IMPROVE- MENTS IN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Marks, of Hart Street, Mark Lane
in the City of London, Wine Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS."
Sealed the 15th July 1864, and dated the 18th January 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Marks at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th January 1864.
I, WILLIAM HENRY MARKS, of Hart Street, Mark Lane, in the City of
London, Wine Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to improvements in musical instruments, which
consist in so arranging the communication between the keys and the strings, or
tubes or parts that produce the sounds, that by striking one key an octave, or
it may be other chord, will be sounded. For this purpose in pianos I prefer
that the strings be so arranged that one hammer will strike at same time two
strings in unison, and one or two other strings placed close to such unisons,
the additional string or strings being an octave or two octaves higher or lower,
or it may be other chords; other stringed instruments may be similarly
arranged.
With reference to organs and other wind instruments, it may suffice to put

page_text: the octaves of the instrument in communication with the same pedal or finger
key, or additional pipes or means to produce the additional notes or octaves
may be employed and operated simultaneously by the same pedal or key, as
described with reference to pianos.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Marks in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY MARKS, of Hart Street, Mark Lane, in the City of London, Wine
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Henry Marks, Her special licence that I, the said William
Henry Marks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Henry Marks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Henry Marks, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Henry Marks, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the two Sheets of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention relates to improvements in musical instruments, and consists
in so arranging the communication between the keys and the strings, or tubes
or parts that produce the sounds, that by striking one key au octave, or it may

page_text: be other chord, will be sounded. For this purpose in pianos I prefer to so
arrange the strings that one key will strike at same time two strings in unison,
and one or two other strings placed close to such unisons, the additional string
or strings being an octave or two octaves higher or lower, or it may be other
chords; other stringed instruments may be similarly constructed.
With reference to organs and other wind instruments, it may suffice to put
the octaves in communication with the same pedal or finger key, or additional
pipes or means to produce the additional notes or octaves may be employed
and operated simultaneously by the same pedal or key, as described with.
reference to wines.
Fig. represents a diagram showing the position of the strings of an
upright piano arranged according to my Invention. In this case I have only
represented the octave notes applied to three octaves of the piano, that is to
say, thirty-six notes.
The black lines a, a, represent the ordinary scale of the piano, while the red
lines indicate the additional notes introduced according to my Invention.
These strings are all attached at bottom and on the bent side, and strained by
the wrest pins in the wrest plank in the usual way. The strings of the
upper 24 notes may be stretched over bridges in the ordinary way, that is
to say, one on the wrest plank and the other on the belly or sounding board of
the instrument, but the others I strain and stop on stop studs or buttons b, b',
and in order to remove pressure from the sounding board, I use double stops
at bottom as seen, each string passing under the one and over the other as
represented in the side view of the double stop (see Fig. 2). I use these
stops instead of the ordinary bridges in order to permit the longer strings
shown red to pass freely between the black ones, such strings shown red being
an octave lower than the adjoining ones represented black. The strings shown
red are also stopped at a higher point on the wrest plank than the others in
order that the point of impact of the hammer may be in correct position
and in line, the hammers being all on the same level and in the samo
hammer frame. The lengths of the extra strings and the position of the stops
on them will of course be easily determined, they being in this case the same
as the black ones an octave lower.
The additional strings may be applied and arranged to produce notes an
octave higher instead of lower as described, or it may be two octaves higher
or lower, and may extend to a greater number of notes (three octaves) thau
that shown in the Drawings.

page_text: In this arrangement and construction of piano if each hammer be made
sufficiently broad to strike the four strings, and they are arranged in groups
(two red and two black) to be struck by same hammer, the instrument will
play in octaves by touching single notes only, but as this would be very
objectionable at all times, I arrange to strike the four strings by means
of two separate hammers, this instrument therefore would be provided
with thirty-six additional hammers for the same number of keys as an ordinary
instrument.
To operate on these additional hammers I widen out the back ends of the
keys, so that each key will operate on two hammers unless changed as herein-
after described. To obtain the additional breadth at the back it becomes.
necessary to curve the keys, which curve is increased the further it departs
from the centre of the instrument throughout the limits of the extra notes.
I have represented at Fig. 3 a key board arranged to carry out my Invention,
which will be readily understood without particular description; at Fig. 4 is
represented a transverse section of the back ends of some of the keys f and
elevation of their hoppers g, g; it will be observed that these are much as
usual except in being wider, but above each hopper two sticker rods h, h¹,
are fitted and operate on the two hammers before mentioned. When a key
is struck with the hopper in the position shown, both the two strings shown
red and the two shown black (see Fig. 1) will be struck. If it is desirable
to play in single notes only, the middle part of the key board (the octave
notes) is shifted with a pedal, as will be readily understood, which throws the
hoppers into the positions shown dotted in Fig. 4, when each key will act
on one sticker rod & one hammer, and consequently will strike one note
only instead of the octave or chord as before. It may be possible to group
the strings in pairs, two red and two black, and with space enough between
one group and the other, so that one hammer may srike all four strings
for the octave, and be shifted sideways so as to be removed from
opposite the strings shown red, and disposed so as to strike only the two
strings shown black, and at same time so as not to encroach on the limits
of the strings of the notes immediately adjoining. In this case the hammers
with the octave notes would be shifted precisely in the manner of shifting
the hammers when applying the soft pedal in the piano, and may be done
at same time and by the same motion. It may be necessary to give greater
movement to the hammer striking octaves than to the other hammers of
the instrument, the movement of which may be restricted as desired, for
this purpose hammers striking the notes as in ordinary may be mounted
in separate frames from those striking octaves. If arranged as last herein

page_text: described the keys would necessarily be of less width at the back than that
shown in the Drawing, and the instrument may be reduced to a smaller
compass.
To obtain the increased breadth of keys at back, and increased extent of
string and sounding board surface required with little increase of length in
the instrument, I have found it advantageous to arrange the sounding board
in a curved form, as represented in Fig. 5. The foregoing remarks of
description will equally apply to this, and need not be repeated. i, i, represents
the curved line of the sounding board, on which the strings would be stretched
on the concave side. The case, bracings, and other parts of the instrument
must of course be made to suit the altered conditions. Fig. 5 represents the:
keys or finger board as being also of a curved form, instead of straight as
usual, but this I think would be of advantage rather than otherwise, as it
would enable a performer to reach the extremities of the instrument much
more readily and without the distortion of the body occasioned by the ordinary
straight key boards. This curved form of key board may even be used with
a flat sounding board, as the key may be gradually lengthened towards the
extremity of the instrument, as indicated in red dotted lines in the one half
of Fig. 5. In the increased length of keys the fulcrum pins must be so
arranged that the leverage of the keys and the touch is the same in all, as
will be readily understood. I have represented the key boards, Figs. 3 and 5,
as complete only in one half, the other half being similar will be readily
understood. Where the middle part of the key board shifts I mount it on
a pink in front, on which it partially slides and partially oscillates as on a
fulcrum, so that there is but slight movement of the keys in front, but more
at the back part, and sufficient for the purpose required. Instead of part
of the key board being made to move the whole may be shifted, but in the
case of those hammers striking single notes only the sticker rods should
move with the hoppers, so that there shall be no change in their action on
the strings, or they may move together with their hammers so much only
as shall produce the same effect as the action of the soft pedal in pianos.
Other stringed instruments may also be constructed to produce similar
results, such as the harpsichord. In constructing organs or other similar
wind instruments in which valves are opened to produce the notes, no
5 particular description will be necessary, as it will be readily understood that
one key may be easily placed in connection with the valve of its respectivo
pipe or part producing the sound, and also with the valve of a pipe producing
the note or octave higher or lower, or it may be with a duplicate and separate
pipe, each in the ordinary way of communication between the valves and

page_text: the keys in those instruments. Harmoniums may also be constructed on
like principles. Instead of shifting the middle part of the key board as
represented and described with reference to Figs. 3 and 5, it may be better
to make that part a fixture as in ordinary, and to furnish each key with two
hoppers, one for the ordinary and one for the extra note. In order to throw
the extra and octave notes out of action I use a shaft placed immediately
behind the hoppers, having cams or pins fitted opposite to each of the extra
hoppers, and so that when said shaft is rotated the pins or cams will come
in contact with the additional hoppers (the octave notes), and throw them
out from under their respective sticker rods, and so suspend the action of
those notes. The cam shaft may be operated by the soft pedal, or an extra
pedal may be fitted for that purpose. Fig. 6 represents a front view, and
Fig. 7 a side view of this arrangement of the double hopper, the cam shaft
for operating the same being shown in section in Fig. 7.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Marks, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
WILL. HENRY MARKS. (L.S.)