IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTES, VIOLINS, GUITARS,. ORGANS, AND OTHER SIMILAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS."AL SP
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Schucht, of No. 14, Store Street,
Bedford Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTES, VIOLINS, GUITARS,.
ORGANS, AND OTHER SIMILAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Schucht
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th September 1868.
I, JOHN HENRY SCHUCHT, of No. 14, Store Street, Bedford Square, in"
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said "
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTES, VIOLINS,
GUITARS, ORGANS, AND OTHER SIMILAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements' in pianofortes and
other musical instruments. The tone of a pianoforte depends greatly
on the quality of the soundboard. At the present time wood is selected
for this purpose which is very straight in the grain and. which consists
very distinctly of alternate plates of hard and soft material. The Swiss
pine is a wood very commonly used. It is difficult. however to find.

page_text: wood of sufficiently regular structure to produce the best result nor can
the suitability of the wood be accurately ascertained until the instrument
is complete, hence to a certain degree the quality of the instrument is a
matter of chance.
According to my Invention I construct soundboards artificially of
alternate plates of hard and soft material, for example, beech and poplar
woods are very suitable, but other materials may be used. The thickness
of the soundboard is, usually about one. quarter of an inch, and the
plates of which it is built up are of this width. The plates of the soft
wood should be about one-eighth of an inch thick and those of the hard
wood should be thinner; the plates are glued together side by side. For
convenience of construction I prefer to build up a block of wide plates
of the hard and soft material and to cut off slices of the desired thickness
from the block so prepared. Other hard and soft materials may also
be used, and I would remark that the difference between the two
materials I prefer to be such that the hardness of the one is about
double that of the .other, that is to say, that to cause.a needle point to
penetrate a given distance. by, pressure, the weight required for the hard
wood will be double. that required for the soft, or the difference between
the hardnesses of the materials may advantageously. be..somewhat-more
than double. The two materials employed, should also differ.con-
siderably in specific gravity. The stiffening bars fixed at the back
of the soundboard I build up in a similar manner of alternate plates
of hard and soft material.
By building up. soundboards, as above described regularity, and
suitability of structure is with certainty, ensured.
The same arrangement is also applicable for the construction of
parts, of violins, and guitars, also organ pipes may be similarly
constricted.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifthteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Schucht, Her special
licence that I, the said John Henry Schucht, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry Schucht,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTES, VIOLINS, GUITARS,
ORGANS, AND OTHER SIMILAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Schucht, my exe-
cutors or administrators, by an instrument 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 immédiately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Schucht, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvemonts in pianofortes and
other musical instruments and relates to an improved mode of making
soundboards.
The tone of a pianoforto depends greatly on the quality of the
soundboard. At the present time wood is selected for this purpose of
a kind which is very straight in the grain and which consists very
distinctly of alternate layers or plates of hard and soft material. The
Swiss pine is a wood very commonly used. It is difficult however to find
wood of sufficiently regular structure to produce the best result nor can
the suitability of the wood be accurately ascertained until the instrument
is complete, hence to a certain degree the quality of the instrument is
matter of chance.

page_text: According to my Invention I construct soundboards artificially of
alternate plates of hard and soft material, for example, beech and poplar
woods are very suitable, but plates of other materials that can be con-
veniently joined together may be used. The plates of the soft wood
such as poplar should if the soundboard be a quarter of an inch in
thickness be about one-eighth of an inch thick, and the plates of the
hard wood, such as beech, should be thinner and vary in thinness
according to their position in the finished soundboard relatively to the
scale of the instrument. The plates are glued together side by side;
the plates of soft wood and hard wood being placed alternately. For
convenience of construction I prefer to commence operations by first
forming or building up a block of wide plates of the hard and soft
material and then to cut off slices of the desired thickness from the block
so prepared. Instead of using two kinds of woods, such as 'beech and
poplar, other relatively hard and soft materials may be used by joining
them in juxtaposition, and I would remark that the difference between
the two materials I prefer to be such that the hardness of the one is about
double that of the other, that is to say, in the case of wood in order to
cause a needle point to penetrate a given distance by pressure the weight
required for the hard wood will be double that required for the soft
wood. From observation it has been ascertained that with sounding boards
made from Swiss pine the best sounding boards have the grain of the
wood for the most part in layers of hard and soft material of about these
degrees of hardness. The difference between the relative hardnesses of
the materials employed to form the layers or plates of my artificial
soundboards may however be considerably more than in the proportion
of two to one. The two materials employed should differ considerably
in specific gravity. The stiffening bars fixed at the back of the sound-
board may also if desired be built up in a similar manner of alternate
layers or plates of hard and soft material.
By building up soundboards as above described regularity and.
suitability of structure is with certainty ensured.
The same arrangement of materials differing in hardness is also
applicable for the construction of parts of violins and guitars. Organ
pipes may be also similarly constructed.
Although I have mentioned woods as being the material ordinarily
used in making soundboards, and as being a material in which different
kinds of varying hardness may be easily obtained, it should be under-

page_text: stood that soundboards may be made on my improved system by placing
in juxtaposition plates made of other materials. For instance plates of
metal or of glass might be used in juxtaposition with plates of wood or
other elastic material, and the quality of soundboard so made would be
found to vary according to the materials employed. Soundboards may
be thus made suitable for various purposes according to the quality of
the tone required to be possessed by the instruments respectively.
Persons acquainted with the manufacture of musical instruments will
have no difficulty, after a short experience in making or using my
improved soundboards, in selecting the materials suitable for their
purposes so as to form a sounding board of the required quality.
.
In order that the manner in which I carry my Invention into effect
may be better understood I will proceed to describe more particularly
the mode in which I proceed to manufacture the soundboard of a
pianoforte, which will illustrate an ordinary application of my
improvements.
The strips or veneers intended to be used in forming the soundboard
to be made up are cut in continuous lengths from a log of wood of the
required character and quality; this is done by mounting a length of
wood cut across from the entire stem of a tree upon centres, and cutting
therefrom a strip of veneer of the desired thickness by a knife, which is
caused to move slowly up towards the centre of the log at the same
time that the log is rotated in the manner now commonly practised for
cutting veneers. The soft wood and the hard wood are respectively cut
into sheets or strips, which are afterwards divided up into any
desired
lengths. The lengths of wood formed of the part cut from the inner
portion of the tree I by preference choose for forming the treble end
of the soundboard, whilst the lengths which have come from the outer
part of the tree I select for forming the portion of the soundboard at
the base end. The several lengths of veneer of hard and soft wood are
then glued together in juxtaposition in alternate layers, taking caro
to place the side of each strip or plate of wood which originally was
towards the centre of the tree towards the treble end of the soundboard
until a block, say of, about six inches in depth has been formed, or
blocks of greater depth may be employed. The length of wood formed
of the exterior part of the tree should be made up into blocks by
themselves separate from the blocks made up from the vencers from the
inner or central part of the tree. The blocks so made up are afterwards

page_text: divided by saws transversely of the several layers of wood, so as to form
boards of about of an inch in thickness. The soundboard for a piano-
forte is then made up by placing the required number of such boards
edge to edge and glueing them together in the manner now practised
in making soundboards of the ordinary wood now employed. By
forming the veneers or strips or plates of wood intended to be formed
into blocks by cutting them in the manner above described I ensure
that the grain of the wood shall be in a straight line, or very nearly so,
through all the several strips of which a soundboard made up therefrom
is composed, and this is of great advantage.
In the Drawing hereunto annexed is shewn on an enlarged scale a
portion of a soundboard made up as above described of alternate layers
of hard and soft material; the relative dimensions there given are those,
which I prefer to adopt for making the soundboard of an ordinary
pianoforte. I would observe that for what are called grand pianofortes,
where long strips are used, the hard strips in the soundboards should
be made broader than when the piano is made with a thin short scale.
Having now described my Invention I would have it understood that
I claim the improved mode herein described of constructing the sound-
boards of musical instruments by joining together pieces artificially made
up by placing.in juxtaposition layers, plates, or strips of materials of
varying hardness, so that the soundboard or a given part of the sound-
board may be adapted to the tone required to be produced by the
vibration of a given string or given strings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Schucht, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-