The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-07

Status of the Industry In This COun-
try-The Inventors.
Washington Letter in New York Post.

Washington Letter in New York Post.
The piano is an invention about 200 years
old Like most other inventions 1t is an
evolution; ii comes from the psaltry or
harp by way Of the harpsichord, the clavi-
chord, and the pianoforte-or plano
forte which is soft and loud" 1t was on
the harpsichord that Beethoven, Mozart,
Handel and the eminent composers of that
DAY expressed their compositions. This IN
strument was like harp inclosed In a
box, with a mechanical device by which
the manipulation of a key board plucked
the wires. The resulting tone has been de-
scribed as "a scratch with sound at the
end of it,
The inventor of the piano was Floren-
tine, one Cristofori, who lived about 1IOs.
He conceived the idea of having the wires
struck with a rebounding hammer, instead
of being scraped or plucked. soft blow
made the soft tone and hard one a louder
damper was the invention OF an English
man named BroadwoOd; an Irishman con-
ceived the idea of building 1t upright,
and Jonas Chickering, of Boston. worked
out a lot of details and made the piano
more like what it is to-day.
John Jacob Astor brought the first piano
to the United States. This was in 1854. He
had lot of difficulty in keeping the wires
from rusting during the ocean voyage, and
when they got here the drier atmosphere of
New York made the woodwork shrink and
crack This led to the making of pianos in
the United States.
Philadelphia is the cradle of the Amer
ton of independence John Behrent built a
piano in that city. Ten years later New
York started the industry, and that city
now leads the world as a piano-manufac-
turing center. A great business depression
in Europe in 1925 drove lot of piano max
ers to this country. and resulted in Won
derful stimulus to the business here.
The iron frame on which the wires of a
piano are strung sustains a tension of thir-
ty tons. The invention of this frame was
what made Steinway and his instruments.
40 a nd CT cd fnr 81 in oil
the principal foundries of Europe. Previous
to his invention, twelve tons had been about
the limit of the frame tension.
complete revolution in the style of
pianos has taken place in this country
since 1866. Up to that time nearly all were
square; now 81 per cent. are uprights. I'm
building" One was the Boston and the
other the New York school. Each had it's
own theories as to frame and action, and
| chung to them with obstinacy.
In Chicago the piano industry is the
| growth of twenty years. During the last
| decade the city has forged to the front,
and it now ranks second to New York, with
an output valued at 50, us. New York s
| is a little more than double that But in
| California, Massachusetts,, Maryland and
New York there has been a falling off OF
the amount Of product during the last ten
years. The returns Of the last census
| show that the total value Of the pianos
| made in this country in 1900 was SIS, AIS, 225,
| their number being III ,13S.
| To a barber is credited the invention of
| the organ. Two hundred years before Christ
one Ctesibus, the proprietor of haircut
/ ter'S shop in Alexandria, while waiting for
custom, thought of a scheme by which a
| row of levers could be used to open and
| shut the valves of a series of pipes. Before
| this some one had made a ''pan-pipe, -
| which was no more than series OF tubes
| of unequal length fastened side by side,
| and attached 10 a wind-chest into which the
| operator blew The pipes were closed with
| the fingers, one being left open at a time
| to emit the sound. Ctesibius's lever scheme
| did away with the lingering and made il
| possible to increase the size and number OF
| the pipes.
| The Alexandria barber fixed the levers
| into the shape of a rude keyboard. and in
his instrument were all the essential fea-
| lures of the modern organ, namely the
| pipes, the wind chest and the keys. 1t was
| $40 years after this that organs began to
be used in churches. Then the development
that one instrument used in Winchester
| Cathedral in SOL had twenty-siX pairs oil
| bellows and required seventy men TO fill ii
| with wind. During all this time the key
board remained practically the same-s
row of not more than sixteen great levers
| sometimes five or six inches wide, played
by being struck with the clenched fist The
organist was known as an organ striker oil
| ''organorum pulsator." And it would be-
said that he played with a delicate fist.
1t was not until the fourteenth century
| duce the size of the keys they might
be played with the fingers. They increased
the number of octaves to three, and ther
10 four, with corresponding increases in
the size and number of the pipes
| The first organ built in the United State.
was erected by John Clark in 1743 for the
| Episcopal Church at Salem. Mass. In 1906
| William II. Goodrich, of Boston, began tn,
| building OF organs that were a credit Il
the country. Boston still leads the indus
try. with Chicago a close second.
The reed organ is different from othel
organs in that the sound is made by tn,
vibration OF tongue of thin metal or Woo
| inserted In the mouth of the pipe This
variation is a distinctly American inven
ton, and Chicago is the home OF the indus
try. The reed organ began as the accor
dion and developed into the melodeon; theI
into its present shape.
There are 10 organ factories in tn,
United States with a capital OF 1000, 900
employing 1900 wage-earners, and turning
out an aggregate product each year value,
| at about IS, 609,00o