IMPROVE- MENTS IN PIANOFORTES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in
the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PIANOFORTES."-A communication from abroad by George Vogt,
of the City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, United States
of America.
Sealed the 1st July 1859, and dated the 5th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th May 1859.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES," a communication from abroad by George
Vogt, of the City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, United States
of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention. relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of the
"rest" and "bridge" of pianofortes, whereby the impediments to the direct
vibration of the strings, which heretofore existed, are avoided.
In constructing the improved "rest," a bar of ivory is secured to the front
of the tuning block, over which is placed a wooden cap, which reaches down

page_text: behind the bar of ivory, so as to meet the tuning block. A strong metal bar
covers this cap, and the whole is secured to the tuning block by bolts and
The strings pass through holes in the bar of ivory, and these holes are
carefully drilled in an inclined direction, and of such diameter as to avoid any
further contact of the strings with the ivory than occurs at the front and back
ends of the holes, the string being made to bear against the upper side at the
front of the holes, and upon the lower surface at the back end, the strings
thus passing diagonally through each of the holes. Inclined perforations are
also made in the lower portion of the cap piece behind the ivory bar, through
which perforations the strings pass direct to the wrest pins.
The improved "bridge" consists of a bar of ivory resting on the sound
board, and covered by a metal bar, the two being united and secured to the
sound board by screws and nuts. The ivory bridge is provided with inclined
holes for the reception of the strings, after the manner described in reference
to the "rest," the upward inclination being towards the pin block, whilst the
upward inclination of the holes in the "rest" is towards the wrest pins. These
improvements may be employed either separately or in combination with
each other.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and
of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IM-

page_text: PROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES," a communication from abroad by George Vogt,
of the City of Philadelphia, in the State of. Pennsylvania, United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry
Johnson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby declare:
the nature of the 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 accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
the "rest" and "bridge" of pianofortes, whereby the impediments to. the:
direct vibration of the strings which have existed heretofore are obviated.
In constructing the improved "rest," a bar of ivory is secured to the front:
of the tuning block, over which is placed a wooden cap, which reaches down
behind the bar of ivory, so as to meet the tuning block. A strong metal bar
covers this cap, and the whole is secured to the tuning block by bolts and
nuts. The strings pass through holes in the bar of ivory, and these holes are
carefully drilled in an inclined direction, and of such diameter as to avoid any
further contact of the strings with the ivory than occurs at the front and back
ends of the holes, the string being made to bear against the upper side at the
front of the holes, and upon the lower surface at the back end, the strings
thus passing diagonally through each of the holes. Inclined perforations are
also made in the lower portion of the cap piece behind the ivory bar, through
which perforations the strings pass direct to the wrest pins.
The improved "bridge" consists of a bar of ivory resting on the sound.
board, and covered by a metal bar, the two being united and secured to the
sound board by screws and nuts. The ivory bridge is provided with inclined
holes for the reception of the strings, after the manner described in reference
to the "rest," the upward inclination being towards the pin block, whilst the
upward inclination of the holes in the "rest" is towards the wrest pins. These
improvements may be employed either separately or in combination with
each other.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now.
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall

page_text: refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
. Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a sectional elevation
of a portion of a pianoforte, shewing my improvements; Figure 2 is a
corresponding plan of the same; Figure 3 represents a front elevation of my
improved "rest;" Figure 4 is a similar view of my improved "bridge ;" and
Figure 5 is a plan of a modified form of bridge, herein-after more fully
referred to.
On the front of the tuning block A, and along its upper surface, is secured
and partly let in the bar of ivory B, which bar may either consist of one
entire piece, or be composed or made up of any convenient number of separate
pieces joined together in such a manner as to present an unbroken surface.
Over and upon this bar is placed the wooden cap piece C, which should be
about double the thickness or width of the bar B, is shewn in Figure 1, the
hinder part of which extends down behind the bar B, and rests upon the
tuning block A. A strong metal bar D is laid upon and covers the cap
piece C, and is bolted firmly down thereon by the bolts E, which pass entirely
through the cap piece and tuning block, and impart great solidity and firmness
to the parts referred to. The strings f, f, are passed through holes a, a,
drilled through the ivory bar B, the diameter and position if these holes
being such as to admit of no further contact of the strings with the bar than at
the two points b and c; for this object the holes are drilled obliquely through
the bar B, being inclined upwards slightly towards the "wrest" pins, as
shewn. By this arrangement the string bears against the upper side of the
hole at its front end 6, and crossing the hole diagonally rests upon the under
side at the back end of the hole, as shewn at c. The lower part of the cap
piece C forms a back to the bar B, and is perforated at g, such perforations
coinciding with the holes a, a, in the bar B. The bottom sides of the per-
forations are slightly bevilled or inclined, so as to form a single contact
point or bearing surface for the string at h, a space being left between the
points h and c, as shewn in Figure 1, upon which the string does not bear.
The object of the bearing point h, last referred to, is to destroy all false
impeding vibration of that portion of the string combined between the
"wrest" pin and point h, and this bearing h further serves to relieve the
points b and c from the direct pressure incurred by the tension of the strings.
G is an ivory bridge resting on the sounding board in the usual manner,
and covered by a metallic bar I, the two being firmly united together and to

page_text: the sounding board by means of the bolts K, K. The bridge G is provided
with holes for the reception of the strings, such holes being similar to those
in the bar B, as regards their size and upward inclination towards the pin
block L. In order to facilitate the drilling of the holes in the proper direction
at that part of the bridge where from the sharpness of its curve the strings
necessarily pass through it at an acute angle, it is proposed to adopt the
arrangement shewn in the detail plan, Figure 5. Here, in place of employing
a continuous ridge of pieces of ivory of the same curve or sweep, a series of
separate oblong blocks of ivory G, G, are used, the holes being drilled directly
through them, and slightly inclined upwards, as before described. These
blocks are held firmly down upon the sounding board by the metallic bar I
and bolts K, K, as described in reference to the bridge in Figure 1.
The advantages obtained by the use of the improvements herein-before
described and illustrated are both numerous and important.
The first and all-important advantage is, the entire removal of all impedi-
ment to the direct vibration of the strings, since all the bearing points are
brought in line with the direction of the vibrations imparted by the hammer.
The avoidance, moreover, of any contact of the strings with wood or metal as
regards those points exerting an influence on the sound, obviates not only the
peculiar dulness of tone imparted by wooden contacts, but also the disagreeably
shrill sound obtained where metal contacts are used. Whilst the employment
of ivory in the above-described bearing or contact points gives that clear, full,
and brilliant tone so peculiar to this substance when employed in the con-
struction of musical instruments.
Another important advantage is the solidity and body imparted both to the
"rest" and "bridge" by the peculiar combination of the cap piece C and
metal bars D and I, with the ivory bar B and ivory bridge G. The very
slight deviation of the strings from a straight line at their extremities greatly
reduces the depressing influence exerted upon the sounding board by the
tension of the strings, thereby allowing greater freedom to the vibrations of.
the sounding board, and consequently increasing the tone of the instrument,
whilst on the other hand the avoidance of any sudden bend facilitates the
yielding of the strings when tuning,-serves to insure the instrument standing
in tune for a longer period than is usual with pianos of the ordinary con-
struction, and greatly reduces the liability to breakage of the strings.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel

page_text: and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part récited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general construction, arrangement, and combination of parts of
pianos, as herein-before described.
Second, the peculiar construction and arrangement of the "rest
"bridge" of a piano, as herein-before described and illustrated by the
Drawings.
Third, the application and use to and in pianos of the herein-before-
described "rest" and "bridge," whether separately or in combination with
each other.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)