IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Frederick Chew, of George Street, Chalk
Farm Road, in the County of Middlesex, for the invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES."
Scaled the 23rd November 1869, and dated the 26th May 1809.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Frederick
Chew at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 26th May 1869.
I, CHARLES FREDERICK CHEW, of George Street, Chalk Farm Road,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES," to be as follows:-
The object and intention of this Invention is,―
First. To obtain greater tension in pianofortes than heretofore, and
at all times to retain the tension or strain on the strings and prevent
slackening thereof.
Secondly. By a novel and improved arrangement of the keyboard
to enable music to be transposed into a desired change of key, especially
adapted for vocal accompaniment.

page_text: Thirdly. To obtain greater strength in the sound board to resist the
pressure of the strings of the instrument.
I propose to accomplish the above objects by the following means:-
First, as regards the tension, the improvement consists in the use of
a pin formed with a collar. This pin passes through a hole in a metal
plate and has a screw formed on its lower part to receive a nut between
which and the aforesaid metal plate I place a washer of leather or other
suitable material, also an iron washer, and when the string is drawn
to the desired pitch by the turning round of the aforesaid pin the
nut is then screwed up, and thus keeps the pin from moving and
retains the tension on the string, whereby the instrument keeps in tune
for a much longer time.
A further improvement in pianofortes consists in strengthening those
parts of the wires thereof where they generally break, namely, at or
near the pins to which they are affixed. I propose to strengthen the wire
at that part by twisting another piece of wire or string with it.
And as regards the arrangement of the keyboard above referred to
for transposing music where the action of the instrument is in sections,
I prefer to use a separate row of keys which are capable of being moved
to the right and left over the ordinary keys by a screw at the side of
the case, the two sets of keys being connected together by a clothed
button.
And as regards the improvement in the sound board it consists in
forming the bars employed to support it in the following manner :-
Instead of making the said bars of solid wood as commonly practised,
which lose their shape by the continued pressure from the strings on
the sound board, I propose to make a saw cut along the middle of the
said bar, and insert therein a thin piece of steel or other suitable metal
the entire length of the said bar.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 3
filed by the said Charles Frederick Chew in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th November 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Charles
FREDERICK CHEW, of George Street, Chalk Farm Road, in the County
of Middlesex, sond greeting.
g

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Charles Frederick Chew, Her special
licence that I, the said Charles Frederick Chew, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Frederick
Chew, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ircland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles Frederick Chew, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent
Offico within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Frederick Chew, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, that is to say :-
The object and intention of this Invention is,—
First. To obtain greater tension in pianofortes than heretofore, and
at all times to retain the tension or strain on the strings and prevent
slackening thereof.
Secondly. By a novel and improved arrangement of the keyboard
to enable music to be transposed into a desired change of key, especially
adapted for vocal accompaniment.
Thirdly. To obtain greater strength in the sound board to resist the
pressure of the strings of the instrument.
I propose to accomplish the above objects by the following means:-
First, as regards the tension, the improvement consists in the use of
a pin formed with a collar. This pin passes through a hole in a metal
plate and has a screw formed on its lower part to receive a nut, between

page_text: which and the aforesaid metal plate, I place a washer of leather or
other suitable material, also an iron washer, and when the string is
drawn to the desired pitch by the turning round of the aforesaid pin
the nut is then screwed up, and thus keeps the pin from moving and
retains the tension on the string, whereby the instrument keeps in tune
for a much longer time.
A further improvement in pianofortes consists in strengthening those
parts of the wires thereof where they generally break, namely, at or near
the pins to which they are affixed. I propose to strengthen the wire at
that part by twisting another piece of wire or string with it.
And as regards the arrangement of the keyboard above referred to,
for transposing music where the action of the instrument is in sections,
I prefer to use a separate row of keys which are capable of being
moved to the right and left over the ordinary keys by a screw at
the side of the case, the two sets of keys being connected together by a
clothed button.
And as regards the improvement in the sound board it consists in
forming the bars employed to support it in the following manner:-
Instead of making the said bars of solid wood as commonly practised,
which lose their shape by the continued pressure from the strings on
the sound board, I propose to make a saw cut along the middle of the
said bar and insert therein a thin piece of steel or other suitable metal
the entire length of the said bar.
And in order to explain my said Invention moro completely I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying
the same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative
Sheet of Drawings accompanying these Presents, and to the numeral
figures and letters of reference marked thercon respectively, as
follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents an elevation of my improved pin with twisted string
and plate complete; Figure 2, a side elevation of the keyboard of a piano-
forte, shewing my improved arrangement for transposing music; Figuro
3 a top plan view of the mechanism shown at Figure 2; Figure 4
is a front elevation of the said mechanism; Figure 5 is an indicitor
placed over the middle of the keys to shew what key the action is in ;
Figure 6 is a transverse section of my improved bar for stiffening or
strengthening the sound board or belly of a pianoforte.

page_text: At each of foregoing Figures I employ similar letters of reference
to denote corresponding parts in so far as such parts appear or can be
seen at each of such said Figures respectively.
As regards Figure 1, A marks the pin with collar a formed thercon and
screw on which fits the nut B; C, the plate in which the several pins aro
fixed; D, string twisted double at 6 to strengthen it at that part. By
turning the pin round from right to left the nut B will be held tightly
against the under side of the plate C and the pin prevented from being
drawn back. And as regards Figures 2, 3, 4, A marks the upper row
of keys; B, the lower set; C, C, rails of the keys A; D, grooves on
which the rails C slide; E is an adjustable button employed to actuate
the under key when the upper key is depressed, and this applies to each
of the keys of the transposing action; F are the rails of the keys B;
G, the ordinary key bottom; H, H, is a metal arm for connecting
together the rails C, C; I is a screw working through the arm H, the
said screw being employed to move the upper row of keys A either to
the right or left when transposition is desired. The screw I is formed
with two collars c, c, which are held between plates K (shewn at
Figure 7) screwed to the case ✗ of the instrument. L is a stop formed
of a piece of thin metal fastened by one end to the name board, and
to the other end a handle M is fixed; d, d, are notches formed in the
piece L to suit the intervals of the scale; those notches rest on
point e on the arm I, so that by turning the screw round by means of
the handle at N, and slightly pressing down the handle M until the
next notch comes on to the pin on the arm H, the action will have
been moved half a note, and in this manner and by tliese means the
transposing action may be retained at correct intervals.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of
my said Invention for "Improvements in Pianofortes," together with
the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into
practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that I hereby declare my
Invention to consist in and I claim,―
First. As regards the mode above referred to for obtaining and retain-
ing increased tension of the strings of pianofortes, I claim making
the pin A, shewn at Figure 1 with a screw nut B in combination with
the collar a formed on the pin A, for holding the pin firmly in the plate
C as above described.
I also claim the use and adaptation of an additional twist of wire to

page_text: those ends of the strings of pianofortes which pass around the pins for
straining them to the required degree of tension, as above described.
Secondly. I claim the mechanical arrangement above described
and reprosented and the manner of arranging them for transposing
music.
Thirdly, and lastly. I claim constructing the bars of pianofortes cm-
ployed for stiffening and strengthening the bellics of pianofortes by
combining metal with wood in the manufacture of such said bars, as
above described and represented at Figure 6.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Frederick Chew, have
hiereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of Novem-
ber, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-nine.