IMPROVEMENTS IN INCREASING, DIMINISHING, OR OTHERWISE REGULATING THE POWER AND TONE OF ORGANS, HARMONIUMS, PIANOFORTES, OR OTHER INSTRUMENTS WITH SIMILAR KEYS OR KEYBOARDS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Roberts, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Organ Builder, and Robert Naylor, of the same
Place, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INCREASING,
DIMINISHING, OR OTHERWISE REGULATING THE POWER AND TONE OF ORGANS,
HARMONIUMS, PIANOFORTES, OR OTHER INSTRUMENTS WITH SIMILAR KEYS OR
KEYBOARDS."
Sealed the 15th March 1864, and dated the 18th September 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Roberts and
Robert Naylor at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 18th September 1868.
We, JOHN ROBERTS, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Organ Builder, and ROBERT NAYLOR, of the same Place, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
INCREASING, DIMINISHING, OR OTHERWISE REGULATING THE POWER AND TONE OF
ORGANS, HARMONIUMS, PIANOFORTES, OR OTHER INSTRUMENTS WITH SIMILAR KEYS
OR KEYBOARDS," to be as follows:-
We suspend or support the keys, manuels, or key frames of organs,
harmoniums, or pianofortes at the front or any other part on springs of any
suitable material or from counteracting weights, so that when a pressure
sufficient to overcome the same is applied by the performer, the whole key
frame of each instrument, or the keys in divisions or parts, or singly, according
to the construction or arrangements, will yield or descend in a continuous line,
and beyond the descent necessary or generally observed in the construction of
the said instruments, in fact being a distinct motion from and after the primary
descent of the key or manuel. This motion we convey by means of rollers,

page_text: levers, rods, or any other suitable mechanical appliance to pallets, which admit
or cut off a supply of condensed air to and from expanding receivers or
reservoirs as the pressure on the keys or manuels is increased or diminished.
These reservoirs are in communication with the following mechanical arrange-
ments, such as the composition actions, draw stop, and swell action, or any
other internal arrangement for influencing the power of organs and harmoniums,
dispensing with the use of compound pedals, swell pedals, sforzando pedals,
and bringing the whole under the control of the performer's fingers without
necessitating the removal thereof from the keys or the feet from the pedal
claviers. As pianofortes have no bellows, as a modification of the same
principle we place small feeders underneath the keys or key frame to supply
the pneumatic valve or expanding reservoir with condensed air, when an
increased pressure is applied whilst playing or otherwise on the keys, the air
in the reservoir becoming sufficiently condensed forces its way into the
expanding valve or valves, which when inflated throw in and out of action, as
the case may be, the appliances for increasing or diminishing the power without
the aid of pedals. By suspending or supporting the pedal claviers of organs
as we do the keys or key frames, and connecting them with valves, we obtain
similar results. In each case we derive these advantages directly from the
keys, key frames, or pedal claviers by the movements or mechanism already
described above.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Roberts and Robert Naylor in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
ROBERTS, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Organ
Builder, and ROBERT NAYLOR, of the same Place, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said John Roberts and Robert Naylor, Her special license that we,
the said John Roberts and Robert Naylor, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Roberts and Robert Naylor,
our 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,

page_text: within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INCREASING,
DIMINISHING, OR OTHERWISE REGULATING THE POWER AND TONE OF ORGANS,
HARMONIUMS, PIANOFORTES, OR OTHER INSTRUMENTS WITH SIMILAR KEYS OR KEY-
BOARDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Roberts
and Robert Naylor, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands and seals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Roberts and Robert Naylor,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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, reference being had to the figures
and letters on the accompanying two Sheets of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is
a cross section, representing one of our improved modes of acting on the pallet.
or valve of the expanding and contracting reservoir, which is in communication
with the compound or draw stop action of an organ, by giving perpendicular or
vibrating movement to the keys or key frame; and Fig. 2 is a cross section,
shewing the action of the valve worked by the moveable keyboard or keys on
the ordinary Venetian front.
We suspend or support the keys a, manuels or key frames of organs,..
harmoniums, or pianofortes at the front or any other part on springs b of
any suitable material, or from counteracting weights, so that when a pressure
sufficient to overcome the same is applied by the performer the whole key
frame c of each instrument, or the keys in divisions or parts, or singly, according
to the construction or arrangement, will yield or descend in a continuous line,
and beyond the descent necessary or generally observed in the construction of
the said instruments, in fact being a distinct motion from and after the primary
descent of the key or manuel. This motion we convey by means of rollers,
levers, rods, or any other suitable mechanical appliances, as at d, to pallets or
valves e, which admit or cut off a supply of condensed air to and from
expanding receivers or reservoirs f, as the pressure on the keys or manuels is
increased or diminished. These reservoirs are in communication with the
following mechanical arrangements, such as the composition actions, draw-
stops, and swell action, or any other internal arrangement for influencing the
power of organs and harmoniums, dispensing with the use of compound pedals,
swell pedals, sforzando pedals, and bringing the whole under the control of the

page_text: performer's fingers, without necessitating the removal thereof from the keys or
the feet from the pedal claviers. As pianofortes have no bellows, as a
modification of the same principle we place small feeders underneath the keys
or key frame to supply the pneumatic valve or exhausting reservoir with
condensed air when an increased pressure is applied whilst playing or other-
wise on the keys, the air in the reservoir becoming sufficiently condensed
forces its way into the expanding valve or valves, which when inflated throw
in and out of action, as the case may be, the appliances for increasing or
diminishing the power without the aid of pedals. By suspending or supporting
the pedal claviers of organs as we do the keys or key frames, and connecting
them with valves, we obtain similar results; in each case we derive these
advantages directly from the keys, key frames, or pedal claviers by the move-
ments or mechanism already described above.
Having now described the nature and particulars of our said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be under-
stood that in organs, harmoniums, or pianofortes, and other instruments with
similar keys, manuals, or key frames, we claim the improved system of placing
the keys, manuals, or key frames on springs of any construction or material,
or on counterbalanced levers, and giving them perpendicular or vibrating
motion by downward pressure for the purpose of working the pallets or valves
of the expanding receivers or reservoirs, as shewn and described, or for
working the feeders underneath the keys or key frames of pianofortes, as
described herein.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Naylor, for and on behalf of
myself and the said John Roberts, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Robert Naylor in
the presence of
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
ROBERT NAYLOR. (L.S.)