CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES
Year: 1830

page_text: ⚫ TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SIMON
THOMPSON, of Great Yarmouth, in the County of Norfolk, Mariner's Compass
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His late most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by:
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of February,' in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty, and in the eleventh year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Simon Thompson, His especial licence that I, the said. Simon Thompson, mý!
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said .Simon.
Thompson, my executors, administrators, or 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, éxercise, and;
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my:
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES;" in which said Letters.
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Simon Thompson, 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 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..
Simon: Thompson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and, the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is
to say):-
My Invention of Certain Improvements in Pianofortes consists in a new
arrangement of the parts of that description of instrument called the upright
pianoforte, by which arrangement I am enabled to construct the instrument
much below the usual height, and also to make the top of the pianoforte a flat
surface, as a table, without any projection above the front, which is usually
called the lock board; I am also by this. arrangement enabled to make a much
more simple action of the keys and hammers for producing tones from the
strings of the instrument than has heretofore been used in upright pianofortes,
and to allow the sound to escape more freely. The effect of this arrangement
is, that the tone of my improved instrument sounds much louder than other
upright pianofortes, and the common objection made to that construction of
instrument by vocal performers, when accompanying their own voices on an
upright pianoforte, "that the silk front or face absorbs the voice," is completely
obviated: also have, by varying from the mode of stringing in the common.
construction of upright pianofortes, been enabled to make a more simple action
produce louder tones than heretofore have been effected in the usual construction
of those instruments; all which improvements are set out in the accompanying
Drawings, and will be fully understood by the following description thereof
(that is to say)—
Fig. 1 is a front view of an upright piano on my improved construction,
the top of which is intended to be perfectly flat; Fig. 2 is a horizontal view
of the same, both shewing the instrument closed; Fig. 3 is also a horizontal-
view of the instrument, as Fig. 2, but with the top lid or lock board removed,
exposing the keys and part of the interior'; Fig. 4 is a front view of the same;
and Fig. 5 is a vertical section, taken transversely through the instrument
about the middle, exhibiting the parts called the action (the "similar letters
referring to the same respective parts in all those Figures). As the construction
of a pianoforte is well known to persons connected with their manufacture, it is
unnecessary to enter into a full description of the instrument; I shall therefore
confine myself as much as possible to my improvements thereon. a; a, a, is
the body of a 'pianoforte, containing the strings, sound board; bridges, and all
parts requisite for a complete instrument; b, b, b, is the top, and lock board,
covering the keys, which are placed upon the key board or franie. in the usual
way. In Fig. 5 the shape of the keys c, cwill be best seen, which it will be
perceived are bent down, in order to give room, and that proper motion may
be communicated to the hammer by the part of the action usually termed the

page_text: g
grasshopper, so as to make the hammer strike at the proper place on the strings
of the instrument. d is the grasshopper; which acts on an under hammer 6,
hinged on the rail f; this hammer e acts upon another hammer g above it,
hinged the reverse-way on the rail h, which hammer 9 communicates-motion
to the upper or striking hammer i; hinged on the rail k; and may have any of
the common checks connected to it to prevent its recoil or re-action on the
strings. To the lower hammer e is connected the end of the perpendicular wire
or guide rod %, which gives motion to a damper of the common construction,
fixed over the striking hammer in the usual way. m is the rail that the striking
hammer rests against when out of action. Fig. 6 is a transverse section
(taken through an instrument in the same direction as Fig. 5), shewing a
variation in the arrangement of the parts constituting the action suitable to
my improved construction of instruments, but which action has only one under
hammer, as in this arrangement the ordinary striker is employed. c, c, is the
key, bent lower down than in the previously described construction in order to
gain room for the striker n, which acts upon the striking hammer i in the usual
way. Fig. 7 is a front view of another instrument; the body intended to be
made the same size or higher than those above described, or as common-upright
pianofortes usually are, to which the same action may be applied, and with
either straight or bent keys. By this arrangement, the parts called the strikers,
used in upright pianofortes, are dispensed with, and all parts of the strings above
the dampers left perfectly free of any incumbrance or covering except the silk
front. In this construction the power of applying my improvement is obtained
by the particular mode of stringing the instrument shewn in this Figure.
As I have necessarily shewn and described many parts which are not new
to render the arrangement and action of the instrument better understood,
I hereby declare that I do not mean or intend to claim as my Invention-any
of the parts which are commonly used in the construction of pianofortes; but
I do claim as my Invention the particular arrangement of the parts of the
pianoforte, and of the action, as shewn in Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, and particu-
larly the bent shape of the keys, by which the instrument may be made less
lofty than heretofore, which bent-shaped keys can also be used to advantage
either in horizontal, square, or grand pianofortes, and by these means those
instruments may be built much lower, and yet afford sufficient-room-for-the
knees of the performer, and the lock board of a more ornamental shape.
.
In witness whereof, I, the said Simon Thompson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty.
6.
(L.S.) THOMPSON.

page_text: AND BE. IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of August,
in the first year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said Simon Thompson came before our said. Lord the King in His Chancery;
and acknowledged the Instrument; aforesaid,.and all and every thing therein
contained and, specified, in form, above written. And also the Instrument 5
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth
year of the reign of His late. Majesty King George the Third.
..
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty: *