NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS OR MECHANISM FOR MARKING DOWN OR REGISTERING THE NOTES PLAYED ON THE KEYS OF PIANOFORTES, ORGANS, OR SUCH OTHER KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MILES
BERRY, of the Office for Patents, Chancery Lane, in the county of Middlesex,
Engineer and Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twelfth day of April, in the sixth year of His
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, tho
said Miles Berry, His especial license, full power, sole privilego and authority,
that I, the said Miles Berry, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Miles Berry, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention communicated by a certain
Foreigner residing abroad, of "NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS OR MECHANISM FOR
MARKING DOWN OR REGISTERING THE NOTES PLAYED ON THE KEYS OF PIANOFORTES,
ORGANS, OR SUCH OTHER KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Miles Berry, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court

page_text: of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately alter the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Miles Berry, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly ascertained
and described in and by the following description thereof, (reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of new or improved apparatus or mechanism for marking
down or registering the notes played on the keys of pianofortes, organs, or
such other keyed musical instruments consists of two distinct parts..
The first and principal part serves to trace short-hand marks or signs
answering to the notes produced while the performer is playing; and the
second part furnishes the key or scheme for or method of translating those
marks or short-hand signs into characters corresponding with the common
mode of indicating notes in music.
Respecting the first part, I would remark that most persons are aware of
the principles upon which bird organs or hand organs are constructed, that is,
with a cylinder turning slowly and continuously. Upon this cylinder are
placed projections and depressions corresponding to the notes to be produced.
in the airs the hand organ is to play, and which projections and depressions
have corresponding levers which have amongst themselves the same relation to
each other as the different notes of the air to be produced, and which levers
in passing under the keys lift them up in the corresponding order to which
the notes are marked or placed upon the cylinder, and thus produce the entire
air or tune. It would be evident if this system were reversed, and, instead of
the notes of a given tune or air being marked or placed on the cylinder by
which the levers in passing under the keys oblige them to sound the series of
notes producing the tune or air, and the cylinder to be merely covered with a
sheet of paper, and a pencil placed under each key, the cylinder being made
to move continuously, and further, that instead of levers the performer's
fingers are striking or sounding the notes of the tune or air upon the keys, it
necessarily will follow that for the same tune the keys will in ascending and
descending movements produce the same series of notes whilst the pencils will
leave upon the paper on the cylinder precisely the same order of traces or
arrangement of marks or short-hand signs agreeing and corresponding in
every particular with the order of the projections and depressions on notes and
levers which would produce the same tune from the cylinder. To adapt this

page_text: up the paper after being acted upon by the tracers or pencils, and is turned
by the friction of contact with the cylinder B, it being mounted on the end of
a lever furnished with a spring, so as to give way to the increasing diameter
of that cylinder. The cylinder A is first charged with a strip or length of
paper of about one hundred and sixty feet long rolled tightly upon it. One
end of the length of paper is attached to the cylinder A, the other to the
cylinder C. Each of the ends of the paper are held upon these cylinders by
rods extending along them and carrying hooks or claws, the ends of which
project beyond the surface of the cylinder, and, by turning the rods partly
round, the hooks are made to press upon the paper and hold it fast. The
rollers or cylinders have flanges at their ends to keep the paper in its proper
position. The clockwork movement consists of a spring of sufficient power
contained in a barrel D in the usual manner with a proper train of toothed
wheels. In order to keep up or maintain the continuous motion, there is a
ratchet wheel 6 mounted upon the axis c by which the spring is usually wound
up. This ratchet is acted upon by a pall or click d placed on the lever e and
connected with a pedal, and so arranged that overy time the pedal is depressed
the ratchet wheel will be made to move round or advance one tooth, and
thereby produce a corresponding winding up of the spring.
I will now proceed to describe the manner in which the marks or tracings
of the notes sounded by the keys are transmitted to the paper or cylinder.
E, E, are the keys of the pianoforte. f,f, are rods passed through holes in
the part F or frame of the instrument, their ends protruding through these
holes underneath the keys. These rods have double-acting coiled springs o
placed around them; one spring serves to bring back the compound lever
with the key as soon as the tracing of its short-band sign or mark has been
made on the paper, the other action of the spring serves to counteract the
power of the finger of the performer, and to prevent the paper from being
torn by producing a slight elasticity in the compound lever. The rods fare
attached at their lower ends to the bell cranks g mounted on the plate G.
From these bell cranks descend other rods or levers i attached to short arms
or levers on the horizontal shafts k, k, turning in bearings on the plate G.
On the other end of these shafts are other short arms or levers, to which are
attached the rods or tracing points 1, 1, passing through a guide plate m, by
which they are kept in the proper position towards the cylinder B. The
angle of the arms of the bell crank should be suited to the position of the plate
G when placed more or less obliquely, or when situated under a square piano,
so that the tracing points may tend to the centre of the cylinder B. Each
key of the piano bas the same parts or mechanism of compound levers and

page_text: bell cranks and tracers adapted to it. The plate G is of the same length as
the whole range of keys, and upon it all the bell cranks, shafts, and levers
are mounted, it being screwed to the frame of the instrument in such a
manner that the rods f may pass into their respective holes under the keys.
It will be seen that the space occupied by the tracers or points / opposite
the cylinder B is very small in comparison to the width of the instrument or
series of keys, the levers i, shafts k, and tracers / being placed and arranged
so as to bring the motion of the keys from the extremities towards the centre.
The short-hand signs or marks upon the length of paper, corresponding to the
touches or motions of the keys, are obtained by counter-drawing or tracing
through the agency of a piece of thin paper covered with black lead or other
tracing material, and stretched in a frame, and is situated between the extre-
mities of the tracers or points 1, 1, and the cylinder B, so that when a tracer
approaches or comes in contact with the cylinder as the key is depressed, the
tracing point first touches the black lead paper, and then the black lead paper
comes in contact with the white paper upon the cylinder B, and leaves a mark
or sign corresponding to the note produced. The black lead tracing paper
is placed in a frame which is made to advance or move gradually by means of
two screws set in motion from the axis of the cylinder B, and on these screws
the black paper frame is mounted by two sockets or connexions with female
The axis of the cylinder turning the screws, they bring forward the
frame, which is thereby made to advance slowly, whereby the tracing points
do not always come in contact with the same part of the black or tracing
paper or repeat the tracing over the precise spot. The principal object of the
pedal by which the clock movement is continually being wound up is to
impress or pierce a mark on each edge of the length of paper, and the measure
or distance between such marks should correspond with or indicate the division
of each bar into which the performer has divided his composition, for which
purpose the performer must be careful to beat the time regularly on this
pedal at the commencement of each bar, which brings down at each stroke the
points or piercers r, r (see the Diagram, Fig. 3), mounted on the ends of
levers 8, 8, connected with the shaft q, q, which is turned by means of the
treadle attached to other levers on its ends. It is on this motion or operation,.
and on correct or accurate performing or playing, that the facility of the after-
reading off or translating depends.
screws.
I shall now proceed to describe the second part of this Invention, viz', that
which relates to the translating or transcribing the marks or short-hand signs
into the usual music characters. Fig. 4 represents a kind of desk intended to
hold the two cylinders A and C carrying the paper, which is here to be

page_text: unrolled from the one cylinder C on to the other A, passing over the shelf or
desk p, the paper being guided by the small rollers t, t, and is set in motion
by turning the cylinder A by hand. Fig. 5 represents a piece of transparent
paper ruled or marked in a peculiar manner lengthwise and breadthwise for
the purpose hereafter explained. One part is intended to be fixed on to a bar
of the "rapporteur," hereafter described. The range or series of notes cor-
respond with the guide holes through which the rods f,f, of the bell crank pass.
The octaves are divided, marked, or indented by red lines, and the other seven
notes of the octave by seven other different colours. The diesis (sharps) are
scen by their position to the right hand in the column. The lines drawn close
together and running from right to left serve to shew the exact length of the
notes. Fig. 6 represents what is called the "rapporteur," and consists of four
pieces of metal w, w, z, z, forming a parallelogram, and connected together by
hinge joints. The bars,, are studded with small pins or pegs, having slits
formed in them to receive silk threads in parallel lines to the bars w, w. The
pins at tho points or angles at the parallelogram are placed on the hinge or
joint pins themselves, in order that the threads which belong to these pins
may not bo displaced at whatever the inclination of the "rapporteur " may be.
To the end or part is scrowed a piece of elastio or spring steel cut or
severed into nineteen minor springs, to which minor springs the nineteen
threads are attached or united by means of small buttons. The end or picoe
is furnished with nineteen small pins or pegs, to which are united the other
ends of the silk threads. These threads are of four different colours. Figures
6 and 7 are representations of the two different sides of the "rapporteur."
In order to calculate or estimate the lengths and distances of these marks,
an uniform measure is required corresponding with some determined sign of
common notation in which it is the custom to estimate every thing by time or
measure. A time or beat is represented by a crotchet, but an uniform
measure cannot very well be adopted; it is therefore necessary to know the limit
of each bar, which object is obtained by the pedal, for it is necessary in some
degree to translate each bar successively, or one after the other, and the
measure or time is known when the limits of the whole bar has been ascer-
tained and the number of beats which it contains. To understand the use and
intention of tho "rapporteur," suppose we have a given space of paper of any
length, say one inch, and let there be a mark at the top and bottom to indi-
cate the time or space of one bar, the first thread of the parallelogram is then to
be placed on the lower mark, and you incline or raise the opposite side until
it extends above the second mark. If the "rapporteur" had four threads, and
the bar contains four divisions, beats, or crotchets, it will be seen that between

page_text: each thread there is one beat, division, or crotchet. If between any two
threads there are more marks, they will be sub-divisions of the beat or crotchet,
and between the other threads is to be placed the glazed paper which will
contain other sub-divisions. To begin the operation of the translation, place
the scale on the front of the shelf and the "rapporteur" on the scale, the
series of notes must be exactly between the edge of "rapporteur" and the
first silk thread.
"
Rules for decyphering or translating.-In order to decypher and set to
music the marks collected by the stenographical piano, all that is required is
to be able to sol-fa the keys of fa and sol; before beginning to operate, the
time or measure of the piece which has been played must be remembered.
In case the performer had neglected to mark even a single bar with the pedal
he may easily guess if it ought to be at two, three, or four crotchets in a bar
by merely examining the bass notes and by the general character of the
composition. When the measure is known, the. " rapporteur" takes the form
shewn by the following table, the use of which will be explained by a few
preliminary observations. The term "uneven time" is applied to those
which are composed of triplets, that is, of three notes of equal value, and the
term "even time," to those which do not contain triplets. The expression
red thread-black d means that the distance between two threads is equal to a
crotchet. The expression twelve threads, three reds from four to four, means
that you must put twelve threads on the
rapporteur," so that there may be
red, yellow, blue, black, red, yellow, &c. You must always have one thread
more than is set down; for eighteen you must have nineteen, and the
nineteenth must be of the same colour as the first, because the end of one
measure is to be the beginning of the next. When the measure is too small
to apply the "rapporteur," two or three measures must be taken at once,
giving to the "rapporteur " the form exhibited in the description. When the
red threads which mark the times exactly correspond on the paper pricked by
the mechanism or pedals with beginnings of notes or times, which is seen by
the structure of the bass, and that all the remainder of the times present
disjointed sub-divisions, which happens when they do not exhibit exact sub-
divisions for the intermediate threads, it is a certain sign that these are triplets.
In this you take the form shewn in the description for the odd times.
The "rapporteur may be placed on threads in four different arrange-
ments,―
1st form 16 threads
2d form 12 threads
4 red
from 4 to 4 (every fourth).
4 red
from 3 to 3 (every third).
3d. form 18 threads
4th form
6 red
from 3 to 3 (every thread).
12 threads
3 red
from 4 to 4 (every fourth).

page_text: Here follows the measure in which these different arrangements are adapted
to the different forms of measure, 2, 3, 4 times, even, odd, according as you
employ one, two, or three measures, together with an indication of the valuc
of the threads.

page_text: Now, suppose it is wanted to apply the "rapporteur' to the 4 time, even
measure, place the threads in the following order :-Red, yellow, blue, black, red,
&c., so that the first and the last thread may be red and every other red thread
should be placed in the rotation of every fourth. For this measure there will
be seventeen threads. The first and the last red threads are placed above the
beginning of the two extreme marks impressed on the length of paper by the
pedal. These marks determine the measure and denote the limit or extent.
Thus, between every two red threads there will be one time the value of a black
mark. As between two red threads there are three more threads, the space
or distance from thread to thread will be equal to a semiquaver. Suppose
that between each thread there are four degrees of the scale applied under the
rapporteur," each degree will be equal to a demidemisemiquaver.
It is thus
66
In
the transcribing is computed by making one measure pass after another by
turning the cylinder with the left hand whilst the right is engaged in copying.
Let the two following cases now be considered. 1st, the case in which in which
at a single glance you can distinguish the performance of the right hand from that
of the left either by the space or by a certain character or harmony in the
bass. 2dly, the case in which it is not possible to make such distinction.
the first case you begin at the top of the measure for the bass. Whatever
begins with the first red thread must have its value marked according to the
larger or smaller number of threads and degrees crossed by the mark, from
the first thread, you proceed to the second, thence to the third, and so on. If
each mark always extended to the point at which another began, it might be
restricted to its place by copying only the intrinsic value of each note one
after another; but frequently the mark of one note stretches beyond another
because it has continued a certain time in company with the next. There is
often besides a vacant interval between consecutive notes, which serves to
denote the time during which no note has been played. In the first place
you must give the note which stretches beyond its space two tails, the upper to
fix the rank of the next note, the lower to mark the value of the note itself.
Thus, let us suppose that a black has continued all the time of the following.
which is a quaver, you must mark it thus ), and not in this way.
In the second case you must point out the vacant interval by signs which

page_text: are used to express silences such as pauses, sighs. In case you cannot
distinguish the performance of the two hands, you decypher the whole as if it
had been played by one hand, and it becomes the performer's duty to arrange
it afterwards for both hands, so that what he would translate literally
In witness whereof, 1, the said Miles Berry, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
MILES (L.s.) BERRY.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of October, in the
seventh year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the said
Miles Berry came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrment aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twelfth day of October, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-six.