Presto
Issue: 1920 1757 - Page 5
THE PRESTO BUYERS*
GUIDE CLASSIFIES ALL
PIANOS AND PLAYERS
AND THEIR MAKERS
PRESTO
£.tabu,h*d 1894 THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
THE PRESTO YEAR BOOK
IS THE ONLY ANNUAL
REVIEW OP
THE MUSIC TRADES
/• c*nt. ; $2.00 « i w
PIANO FELTS AND3H0W THEY AREfMADE
The Development of the Felt Industry, with Special Reference to PianolHammers, and
Other Essential Parts of Musical Instruments, from the Beginning
to the Present Day.
By ALFRED DOLGE
(Copyright by Presto Publishing Co., reproduction prohibited)
Felt is a fabric formed of wool or hair, or wool
and hair, without weaving, by taking advantage of
the natural tendency of the fibres of the wool and
hair to interlace and mat together by aid of moisture
and heat during the continuous process of rolling,
beating and pressure.
The tendency of certain kinds of wool or hair to
mat together must have been discovered by primi-
tive man.
The nests of many kinds of birds exhibit a rude
sort of felt lining, and our cave dwelling ancestors'
sole wardrobe was a sheepskin coat, which with use
became densely matted.
The poet Homer speaks of helmets used by the
Greek warriors having a felt lining, and of cowskin
shoes lined with felt.
Caius Julius Caesar organized a light brigade
which had felt breast plates as a protection against
the enemy's weapon.
In the ruins of Pompeii, a complete plant for
scouring and pressing of felts has been found.
Felt hats were made in England as far back as
1400 A. D.
FELT IN INDUSTRY.
Felt has always held a leading place in the indus-
trial arts of the oriental races, and to this day the
thick numuds of Persia are remarkable, not only for
their durability, but also for the beautiful ornamen-
tation produced by the felted inlay of colored goods.
The Calnucks use felt for making their tents. It
would seem that the art of felt making, although
in a primitive way, was known long before the spin-
ning wheel was invented.
The first attempts for using machinery for the
production of felts were made in England.
A felting machine was invented by a certain
Bishop, who was running a small mill in the neigh-
borhood of Norwalk, Connecticut. As usual, Bishop
met the experience that "a prophet is not without
honor save in his own country." He therefore went
to England, where he found sufficient encourage-
ment to develop his machine, and put his invention
to practical use. Consequently for many years
English felt manufacturers controlled the markets of
the world with their goods.
Upon Bishop's return to America it seems that he
was instrumental in starting a felt mill at Norwalk,
Connecticut, which enterprise met with success and
failure in proportion as it enjoyed either protection,
r suffered under free trade experiments of the gov-
rnment.
After the Civil War, when the necessity of the
overnment treasury compelled a protective tariff,
everal felt mills started up in New York, Pennsyl-
ania and Massachusetts. They manufactured felts
or decorating purposes, felt carpets and felt skirts;
hile hat making had long before been developed to
he highest degree in the United States.
FIRST FELT FOR HAMMERS.
Fine felts, such as are used for piano hammers and
iano actions, were first made by Billion, of Paris,
n whose factory young men from Germany and
England learned the art of making piano felts, and
hus the industry spread over Europe.
The first factory for piano felts in America was
tarted by Alfred Dolge in 1871, at Dolgeville, N. Y.
iis product received the highest prize at the
Vorld's Exposition at Vienna, 1873, where he ex-
ibited piano hammer felts weighing as much as 22
bs. to the sheet, having a thickness of 1% in the
iass part, the heaviest piano hammer felt ever pro-
uced by any manufacturer up to that time. This
nusually heavy felt was made for Steinway & Sons,
nd used in their concert grand pianos.
The felt industry of America has kept pace with
e growth of the country, and at the present time
ere are from eight to ten millions of dollars in-
ested in that industry.
Large quantities of felt are consumed in the man-
acture of felt slippers and shoes, an industry in-
There are two essential requisites for a good piano
hammer felt.
First, it must be well felted, that is, the fibre very
closely connected to insure wearing quality, because
the continual pounding of the hammer against the
steel strings in the piano is liable to cut the fibre
of the felt if only loosely felted. But with this thor-
ough felting, a pronounced elasticity is indispensable
in order to enable the hammer to rebound from the
string quickly in order to permit of the immediate
free vibration of the strings after the hammer has
struck the same.
In these two requisites arises the art of making
felt for piano hammers, and many a good felt manu-
facturer who excelled in making cloth felts, etc., has
lost a fortune in the attempt of making piano ham-
mer felt. Not less than twenty-six establishments
have attempted to make piano felts in the United
States, and out of that number are only three in ex-
istence today.
To accomplish a good felting or matting of the
wool, as required in piano hammer felt, it is all-im-
portant that the wool, after being carefully sorted
according to its class, should be treated with the
greatest care in the scouring process. No chemicals
of any kind should be used.
Shrinkage in the scouring process in fine Merino
wools is in the average 75 per cent; that is to say,
100 lbs. of wool from the sheep's back will yield only
25 lbs. workable wool after it is thoroughly scoured
and cleansed.
After the scouring process, the most important
part of treating the wool is in the drying process, for
which usually an apparatus is used which is heated
up to 150 degrees and over.
The wool is spread on a wire netting and passes
through this hot oven; the heat being so intense,
and the wool after leaving the scouring bowls being
very tender, it is seriously affected by this excessive
heat, and consequently the elasticity and life of the
wool is destroyed to a large degree by this artificial
drying process.
DRYING IN CALIFORNIA.
troduced by Alfred Dolge in 1876. It is estimated
To avoid this artificial drying, Alfred Dolge
that from two to three million pairs of felt slippers
started factories for making piano hammer felt at
and shoes are sold annually in the United States.
Dolgeville, in Southern California, where wool is
Large quantities of felt are also used for industrial
dried and bleached entirely by the rays of the sun.
purposes.
The equal and salubrious climate of Southern Cali-
fornia makes such treatment possible, because as a
USE MANY KINDS OF WOOL.
rule in that climate there are about 300 days of sun-
Nearly all kinds of wool are used in the making
shine in the year. The average temperature is about
of felts, beginning with the coarse Russian and East
80 degrees, which of course does not affect the fine
India wools, for polishing felts, to the finest Merino
fibre of the wool at all.
wools, for piano hammer felts.
From the drier the wool passes through machines
Merino sheep flourished in Spain before the Chris-
called pickers for the purpose of separating the veg-
tian era, but it was not until 1765 when the Elector
of Saxony introduced the Merino sheep into his do- etable matter which might be still in the wool, and
also "opening" up the wool.
minion, with great success, and about 1800 the first
After this picking the wool is passed on to a card-
Merino sheep were imported into this country, with
ing machine, by which it is combed, and formed into
such good results that now nearly 95 per cent of
a spider-like web.
American sheep are of Merino origin. Merino wools
In the process of picking and carding all wool,
of Australia and South America, although of very
which is too short to be carried in the web, drops
fine character, are not well adapted for felting pur-
under the carding machine, so that only from 75 to
poses.
80 per cent of the wool going through the picking
The best Merino wools for fine felts are now
and carding process remains for the web.
raised in the Cape of Good Hope country, and the
After the wool is thoroughly carded, it is formed
southwestern States of North America, more espe-
into sheets. By the old and antiquated process felt
cially Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and
is made in single sheets, the sheet weighing on an
Texas.
average 12 lbs., tapering down from one inch in the
While breeders of sheep have improved the qual-
bass to one-eighth inch in the treble, measuring
ity of Merino herds in America, we find a retrogres-
about a square yard. In this process the bats are
sion in Saxony, where the breeders have turned
taken from the carding machines, and carefully laid
more to the raising of good spinning wool, which
one on top of the other until the proper thickness
yields a better profit than the fine short Merino felt-
has been acquired. When completed such a sheet
ing wool.
will measure from about 8 to 10 inches in height in
Since this article is intended to treat chiefly on
the bass, and is about 54 ins. square, because the
felts used in pianos, of which the most important
wool in the bats is loose and bulky.
part is the felt for the hammers which strike the
Then follows the felting, which is entirely a
strings, we will confine ourselves to a short descrip-
process of shrinking, which is the effort of bringing
tion of the process of manufacturing piano hammer
felt.
(Continued on page 8.)
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
GUIDE CLASSIFIES ALL
PIANOS AND PLAYERS
AND THEIR MAKERS
PRESTO
£.tabu,h*d 1894 THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
THE PRESTO YEAR BOOK
IS THE ONLY ANNUAL
REVIEW OP
THE MUSIC TRADES
/• c*nt. ; $2.00 « i w
PIANO FELTS AND3H0W THEY AREfMADE
The Development of the Felt Industry, with Special Reference to PianolHammers, and
Other Essential Parts of Musical Instruments, from the Beginning
to the Present Day.
By ALFRED DOLGE
(Copyright by Presto Publishing Co., reproduction prohibited)
Felt is a fabric formed of wool or hair, or wool
and hair, without weaving, by taking advantage of
the natural tendency of the fibres of the wool and
hair to interlace and mat together by aid of moisture
and heat during the continuous process of rolling,
beating and pressure.
The tendency of certain kinds of wool or hair to
mat together must have been discovered by primi-
tive man.
The nests of many kinds of birds exhibit a rude
sort of felt lining, and our cave dwelling ancestors'
sole wardrobe was a sheepskin coat, which with use
became densely matted.
The poet Homer speaks of helmets used by the
Greek warriors having a felt lining, and of cowskin
shoes lined with felt.
Caius Julius Caesar organized a light brigade
which had felt breast plates as a protection against
the enemy's weapon.
In the ruins of Pompeii, a complete plant for
scouring and pressing of felts has been found.
Felt hats were made in England as far back as
1400 A. D.
FELT IN INDUSTRY.
Felt has always held a leading place in the indus-
trial arts of the oriental races, and to this day the
thick numuds of Persia are remarkable, not only for
their durability, but also for the beautiful ornamen-
tation produced by the felted inlay of colored goods.
The Calnucks use felt for making their tents. It
would seem that the art of felt making, although
in a primitive way, was known long before the spin-
ning wheel was invented.
The first attempts for using machinery for the
production of felts were made in England.
A felting machine was invented by a certain
Bishop, who was running a small mill in the neigh-
borhood of Norwalk, Connecticut. As usual, Bishop
met the experience that "a prophet is not without
honor save in his own country." He therefore went
to England, where he found sufficient encourage-
ment to develop his machine, and put his invention
to practical use. Consequently for many years
English felt manufacturers controlled the markets of
the world with their goods.
Upon Bishop's return to America it seems that he
was instrumental in starting a felt mill at Norwalk,
Connecticut, which enterprise met with success and
failure in proportion as it enjoyed either protection,
r suffered under free trade experiments of the gov-
rnment.
After the Civil War, when the necessity of the
overnment treasury compelled a protective tariff,
everal felt mills started up in New York, Pennsyl-
ania and Massachusetts. They manufactured felts
or decorating purposes, felt carpets and felt skirts;
hile hat making had long before been developed to
he highest degree in the United States.
FIRST FELT FOR HAMMERS.
Fine felts, such as are used for piano hammers and
iano actions, were first made by Billion, of Paris,
n whose factory young men from Germany and
England learned the art of making piano felts, and
hus the industry spread over Europe.
The first factory for piano felts in America was
tarted by Alfred Dolge in 1871, at Dolgeville, N. Y.
iis product received the highest prize at the
Vorld's Exposition at Vienna, 1873, where he ex-
ibited piano hammer felts weighing as much as 22
bs. to the sheet, having a thickness of 1% in the
iass part, the heaviest piano hammer felt ever pro-
uced by any manufacturer up to that time. This
nusually heavy felt was made for Steinway & Sons,
nd used in their concert grand pianos.
The felt industry of America has kept pace with
e growth of the country, and at the present time
ere are from eight to ten millions of dollars in-
ested in that industry.
Large quantities of felt are consumed in the man-
acture of felt slippers and shoes, an industry in-
There are two essential requisites for a good piano
hammer felt.
First, it must be well felted, that is, the fibre very
closely connected to insure wearing quality, because
the continual pounding of the hammer against the
steel strings in the piano is liable to cut the fibre
of the felt if only loosely felted. But with this thor-
ough felting, a pronounced elasticity is indispensable
in order to enable the hammer to rebound from the
string quickly in order to permit of the immediate
free vibration of the strings after the hammer has
struck the same.
In these two requisites arises the art of making
felt for piano hammers, and many a good felt manu-
facturer who excelled in making cloth felts, etc., has
lost a fortune in the attempt of making piano ham-
mer felt. Not less than twenty-six establishments
have attempted to make piano felts in the United
States, and out of that number are only three in ex-
istence today.
To accomplish a good felting or matting of the
wool, as required in piano hammer felt, it is all-im-
portant that the wool, after being carefully sorted
according to its class, should be treated with the
greatest care in the scouring process. No chemicals
of any kind should be used.
Shrinkage in the scouring process in fine Merino
wools is in the average 75 per cent; that is to say,
100 lbs. of wool from the sheep's back will yield only
25 lbs. workable wool after it is thoroughly scoured
and cleansed.
After the scouring process, the most important
part of treating the wool is in the drying process, for
which usually an apparatus is used which is heated
up to 150 degrees and over.
The wool is spread on a wire netting and passes
through this hot oven; the heat being so intense,
and the wool after leaving the scouring bowls being
very tender, it is seriously affected by this excessive
heat, and consequently the elasticity and life of the
wool is destroyed to a large degree by this artificial
drying process.
DRYING IN CALIFORNIA.
troduced by Alfred Dolge in 1876. It is estimated
To avoid this artificial drying, Alfred Dolge
that from two to three million pairs of felt slippers
started factories for making piano hammer felt at
and shoes are sold annually in the United States.
Dolgeville, in Southern California, where wool is
Large quantities of felt are also used for industrial
dried and bleached entirely by the rays of the sun.
purposes.
The equal and salubrious climate of Southern Cali-
fornia makes such treatment possible, because as a
USE MANY KINDS OF WOOL.
rule in that climate there are about 300 days of sun-
Nearly all kinds of wool are used in the making
shine in the year. The average temperature is about
of felts, beginning with the coarse Russian and East
80 degrees, which of course does not affect the fine
India wools, for polishing felts, to the finest Merino
fibre of the wool at all.
wools, for piano hammer felts.
From the drier the wool passes through machines
Merino sheep flourished in Spain before the Chris-
called pickers for the purpose of separating the veg-
tian era, but it was not until 1765 when the Elector
of Saxony introduced the Merino sheep into his do- etable matter which might be still in the wool, and
also "opening" up the wool.
minion, with great success, and about 1800 the first
After this picking the wool is passed on to a card-
Merino sheep were imported into this country, with
ing machine, by which it is combed, and formed into
such good results that now nearly 95 per cent of
a spider-like web.
American sheep are of Merino origin. Merino wools
In the process of picking and carding all wool,
of Australia and South America, although of very
which is too short to be carried in the web, drops
fine character, are not well adapted for felting pur-
under the carding machine, so that only from 75 to
poses.
80 per cent of the wool going through the picking
The best Merino wools for fine felts are now
and carding process remains for the web.
raised in the Cape of Good Hope country, and the
After the wool is thoroughly carded, it is formed
southwestern States of North America, more espe-
into sheets. By the old and antiquated process felt
cially Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and
is made in single sheets, the sheet weighing on an
Texas.
average 12 lbs., tapering down from one inch in the
While breeders of sheep have improved the qual-
bass to one-eighth inch in the treble, measuring
ity of Merino herds in America, we find a retrogres-
about a square yard. In this process the bats are
sion in Saxony, where the breeders have turned
taken from the carding machines, and carefully laid
more to the raising of good spinning wool, which
one on top of the other until the proper thickness
yields a better profit than the fine short Merino felt-
has been acquired. When completed such a sheet
ing wool.
will measure from about 8 to 10 inches in height in
Since this article is intended to treat chiefly on
the bass, and is about 54 ins. square, because the
felts used in pianos, of which the most important
wool in the bats is loose and bulky.
part is the felt for the hammers which strike the
Then follows the felting, which is entirely a
strings, we will confine ourselves to a short descrip-
process of shrinking, which is the effort of bringing
tion of the process of manufacturing piano hammer
felt.
(Continued on page 8.)
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).