The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1888-03-24
ELECTRICAL MUSIC

ELECTRICAL MUSIC.
A Apparatus for Piaysng The Plsno B
Curreats Of Electricity.
Many attempts have been made i
the last quarter Of a century to inven
. satisfactory system of piano-playin,
BY electricity. In fact. as far back a
1850 Froment made . piano in Franc
In which electricity was used. In 1856
another F~renchnlan. M. Hipp. took on
. patent for q piano in which each not
Of the keyboard was provided with Al
electro-magnet, connected by wir,
with . metallic comb, which touched
small metal cylinder covered with pa
per perforated with holes correspond,
Ing to the notes used. This piano wa.
exhibited. but was not perfected.
Spciss. q Swiss inventor. devised m.
other piano in 1864 quite like that Of
Hipp. but better. In none Of these in.
struments was there any lack of powc,
to execute any air that might be At
tempted. but they failed to render
the notes with tho varied gradations
from massive strength to extreme deli
cacy that the discriminating touch OF
the human fingers evokes from the in
strument.
Joseph Weber. a young New York
electrician. has now, it is claimed, sur
mounted the difficulties that caused
other inventors to fail, and devised a
method of electrical piano-playing so
full of promise that one of the chief
piano-manufacturing firms of that city
has taken it up. The fact that experts
connected with . great factory have
reported in favor of his system rem
ders it quite probable that it contains
important and practical features favor
able to its c
The device itself is simple enough.
For every note In the piano is provided
a piece Of soft iron, wound with wire
in the usual fashion. and capable of
becoming a magnet when influenced
by an electric current. Each magnet
attracts a lever attached to q piano
key. so that when q current
passes to a particular magnet the key
corresponding to this magnet is acted
upon, and the hammer strikes the
more or less forcibly, according
the strength of the magnetic attrac-
The wires running from the
magnets attached to each key center
around a small cylinder provided with
metallic pins, somewhat like the
cylinder of a music box, except that
The pins, instead Of projecting from the
Vt the cylinder. are perfectly
lat. 1t is easy to understand how the
'nrrent a be made to pass a particu-
ar note only when a certain metallic
'olnt on the surface Of the cylinder
in connection with a comb, each /.
Aetal tooth of which corresponds to a
lote in tie piano. The chief difficulty s
he met with is the problem of giving /
otes different dynamic values, one ,
ote beirg soft and the next note loud. O
his has been accomplished by intro
ucing resistance coils into the circuits '
ccording to the power of the note a
'anted. and the tone a be graduated O
a sufficiently accurate manner to =
low some surprising effects.
The finished apparatus will not be
and is so simple in construction y
lat it does not require an expert to
'tach 1t to the piano. 1t may be used
connection with any piano. and at !.
re same time does not in any way in p
rfere with playing the instrument in g
e ordinary fashion. the key being left k
free. 1t is easy to see that Il
en- should the electric device not sue r
in playing with the musical ex- ic
ession of a good pianist, there is OF
UGH work which it might do to gem ri
al satisfaction. For instance, it &C
lght play for dancing, and reel Of the ic
waltzes and quadrilles, or it W
ght play ordinary music far better pr
IN the unskilled amateur could be
pected to do Chicago Times. co