The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1874-09-08 00:00:00

HOW PIANOS ARE MADE

The new factory which Messrs. Brinsinead have lately
built in the Grafton-ruad, Kentish Town, covers 'lowly an
acre of ground. It has a most complete si stem of
machinery, a perfect series of "ahem, a drying-room,
which is said to he the largest in Europe, and is generally
one of the moot perfect specimens of it. sort in the world.
The wood remains in Um Open air until it is
thoroughly dried (often for several paws), when, to :mike
assurance doubly Imre, it in taken into the flrying•risen. •
spacious house, artificially he:skid, and containing at the
present time several thousand puunibi worth of the meet
valuable timber, for at least *twelvemonth. Not, siteffe
tire of any sortie necessary throughout the works, abel the
requixite heat for veneering, clueing, nail other porpoes
is .1 eri ved entirely frem the surplu. steain of the engin,.
Passing into the mill-room we see the ~,,,,, enceigent of
the piano. Then: the wod is hustle to itieler,ai the twee*
Nary preempt of fine-sawing. nesibine Planing. !it'd lorings
and the material's generally are cut i fito con vement lengthe
and prepared for the work of construction. In the next
room we tind the frame.makers busily at work csionstruet-
ing the back or framework of the instrument : :Ind as,
when the strings are highly strung, the leick of the piano
has to hear a strain of often many (eennetimes of no low
than sixteen) tons, it may he lin:Wined hew strong this
portion of the work must be. To give the piano further
strength, a massive wrought-iron bar is iikseed at the
bottom: and two tubular iron supportx, which, by a com-
pensating screw, can Ise made to give slightly when
required in the proemis of tuning, are fixed upright along
the hack. Around Imo exist to the iron at the bottom,
and others driven into the wood at the top, the strings are
noW lightly wound, the tuning taking place itt 3 SONO-
iiiient stage of the fin es:Wings.
At the lesek of the franiework, and without fixture, is
placed the sounilinglessrd, which Is one of the most
Portant parts of the instrument. The best ywi.e fir in
alone available for this purpose, and, as it ttt In/ free
from knots, and has to undergo a curious and delicate pro-
em of varnishing, it may Ise imagined how troublesome
this part of the work must Ise. The strings are made lit
the best Belgian steel, and the bass strings are, besides,
bound round with copper wire. Compellealing in thickness
for the length, which, in times of old, was thought to be
the grand secret of pianoforte making.
We have now, as far as the music is concerned, an
instrument which is possible to be played upon, and here
we begin to supply the motive-power, that which produces
the sound. It is tolerably well known that the music is
produced in the piano by means of a " hammer" made of
tough wood cased in hard leather of buffalo, icoil, calf,
doeskin, morocco, or sheepskin as the case may be, which
strikes against the chords (a bichord being made of two
strings, and a trichord, up to a certain point, with three),
and causes a sound which may be regulated according to
the thickness of the strings and the degree of tension to
which they are strung. The motive-power of the hammer
Is the key-board, which, by delicate mechanism, releases
the hammer upon being pressed upward by the key,
which, in Its turn, striking the strings at once. immedi-
ately falls back into its place. If this Li:unifier remained
On the string, the sound would of course cease
Instantaneously, while the object sought is a free
vibration of the strings and consequent pro-
longation of the sound. The sound is checked by
means of a "damper," or a diminutise hammer tipped
with soft felt, which falls on the strings as the key falls
upward, and stops the sound. So long as the finger
remains on the key, the damper is raised and the vibra-
tion continues; while, directly the linger is lifted, the
damper falls and the sound is, of course. checked. This Is
simple enough in theory, and it is upon this principle that
the various improvements in pianoforte "action- are
based. To describe these intricate "actions" would be to
plunge into herd theory and practical mechanics ; and as
such an explanation would not lie readily understood by
the general reader, we leave the sulqect, which only
interests professed mechanics, to the professed mechanical
journals. The keys are, of course, all protected with felt,
and the hammer, the hopper, the damper, and tee venous
other parts of the mechanism are hinged with vellum or
light wire, the object sought being a free touch, a perfect
check, and Is quick repetition. The principle upon whi,h
the pedals are worked is a very lituple 011 e, pressure upon
the forte pedal merely raising the whole of the dampers,
and consequently prolonging the vibration, while a touch
of the foot on the piano peaal shifts the whole of the
hammers slightly to the right, so that they etrike
on one String only, and consequently the sound is
diminished.

The care ir now veneered, the mechanism fitted, and the
piano is passed on to the finirher's shop, where the
ornamental prztr of the inrtruinent, such as the fretwork.
the bilkal, the legA. and the opening-lisp, are fitted, and tho
pianoforte .4 taken to the examining diop, where the
tuning process takes place under the succe,dve hands of
the rougher-up, the regulator, the smooth tuner, and the
toner.

The framework of the piano, in which 'mutt strength is
required, is made of hard deal frum Norway, oak from
Riga, and chestnut and beech from this country. Fir, for
sounding boards, is brought from Switzerland, and pine,
for key-bottoms, from America. 3lahogany is brought
from Honduras and Cuba for framework, English lime,
pear-tree, and sycamore, are used for keys and small work ,•
cedar, from South America, for hammer shanks: and
Rosewood from Rio Janeiro, satinwousl from the East
Indies, English brown oak and white holly, gebra wood
from the Brazils, and walnut (ruin Circassia iir Perla, are
used fur veneers. The ieneer-stripe, sa hich Sr.. %cry
valuable, are so thin as paper, and are fixed on the ebeNt-
nut or pine by Illeding glue. The Veneer pre..geil lay
InOnns of moulds 111,011 the %VOW until it IF, oi
perfectly uin,o,a,cl without wrinkle or warp, and is then
loft to dry for • considerable period before it saut lo
actually use.l. The process of veneering, though Nthilde
enough, id • matter of extreme delicacy, as a false stop
would spoil a piece of wood id large value. The fretwork
k also veneered, and the carving of the pattern forth,: fret
and mud.: Ftalnt which is performed by little saws, is, as
may be imagined, very ticklish work indeed. In fact, a
hair's.lireadth in the wrong direction would spoil the work
of a couple of m 1035 :Lad a valuable piece of %owl into the
bargain.
. . . .

....
Thirty-six years a. 40, 11r. John itrinsmead 'Began
with two moo and a icy, and now lii. tirtu powevies the
moat complete factory in London, and kw in its employ
upwarila of mu moo. Strict intr.:rip.' in their iiusintwi
dealings, bosiness-like habits, sound knowledge lof their
work, and the exercise of their natural kilent-., have laid
the foundation of a connection which is now most eaten-
jive. Mr. Edgar lb-insole-ail, one of the partners in the
firm, is the author of the " History of the Pianoforte," a
little book which is now .1.-cepted a. a standard work on
the subject ; while another son holds the command of a
manufactory which turns out wine thousands of instru•
meets in the course of the year. If a gi.sl piano be
required, go to a good maker, roich as Briniainwl, pay a
reasonable price, and you will have your money's worth.