AN IMPROVED FINGER-KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, IN THE USE OF WHICH A PERFORMER IS ENABLED TO HOLD OR PROLONG THE NOTES, AND TO INCREASE OR MODIFY THE TONE AT PLEASURE
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GOLDSWORTHY
GURNEY, of Argyle Street, Hanover Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Surgeon, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Eleventh of January, in the fifth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Golds-
worthy Gurney, His especial licence that I, the said Goldsworthy Gurney, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Goldsworthy Gurney,
my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England
and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in His said
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED
FINGER-KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, IN THE USE OF WHICH A PERFORMER IS
ENABLED TO HOLD OR PROLONG THE NOTES, AND TO INCREASE OR MODIFY THE
TONE AT PLEASURE;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said Goldsworthy Gurney, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part

page_text: recited Letters Patent (as in and by the same), reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Goldsworthy Gurney, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, by
the following description thereof, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed and carried into effect by the Sheet of Drawings which is hereunto
annexed, reference being thereunto had, and to the figures and letters of
reference marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists of an improved finger-keyed musical instrument,
wherein the tone or sound is produced by means of glass rods, tubes, or bells,
when submitted to the fricture of a wet ribband or sound band, the said wet
ribband or sound band being kept in continual motion by the feet of the
performer, or in any other convenient manner, so that it will admit of being
forced or pressed by the action of the finger keys into contact with the surface
of the glass, and thereby produce the same effect of tone as the ordinary
musical glasses, with the advantage of being able able to employ the finger
keys in the same manner as a common pianaforte. I have represented in
the Figures upon the annexed Drawing two modes of construction as adopted to
a cabinet or upright instrument, Fig. 1 being a vertical section shewing the
principal parts of one of my improved musical instruments, supposed to be
provided with a regular scale or series of round rods or tubes of glass marked
A, A, affixed by means of springs against a couple of bridges or rails a, a, upon
a sounding board B, B. The said glass rods are intended to be operated upon
or made to produce the sounds or notes in music by means of a band, which
is kept damp and in continual motion or circulation (over two rollers) ex-
tending across the front of the scale of glasses, but without the band actually
touching the glasses, unless the finger of the performer is pressed upon one of
the keys of the instrument, which said pressure will cause the wet band to
come into contact with and produce a note or tone from that glass which cor-
responded with the note or key which was pressed upon. The general case of
the instrument as well as the key board is similar to a cabinet pianoforte, and
when a person sits down to the instrument he places his right foot upon the
treddle D, and by means of the connecting rod d and crank 6, turns the fly
wheel E round in a steady manner. By the side of the fly wheel E a pulley f
is fixed, round which a cord or catgut 9 passes, and after proceeding over two
pulleys, one of which is seen at h, it passes and is united into an endless cord
or band round a small pulley i, fixed upon the lower end of the spindle of one
of the rollers marked C, round which the sound band before mentioned, which
operates upon the glasses A, is carried. The place of the sound band is

page_text: shewn in Fig. 1 by short dark lines at the part k, being supposed to lie across
the instrument just clear of the surface of the lower part of the glasses A, A.
F represents the keys; they are supposed to move in the usual manner of
pianoforte keys upon wire pins or centres in the middle at M, and their
inner extremities are adapted to act beneath the ends of small elbowed or angle
levers P₁ which are affixed at their lower angles q, by means of a leather or
other suitable joint, to a stationary rail r of the instrument. The upper arm
of the angle lever p is affixed by a small joint to the pusher or stickers, which
slides through a stationary rail t, and is adapted to push against or advance
the upper end of a small upright rod v, having a small roller wat the top
bearing against the inside of the sound band for the purpose of forcing its
surface into contact with the glasses A, A, when it is desired to produce a
tone or note therefrom. The lower extremities of the upright rods v are
affixed by leather joints to a stationary rail a, and they are guided in their
motion at top by moving in grooves formed in the fixed bar or rail o... The
glass rods or tubes are adjusted or tuned by grinding the ends thereof; and the
lowermost of the bridges a, a, is formed to a thin edge having small notches
cut in it to receive the glass rods or tubes and prevent their moving laterally,
the glasses being kept from moving when once adjusted in their places, by
means of a small wire tyes passed over them immediately above the lower.
bridge and through small holes in the sounding board B, B, where they have
springs y hooked into them, so that the pull of the said springs keeps the
glasses firm against the edge of the bridges a, a; and causes them to produce a
clear tone when rubbed by the surface of the sound band. The sound band I
employ is generally a plain silk ribband, but I find it is much improved by
coating it with a varnish composed of elastic gum or indian rubber dissolved
in ether, as it is less likely to stretch or alter by the constant effects of
moisture which is required to be upon it to produce a good and clear tone from
the glass. The plan I adopt of keeping the sound band damp is as follows:-
I place a small vessel of water or other fluid in any convenient part of the in-
strument near where the band runs or circulates, and in this vessel I place a
cotton or other suitable, wick similar to a lamp; the top of the said wick, being
pressed lightly in contact with the surface of sound band, will by the capillary
attraction furnish a sufficient quantity of moisture from the vessel to the band
during its motion; the tension of the sound-band being kept uniform by one of
the rollers C round which it passes, being mounted upon a spring or other similar
contrivance, so as to allow of a yielding motion; and in many cases it will be found
advisable to have sound bands passing, backwards and forwards, two or three
times across the instrument, and a corresponding number of rows or lines of

page_text: glasses, standing in different planes one before the other, so as to be operated
upon by the different bands; because in a full scaled instrument, or if the
glasses are put too near to each other, it will be difficult to form the stickers
and other parts in such a manner as not to endanger the forcing the sound
band into contact with more than one glass at a time, which must never be
allowed to take place accidently. In using this instrument a person has
only to give motion to the sound band k by means of the treadle D, and then
on pressing down any of the keys F its corresponding elbow lever p will, by
the intervention of the sticker s, force the rod v, with its small poller w, back-
wards, and thus carry the surface of the damp sound band into contact with
the lower part of the glasses A, A, so as to produce a note or tone from the
same; the performer having the power, by simply pressing harder or lighter
upon the finger key, of increasing or modifying the tone to a very considerable
extent, since the power and quality of the tone from the glasses will admit
of being varied considerably by the extent of pressure which is given to the
glass by the sound band in the act of producing the music.
Fig. 2 and 3 upon the annexed Drawing will serve to explain the mode of
constructing one of my improved finger-keyed musical instruments, wherein
glass bells or goblets are employed as the means of producing the music or tone,
being subjected to the friction of a damp ribband or sound band, in the same
manner as herein-before described with reference to the former Figure.
Fig. 2 is supposed to represent a front view of the case of the instrument,
shewing the manner in which the sound band k is disposed over the pulleys or
rollers C, c, but only three of the glass bells or goblets A are shewn in their
places as they would appear to be arranged in lines or rows along every line
of the sound band k as it crosses from one end of the instrument to the
other. Fig. 3 shews a transverse or vertical section of the same instrument,
wherein the same letters of referrence are used to point out the same parts
wherever they appear. F represents the finger keys supposed to be moving
upon the wire pins or centres at m; the inner extremities of the finger keys
are adapted to act under the end of small rods or stickers s, which slide up
and down freely through holes in a stationery rail t; the uppermost ends of the
stickers are attached by joints or otherwise to the extremities of slender
metal springs v, one end of which springs are either jointed to or driven into
the sound board B, B, so that their outer ends where the stickers s are
attached may
be capable of moving up and down when the finger keys are
depressed and allowed to rise again. The springs v have a small roller w upon
a round part of them, which roller when raised by the action of the key is
adapted to force the sound band k into contact with one side or surface of the

page_text: glass bells or goblets A, each of the glass bells being fixed into a kind of
wooden foot, and screwed to the sounding board, as shewn at a, being
previously tuned or adjusted by grinding the edge away, or coating the edge
with hard varnish until the correct note or pitch is attained. The tone of the
glass goblets is much increased by applying a small wooden sounding post
against one part of the belly of the glass and. janning the other end of the
sounding post against the front of the sounding board, in the manner shewn
at q, Fig. 8; and, in order to keep the said sounding posts in their places, I
have sometimes applied a spring at the foot of the post to draw it firmly into
the angle between the belly of the glass and the sounding board. In this
latter construction of the instrument the sound band is adapted to circulate
over the ptuleys or rollers marked C, c, in the form of an endless band, as will
appear from inspection of the Fig. 2, and the damp or moisture is applied
to it at the part 1, which represents. the small contrivance herein-before
described as resembling a lamp with a cotton or other wick to furnish fluid
uniformly to the said band by the power of capillary attraction. Motion is
communicated to the sound band by means of the endless catgut or cord g
passing round the pulley i upon the axis of one of the rollers C, and over the
pulley h, h, to the pulley f, upon the axis of the fly wheel E, which receives
its motion from the foot of the performer through the medium of the treadle D,
connecting rod d, and crank e, as herein-before described with reference to
the first Figure.
I have now described, with reference to the Figures upon the annexed
Sheet of Drawings, my said Invention of an improved finger-keyed musical
instrument (in the use of which a performer is enabled to hold or prolong the
notes, and to increase or modify the tone at pleasure), and I have explained
it in such a manner as to enable persons conversant with the construction of
musical instruments, or works of a similar nature, to put the said Invention
into practise; and I hereby declare, that I consider my present claim of
Invention to consist in the exclusive right of constructing finger-keyed musical
instruments, such as I have herein-before described with reference 'to the "
Figures 1, 2, and 3, upon the annexed Sheet of Drawings, and as operating
to produce musical sounds or notes by means of glass rods, tubes, or bells,
when submitted to the friction of a wet or damp ribband, or endless sound
band, which is distended and caused to circulate over a series of rollers or
pulleys, either by the foot of the performer or in any other convenient manner.
I have not judged it necessary to represent in the Drawing the mode of con-
structing which would be best for an instrument upon the plan of a square or
grand pianoforte, since the mode of arranging the action or movement connected

page_text: with the finger keys for pressing the sound band into contact with the glasses
would be easily arranged by any person conversant with the construction of
pianofortes, from the general instructions which I have herein-before given
and set forth in this my Specification.
In witness whereof, I, the said Goldsworthy Gurney, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.