IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MECHANICAL PLAYING OF KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS SUCH AS PIANOS AND ORGANS.”
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Hodges Bishop of College Street, Islington in
the County of Middlesex and William Down of Vicars Road in the same
County Mechanical Draughtsman for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR THE MECHANICAL PLAYING OF KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS
SUCH AS PIANOS AND ORGANS.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Hodges Bishop and
William Down at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on tho
5th November 1883.
ROBERT HODGES BISHOP of College Street, Islington in the County of Middlesex
and WILLIAM Down of Vicars Road in the same County, Mechanical Draughtsman
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MECHANICAL PLAYING OF KEYBOARD
INSTRUMENTS SUCH AS PIANOS AND ORGANS."
This invention relates to apparatus for mechanically playing on pianos or other
keyboard instruments, the moving parts of which are worked by pneumatic power,
and the invention consists in a novel arrangement and construction of such parts,
whereby the construction of the apparatus is greatly simplified.
In apparatus of this kind, a pair of bellows worked by cranks or oxcentrics on a
shaft driven by hand is employed to compress the air or produce a vacuum, or
partial vacuum, in a wind trunk or chest, or series of wind trunks or chests, with
which the pneumatic levers to work the hammers or strikers are connected, the
air being admitted to or drawn from the pneumatic levers through valves actuated
by the rising and falling of levers caused by the forward motion of a sheet of stiff
paper or card pierced with suitable holes to represent the notes of the music to be
played, and against the under side of which the levers bear.
In carrying out our invention, we employ similar parts and a similar description
of music, and we prefer to employ the air under compression, though we do not
intend to confine ourselves to using compressed air, as with but slight modification
the apparatus can be worked by producing a partial vacuum.
In this class of apparatus as hitherto constructed, the music card is caused
to travel longitudinally of the apparatus, which necessitates a complicated
ID 011

page_text: arrangement of parts to transmit the motion of the rising and falling note levers
to the pneumatic levers.
In our improved apparatus we make the music card to travel transversely of the
apparatus, the note levers being mounted in the same direction. The rear end of
each note lever is connected by a link with one end of an intermediate lever,
which is pivotted at its centre to a bar fixed longitudinally of the apparatus.
These intermedinte levers are arranged somewhat in a fan shape, and are formed
of thin steel. They are maintained on edge on the bar by an ordinary wire staple,
or in any other convenient manner. Pendent from the opposite end of each of
these levers is a valve rod, to the lower end of which the valve is secured. The
valve rod is composed of three parts, viz., two wire end parts and a central wood
part. The wire parts are threaded to receive leather or other washers, or nuts, by
which they may be adjusted, and they are inserted into holes drilled in the opposite
ends of the wood part. The upper wire is secured to its lever in any convenient
manner, and the two wire parts are kept in position by a slight spring, which
bears against a nut on the lower wire, and presses the three parts together against
the lever.
The valve consists of a disc of copper or other rigid substance between two discs
of leather, rubber, or other suitable material. This valve is mounted loosely on
its rod between two semicircular faced nuts; and is therefore capable of not only
accurate adjustment as to position, but is capable of rocking onto its seat should
the valve rod, from any reason, get out of the perpendicular.
The air is supplied by the bellows to a trunk or wind chest, from which it passes
by a suitable passage, in which the valve is placed, to the pneumatic lever. This
lever is connected by a rod or sticker to the tail end of the hammer or striker
lever.
In the air passage the inlet for the compressed air is exactly opposite to the
outlet for the exhaust; one valve therefore can be made to close both openings as
required.
One end of the pneumatic lever is supported by the air trunk, being secured
thereto by a wooden button. The other end of the lever rests on a grooved bar
suitably fixed longitudinally of the apparatus, and is held by a tongue attached to
the underside of the lever, and which enters the groove in the bar. By turning
the button and disconnecting the valve rod and hammer rod or sticker, the
pneumatic lever may be readily removed, should any reparation become necessary.
In order to vary the expression of the music, we employ a flexible reservoir,
which is attached to the bellows. This reservoir is connected by a rod to one end
of a rocking. lever. From opposite ends of this lever hang rods which are
atttached to pedals representing "piano" and "forte." By pressing on one or
other of these pedals with the foot, the lever is rocked on its centre, pressure is put
upon or withdrawn from the flexible reservoir, and the quantity of air admitted to
the wind trunks or chests is regulated, and the force given to the hammers or
strikers is also regulated.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Robert Hodges Bishop and William Down in the Patent Offico
on the 5th May 1884.
ROBERT HODGES BISHOP of College Street Islington in the County of Middlesex
and WILLIAM Down of Vicars Road in the same County Mechanical Draughtsman:
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MECHANICAL PLAYING OF KEYBOARD
INSTRUMENTS SUCH AS PIANOS AND ORGANS
"
This Invention relates to apparatus for mechanically playing on pianos or other
keyboard instruments the moving parts of which are worked by pneumatic power
and the Invention consists in a novel arrangement and construction of such parts
whereby the manufacture of the apparatus is greatly simplified
In apparatus of this kind a pair of bellows worked by cranks or excentrics on a
shaft driven by hand is employed to compress the air or produce a vacuum or
partial vacuum in a wind trunk or chest or series of wind trunks or chests with
which pneumatic levers to work the hammers or strikers are connected the air
being admitted to or drawn from the pneumatic levers through valves actuated by
the rising and falling of levers caused by the forward motion of a sheet of stiff
paper or card pierced with suitable holes to represent the notes of the music to be
played and against the underside of which these levers bear.
In carrying out our Invention we employ similar parts and a similar description
of music and we prefer to work the apparatus by producing a vacuum though with
but slight modification the apparatus can be readily made to work by air under
compression.
In the accompanying drawings Fig: 1 is a plan view of an apparatus constructed
according to our Invention with the top and the music forwarding rollers removed
and intended to be worked by a vacuum or partial vacuum.
Fig: 2 is a partial elevation partly in section of the back of the apparatus the
back of the case being removed.
Fig: 3 is an elevation partly in section of the front of the apparatus with the
front of the case removed, and Fig: 4 is a sectional elevation of the same.
The same letters of reference refer to corresponding parts in all the Figures.
A is the framing of the apparatus which we mount on screw feet A¹ (Figures 3
and 4) by means of which the height of the apparatus may be regulated so that
the hammers or strikers may be readily adjusted to the keyboard of any instrument
it is desired to play upon.-B are the bellows which are placed breadthwise of the
apparatus and are connected by the rods or bars B' to cranks B³ on an axle Bª
placed across the apparatus from front to back and carried in bearings in the
upper part thereof and actuated by a cranked handle as usual in this class of
apparatus.
CC are two rubber clothed adjustable forwarding rollers which are placed
breadthwise of the apparatus and are carried in suitable adjustable bearings.
These rollers are geared together and are driven by gearing from the shaft B' which
is actuated by the axle B' through bevil gearing as clearly indicated in Figures 2.
3 and 4 and are intended to grip and forward the music card
C¹ is an adjustably mounted grooved metal roller in the grooves of which the
music levers enter as they pass through the holes in the music card The number
of grooves on this roller will of course correspond with the number of the music
evers and the roller rotates by friction of contact or it may be driven from the
orwarding rollers. The parts of the apparatus thus far described are of the usual
orm although the position of some is different.

page_text: In other apparatus of this class the music card is mado to travel breadthwise of
the machine that is to say from side to side which necessitates a complex
arrangement of parts for transmitting the rising and falling motion of the noto or
music lovers to the pneumatic levers.
In our improved apparatus the music card is caused to pass across the apparatus
from front to back at or near the centre of its length which renders the apparatus
more compact and permits of the connections between the note levers and tho
valve rods being much simpler than heretofore.
D'are the note or music levers which are provided with the usual projections to
enter the holes in the music card and are pivotted at their rear onds in any
convenient manner to a rod carried by the framing a notched bar D¹ being
employed to space them. These note levers lie parallel to one anothor in the
direction of the traverse of the music and they are connected by pendent rods D
with intermediate levers or trackers D³ as seen at Fig: 4.-Each of the rods D
passes through one end of a lever D³ and is threaded at its lower end to receive two
nuts of leather or other suitable material between which the lever D³ is held so
that by adjusting the nuts the amount of movement to be given to these levers can
be regulated.
The levers D' have their fulcra in a bar D' fixed breadthwise of the apparatus
and are placed radially or splayed out (see Fig: 1) alternately one above and one
below the bar by which means sufficient space between each lever for proper
working is allowed.
The outer ends of the levers D' are connected by pendent rods D' to the ends of
springs Dº of wood which carry the valves as will be hereafter explained The
springs are secured to any convenient part of the apparatus. The connections
between the rods D' and the levers D³ and springs Do are formed by leather or
other suitable nuts which are screwed onto the threaded ends of the rods as clearly
shown in the drawings such connections being thereby adjustable.
E are the pneumatic levers which for the purpose of economising space and for
convenience of removal we prefer to arrange in three rows.--The levers are secured
in any convenient manner to the underside of the bars E¹ carried by the framework
of the apparatus.-F are wind trunks which are also arranged breadthwise of the
apparatus and are connected with the pneumatic levers E by the air passages Eas
clearly seen in Fig: 4 At the wind trunk end of the air passages E openings E³ E
are formed one of which E³ is open to the external air and the other E to the
wind trunk the two openings being exactly opposite one another.
These openings are closed by disc valves one for each opening both being
mounted on the same valve rod or stem one outside the opening E³ and the other
outside the opening E' but inside the wind trunk.
The valves consist of rigid discs say of copper cemented to flexible discs say of
leather and are mounted loosely on the valve rods or stems between two semi-
circular faced leather or other nuts which are screwed onto the valve rod or stem.
Each valve rod is secured to one of the wood springs D in like manner. This
mode of securing the valves to the rod and the rod to the spring permits not only
of accurate adjustment as to position but also allows the valve to accommodate
itself to it's seat with facility. In order to prevent the valve rod getting out of
the centre we provide a guide E in the wind trunk (see Fig: 4.)
The wind trunks are connected in any convenient manner with the usual flexible
reservoir G in connection with the bellows
When it is desired to use the apparatus and the music card is in place the note
levers will be depressed by the card into the drawn position Fig: 4 which will
have the effect of depressing the inner ends of the intermediate levers or
trackers Ds and raising the outer ends.-This will bend the springs D and raise
the valves into the position shown in the Figure the pneumatic levers E and air
passages being thereby open to the external air through the openings E³ tho
openings E to the wind trunk being closed.

page_text: When a hole in the music card comes opposite a note lever this lever assumes
under the influence of its wood spring Do the dotted position shown in Fig: 4
which causes the valves, also under the action of the spring, to change position
thereby closing the opening E³ to the external air and opening E to the air trunk.
As a vacuum is being constantly maintained in the air trunk by the operation of
the bellows the air contained in the air passage and the pneumatic lever will be
rapidly drawn into the air trunk and the paeumatic lever will consequently
collapse or close up with considerable rapidity.
Each pneumatic lever E is connected by means of an adjustable connecting.
rod E with the inner end of a hammer or striker lever G so that the rapid closing
or collapsing of the pneumatic lever will cause this lever to rock on its fulcrum and
give a rapid and forcible blow to the key of the piano or other keyboard instrument
to which the apparatus is adapted.
To permit of the facile insertion of the music card we provide a cam or
equivalent arrangement H which on being turned by a suitably placed handle will
bear against the projecting ends d of the note levers D and force them down into
the drawn position Fig: 4 in the manner.common to this class of apparatus.-
When the card is inserted the cam will be turned into the position shown in the
drawing and the note levers will be free to rise through the holes in the music as
they are presented to them.
When the apparatus is worked by compressed air the air is supplied by the
bellows or feeders to the flexible reservoir G whence it passes, by the trunk and
the air passages in which the valves are placed, to the pneumatic levers.-This
arrangement is shewn at Fig: 5.-The inlet for the compressed air is exactly
opposite to the outlet for the exhaust as in the previous arrangement but in this
ense only one disc valve will be necessary and it will be placed within the air
passage E and thus be made to close both penings as required.
The pneumatic lovers will be permanently attached to the air passages which
will be supported by the air trunks being secured thereto by wooden buttons I as
shewn in the figure.
The rear ends of the pneumatic levers will rest on a grooved bar J suitably
fixed breadthwise of the apparatus and each lever is held by a tongue J' attached
to the underside of the lever and which enters the groove in the bar.-By turning
the button and disconnecting the valve rod and hammer rod or sticker any one of
the pneumatic levers may be readily removed should any reparation become
necessary.
In order to vary the expression of the music we apply in any well known or
other convenient manner more or less pressure to the flexible reservoir G which is
attached to the bellows.-A simple arrangement for effecting this object is to
connect the reservoir G to one arm G¹ of a rocking lever, the other arm G³ of this
lever being connected by a vertical rod G³ to a hand lever G.-By raising or
depressing this band lever G' pressure is put upon or withdrawn from the Hexible
reservoir G and the amount of exhaustion of air from, or compression on, the wind
trunks or chests is regulated and the force given to the hammers or strikers is also
regulated.
Having now described the nature of our Invention of "Improvements in
apparatus for the mechanical playing of keyboard instruments such as pianos and
organs" and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect We claim :-
First: In an apparatus for mechanically playing keyboard instruments and in
which a perforated music card is employed the arrangement of mechanism
ubstantially as herein shewn and described for conveying the motion of the note
r music levers to the valve rods whereby the construction of the apparatus is
reatly simplified and the action improved.
Second: In apparatus for mechanically playing keyboard instruments, the action
f which is caused by a vacuum or partial vacuum, the combination of two disc
alves on a single stem with two openings as E³ E* placed opposite one another in

page_text: the air passages and the wood springs Dª substantially as herein shown and
described.
Third: In apparatus for mechanically playing keyboard instruments, the action
of which is caused by compressed air, the combination of a disc valve with two
openings placed opposite one another in the air passages and the wood spring De
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof we the said Robert Hodges Bishop and William Down have
hereunto set our hands and seals the fifth day of May in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty four.