The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-01-05
LETTER FROM BALrInoRE.
,ial Correspondents Of the n. o. orssosnt.l

Special Correspondence Of the n. O. CRESCENT
BALTIMORE, Dec. %, 1867.
Very few Of your readers, l dare say, have ever
visited piano mandatory, or have any idea Of
the labor or skill that is necessary to work up and
finish this beautiful piece of mechanism which is
now SO necessary to our comfort and our pleasure;
but as they owe much of their pleasure at hons
and in public to this instrument, it may interest
them to hear something of its manufacture; and
while the recollections of my visit yesterday to
The extensive mandatory of Messrs. Knabe 4
Co. are fresh in my mind, will give them to your
readers this morning.
Entering the immense lumber yard from Eutaw
street, We survey the rough timbers, that after
long process of drying and seasoning, are to be
carried to the ground floor of the main building
where the busy hum Of many saws, and the show r
OF sawoust, as it sprinkles the workmen, begin
the work in earnest. Here the rough work, plan
ing ard saving by cToss-cut and rip saw Is done;
here the joining machine is at work, and here the
fine scrowl saw for the music plates gives shape
to the plain plsnks. Two planning machines where
the bits work horizontally and vertically, are
quick fsshoning the rough pieces which the fas
udieus workman is now committing, now with
drawing from their voracious jaws. We leave the
saws, plaDks and carpenters behind US and enter
the next room, where we recognize score or
more Of piano legs. in the hands Of the fnishers,
then pass into the little Joining the engine,
where the heavy drilling of the iron plates begins,
glance at the veneeriDg room where the THU tim
bers are yeneered and pressed the veneer being
put on both sides, and the pieces placed in boxes
heated by steam pipes, where they remain until
cold.
The next portion which attracts our attention
is the case, which as yet does not look mere
musical than the four pieces which constitute the
legs, end which like them consists OF many strips
Of timber glued together and made on the aDpro-
pirate scale Of grand, upri sht or square piano.
The bottom Of the piano is composed OF Eve or
Fix pieces of plank from an inch to an inch and
hall In thickness glued together and pressed the
sides ard ends are of the same material fitted in
the sane way aud Joined 10 the bottom, thus
forming the case, which is then vanished, dried,
placed on wooden horses, where the whole is
vtneered and made ready for the instrumental
spd interior machinery, i. e. the lungs heart and
veins, IS it were, of this yet nanimate body.
First into the case go the iron plates which
are cast at the foundry, drilled, dressed rubbed
down with pumict stone, painted, dried in steam
oXes, tlen bronZed, gilded ard ornamented st
the factory. This plate is then screwed down,
The sounding board (Which consists of many thin
strips, very carefully selected, shaped like long
rudder, with bridges for the srings) il then
fitted TO 1t; then the key frame upon which the
ivory tips and ebony have been glued and dried
and the hammers with their felt heads) slides into
the case, and over the sounding board like a
drawer TO its place the bolts and tuning forks
are screwed down and made ready for the wires,
which new hands begin to string with great
parts, and gives lie sound a0d motion to the
whole, and forms with the addition Of the top
and legs, which are now adjusted) that charming
ard nelodigus instrument which we call the
piano forte, ard The frat notes are heard when
the wires drawn tight and The keys touched.
Ivory, steel, iron, felt, cloth. brass aud buck
skin, in combination with the rough timbers
ahea6y mentioned, enter into the composition of
this wonderful piece of mechanism, and liberal
contributions are levied npon nature to make up
this instrument. The tusk of the elephant, the
skin Of The deer. tie wool of the sheep, cotton
from the rich lands, iron from the mine, steel
from The factory, and dozen different um6ers
combine in the manufacture Of this musical
wonder.
Every herd in this extensive factory has his ap
pTopriste work, and each piece Of work its appro-
pIiate chamber, and the skilled labor in each de-
paItment is only employed on its peculiar work.
In this way great harmony and order prevail
throughout this establishment, and the labor is
never disturbed by confusion or disorder. From
five 10 six hundred pianos are always under way,
ard as many as three hundred hands employed 10
their manufacture. The whitest tusks are used for
the keys and the strips OF ivory for lining cut
from the TUX by circular saw, and measure from
three TO twenty feet in length. The wire is Of
English manufacture, and spinning mach inc on
The second floor Of the new building wraps the
base strings and prepares them for immediate use.
The felt, from Germany, is cut by hand in dia-
mend shapes end fitted on the hammers;
The ivory tips ard ebony are then glued on
the key handles. The amount of glue used
in each instrument cannot be less than a gal
Ion, while the number OF screws will exceed one
thousand. II requires at least three months for
The proper construction Of a piano, aS maaufac-
tured at the largest establishments.
1t is well known that the Messrs. Knsbe x Co.
manufacture the square, upright and grand
pianos, all of which made with the same care
ard attention, and enjoy a European, as vel as
American, reputation; but the grand pianos de-
serve particular notice for their wonderful power
and sweetness. The whole building is lighted with
gas, and warmed by steam, and a single engine
the whole mill. This factory started
thirty years ago on very small scale by Mr..
knabe, the father Of the senior member of thu
present firm. and it has steadily increased until
il has reached its present proportions, while the
popularity of the instruments manufactured here,
has made it difficult for the propretOrs to supply
The rapidly increasing demand. N.