New or Improved Key-board for Attachment to Piano-fortes, and System of Notes for use with the same.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Aug., 1893-Accepted, 28th Oct., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Key-board for Attachment to Piano-fortes, and
System of Notes for use with the same.
.
I, PETER PAUL SOBLIK of Breiteweg 1, Magdeburg in the Kingdom of
Prussia, German Empire, Piano-forte-maker, 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 :-
This invention relates to a new or improved key-board arranged to be attached
over the key-board of any existing piano-forte without in any way altering the
mechanical construction of the instrument or rendering intermediate mechanism
necessary. By the aid of the new or improved key-board it is possible for any one
with only very slight practice and knowledge of the piano to learn to play, with
the use of the special system of notes pieces of music in a shorter time than would
be possible on an ordinary key-board.
The mechanism is arranged on a board which in size, corresponds to an
ordinary key-board, and is attached by means of suitable supports, screws etc.
over the keys of the instrument. The strikers are attached (as described below)
to the under side of the board exactly over the various keys and are provided
at the top with a press-button.
Each button is marked with a letter or number, corresponding to the designa-
tions of the system of notes. For an ordinary piece of music, the bass-
accompaniment is played with two fingers of the left hand, whilst the melody
in the treble is played with one finger of the right hand.
According to the special system of notes the octaves of the bass are marked with
the large letters A-L and the corresponding upper chords by the small
letters al. The ground notes in the treble are marked 1-17 for the whole
notes, and 1-11 with crosses for the half notes.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 represents a piano provided with the new chord key-board.
Fig. 2 shows the system of notes, a piece of music in waltz-time being given as
example.
Fig. 3 is a plan of the apparatus.
Fig. 4 is a side view of the apparatus, the transmitting levers lying at the rear
being left out for the sake of clearness.
Fig. 5 is a plan from below of the new key-board.
The chord key-board falls into perfectly distinct parts, the arrangement of the
treble, and that of the bass. In the treble the keys are moved by the wooden
strikers arranged directly over the same, the buttons of the strikers being on the
top of the boa d.
The part of the apparatus intended for the bass, on the other hand, consists of a
number of transmitting levers, the buttons marked A-L connected to the same,
striking not one note, but an octave, whilst, the buttons marked a-l strike the
three notes of a chord. The button marked A will strike the octave C C and the
button marked a vill strike the C-major chord, G C E.
B strikes the octave G G, whilst strikes the dominant seventh of
C-major G B F.
C=Octave FF
D-Octavo ▲ A
C=
D-minor chord F A D.
- A minor chord E AC

page_text: 1 Octave D D
LOctave B B
i=D-major chord A D F-sharp.
1 = dominant seventh in E-major D-sharp F-sharp A
E-minor chord B E G.
-
Both the direct acting wooden strikers in the treble, and the transmitting levers
in the bass are arranged to vibrate on elastic tongues, which are firmly screwed at
their ends to the key-board. For the purpose of attaching the new key-board to
the piano, brackets, with adjustable screws are used, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4
and 5.
The new system of notes, Fig. 2, corresponds to the arrangement of the key-
board, the bass notes being designated with the letters A-L for the octaves,
and with the small letters a- for the chords. The numerals on the top row
correspond to the treble buttons. Fig. 4 shows the special arrangement of the
transmitting levers. The chord key-board can be set in its right place over the
keys of the piano by seeing that the mark under the treble button 5 lies directly
over the middle of the key a.
Fig. 4 shows the transmitting lever for the octave CC and that for the C-major
chord in side view. By pressing the button H (marked v) is pressed down,
which strikes the keys CC of the octave. By pressing the button a (marked p)
the strikers are made to strike simultaneously the keys G C E.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A chord-key-board for pianos and like instruments, consisting of press-buttons
marked with numbers 1-17 for the whole notes and with numbers and
crosses 1-11 for the half notes, attached to direct acting wooden strikers for the
keys of the treble, and of a system of transmitting levers for striking octaves and
chords in the bass, the press-buttons attached to the same being marked by the
large letters A-L for the octave levers and with a-l for the chord levers,
substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
2. For use with the key-board described under 1, a new system of notes in which
the notes of the treble or the melody are designated with numerals for the whole
notes and with numerals and crosses for the half notes, whilst the octaves of the
bass are designated with large letters A-L, and the chords in the bass with small
letters a-1, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 3rd day of August 1893.
CRUIKSHANK & FAIRWEATHER,
62, St. Vincent Street, Glasgow, Agents.