marines off Iwo
Island.
He is a graduate of the Garden City
High School, Garden City, L. I., in the
class of 1941, and as a student was
fond of playing the piano as a hobby.
This fact was known to a young
woman friend, who is now Mrs. Tink-
er Connolly of Garden City.
Visiting the hospital to see "Al,"
Mrs. Connolly was saddened by the
W
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, AUGUST, 1945
thought that the boy was no longer
able to play the piano, being para-
lyzed from the waist down. She
spoke to her father, C. Brown Hyatt
of 153 Kensington Road, Garden City,
a consulting engineer. When asked
if he could invent something so that
the young sailor could again play the
piano, Mr. Hyatt said :
"The word 'can't' was never in my
vocabulary, so I hunted around until
I found an old upright Milton player
piano. Then I took it home and
turned my living room into a labora-
tory. Knowing nothing about pianos
or their construction the first thing I
did was to take the piano and player
action all apart. Then came the prob-
lem of getting it together again. I
removed the keys and keybed and then
proceeded to find out how I could
connect all the metal tubes again to
the action and have the keys on a
remote control keyboard. First I cut
a board 54" long in which I bored
88 holes over which I placed 88
springs and back of these I placed 88
electric magnets. In fact there are in
all 96 wires which go from the key-
board to the piano, two of which con-
trol the on-and-off button which I
placed on the remote keyboard, two
spare wires for emergencies and four
parallel wires to complete the circuit."
:V. )'. Daily \czvs Photo
Alan C "Wnjcner, womulco' veteran aviation motor mechanic, third class, plays on
piano built for him by C. Brown Hyatt. Insets .show piano while being constructed.
The JSusic jffiaJe
Established 1879
VOL 104, No. 8
REVIEW
2787th Issue
August, 1945
THE PIONEER PUBLICATION OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
The Piano an Important Factor
in Army and Navy Hospitals
HEN Lieut. Col. Howard C.
Bronson of the Special Serv-
ices Division of the U. S.
Army was addressing the members of
the National Music War Council re-
cently, he pointed to the crying need
for musical instruments for the re-
rehabilit a t i o n
centers of t h e
army where
wounded veter-
ans are gradual-
ly being brought
to normal. That
t h e piano plays
no small part in
this type of work
was force f u l l y
m a n i f ested re-
cently at the St.
C. BROWN HYATT
Albans N a v a 1
Hospital, St. Albans, Queens, N. Y.,
in the case of Alan C. Wagner, avia-
tion motor mechanic, third class, of
the Navy.
Wagner, who is 21 years old, was
severely wounded while a member of
the crew of the escort aircraft carrier
Bismarck Sea, which was struck by
several Japanese aerial torpedoes and
sunk on Feb. 21 last, while supporting
the landing of the marines off Iwo
Island.
He is a graduate of the Garden City
High School, Garden City, L. I., in the
class of 1941, and as a student was
fond of playing the piano as a hobby.
This fact was known to a young
woman friend, who is now Mrs. Tink-
er Connolly of Garden City.
Visiting the hospital to see "Al,"
Mrs. Connolly was saddened by the
W
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, AUGUST, 1945
thought that the boy was no longer
able to play the piano, being para-
lyzed from the waist down. She
spoke to her father, C. Brown Hyatt
of 153 Kensington Road, Garden City,
a consulting engineer. When asked
if he could invent something so that
the young sailor could again play the
piano, Mr. Hyatt said :
"The word 'can't' was never in my
vocabulary, so I hunted around until
I found an old upright Milton player
piano. Then I took it home and
turned my living room into a labora-
tory. Knowing nothing about pianos
or their construction the first thing I
did was to take the piano and player
action all apart. Then came the prob-
lem of getting it together again. I
removed the keys and keybed and then
proceeded to find out how I could
connect all the metal tubes again to
the action and have the keys on a
remote control keyboard. First I cut
a board 54" long in which I bored
88 holes over which I placed 88
springs and back of these I placed 88
electric magnets. In fact there are in
all 96 wires which go from the key-
board to the piano, two of which con-
trol the on-and-off button which I
placed on the remote keyboard, two
spare wires for emergencies and four
parallel wires to complete the circuit."
:V. )'. Daily \czvs Photo
Alan C "Wnjcner, womulco' veteran aviation motor mechanic, third class, plays on
piano built for him by C. Brown Hyatt. Insets .show piano while being constructed.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).