IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PIANOFORTES, HARMONIUMS, AND CERTAIN OTHER MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Montagu at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
November 1868.
I, CHARLES MONTAGU, of Cannon Street, in the City of London,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PIANOFORTES, HARMONIUMS, AND
CERTAIN OTHER MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to musical instruments whereof the bodies,
cases, or frames have mostly been formed of vencered wood hitherto,
and which are provided with keys or notes, such, for instance, as piano-
fortes, harmoniums, organs, concertinas, flutinas, and accordeons.
The object of my Invention is to manufacture the musical instrument
in such manner that it may resist the effects of damp, heat, and insects,
that the sound may be duly concentrated instead of being improperly
diffused or lost through the pores of the case, and that the notes may be

page_text: more sonorous or metallic in tone than in instruments of usual con-
struction. Besides the carrying out of these objects other advantages are
derivable from my Invention.
The cases or bodies of instruments constructed according to my
improvements do not require re-polishing or re-varnishing. Fretwork or
ornamental work made as I herein-after describe is less liable to fracture,
and can therefore be made more delicate and elaborate, and with greater
rapidity than when wood vencers are used for which long seasoned woods
alone can be employed.
My Invention consists in constructing the case, body, or frame of the
pianoforte or other musical instrument of a foundation of wood or other
ordinary rigid material, which instead of being as heretofore veneered
with wood is coated, covered, or faced with sheets, strips, or thin picces
of caoutchouc or india-rubber, or of a compound or compounds whereof
caoutchouc constitutes the main or principal ingredient. The material
is moulded into form or reduced by rolling, pressure, or otherwise into
thin sheets, which are cut or brought to the required shape. These are
then cemented or attached to the wood or other foundation or material
of the body, case, or main framing of the instrument.
Fretwork or ornaments may be formed in either of the following
modes A slab of the wood or other foundation covered, coated, or
faced with caoutchouc or a compound thereof as described, is cut
through by the fret saw or other cutting instrument, or stamped by a
stamping instrument into the required device or design. But the mode
I prefer is to form the fretwork or ornamentation thus :-I take a sheet
or slab of solid caoutchouc or of a compound of caoutchouc of required
substance or thickness, cutting out therefrom by fret saw or suitable
cutting instrument, or stamping out by a stamping instrument, the
required device or design. By these means there is no danger of
fracture, and the parts cut out may be utilized to avoid waste, and great
elegance and delicacy of design may be obtained.
Ornaments, beadings, and mouldings made of solid caoutchouc or com-
pounds thereof by moulding, cutting, or otherwise may be cemented or
attached to any required portions of the outside of the instrument, or
any required device or decorative design may be formed on the surface

page_text: of the covering, coating, or facing material before or after applying
the same, and by any means ordinarily used for ornamenting sheets or
strips of india-rubber or its compounds.
The semi-tone notes or sharp and flat keys may be coated, covered,
or faced with strips, sheets, or bands of caoutchouc or its compounds in
like manner.