A Music Chest.
Year: 1897

page_text: A Music Chest.
HARRY KNAPTON, of 94, Chaplin Road, Willesden Green, Middlesex, Piano
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Music chest. It consists of a shelf made of wood or of any other light material,
with two sloping sides and a back and can be divided into several divisions if
necessary, the shelf being the length of the piano key board under which it will
be fixed by two centred hinges to the side of the piano, the shelf will be so fitted
that the back will rest upon the top of the bottom door thus closing the open
gap, it will be about 4 inches deep tapering off to almost nothing in front-like
a desk slope turned upside down. Can be opened by touching a spring or knob
underneath in front, and the front drops down released by the spring to a
sufficient depth to allow of the insertion of the hand for music sheets, and to
close, the front is lifted up and fastens to the bottom of the key board by a self
closing spring catch which is out of sight. It will not be in the way of the per-
former it will simply utilise waste room and is free from noise.-It can be fixed
to any piano at a small cost, and in a short time, it will preserve the music sheets
and will be handy for the performer who can obtain what is required without
rising from the music stool.
Dated this Seventh day of September 1897.
HARRY KNAPTON, 94, Chaplin Road, Willesden Green, Middlesex, Piano
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement: —
In order to provide a convenient recepticle for the storage of music sheets,
books, etc,, in connection with a pianoforte, that shall at once be handy for the
performer, capacious for all necessary purposes, and when done with, may be
have made the following arrangement viz:
closed, so as to escape observation,
First, a shelf made of wood or of any other light material of a length about equal
And I make the same to
to that of the piano keyboard under which I place it.
move on two pivots (one on either side) up or down at the will of the performer
(a, a, Fig. 1.). The shelf will have a back (b, b, b 'Fig. 1) and two sloping shaped
sides, as shown (c, c Fig. 1) so as not to interfere with the free up and down

page_text: movement, and of course the said shelf can be divided into as many divisions as
desired. The depth of the back is not a material matter but it will in general
be about four inches, and the sides (as also the divisions C¹ C¹ Fig. 1) will measure
the same where they are joined to the back, but are tapered down to almost
nothing in front. The back, when the shelf is closed will rest upon or just clear
the bottom door, and when the shelf is open the top of the back will butt the
underneath of the back of the keyboard, the necessary clearance being allowed
in the height of the back to provide for this movement.
Figure 2 shows the shelf placed in position, open for the reception of the
music sheets.
It will now be understood that when the shelf is down, the compartments
provided for the music-sheets or books will be revealed, and the performer can
readily obtain what is wanted and desiring to close the shelf, he has simply to
lift up the same towards the underneath of the keyboard. In order to retain the
shelf in a closed position, I provide a self closing spring-catch, in a convenient
position out of sight, the disengageing of the said catch to allow for opening, is
effected by pressure on a handle or nob.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:-
-
1. A movable music-chest so fitted to a pianoforte, that it can be opened and
closed by the performer without the necessity of rising from his seat, substan-
tially as described.