IMPROVE. MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTE ACTIONS."
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Cook, of Finsbury Place South, in the
County of Middlesex, Pianoforte Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTE ACTIONS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Cook at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
June 1862.
I, RICHARD COOK, of Finsbury Place South, in the County of Middlesex,
Pianoforte Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTE ACTIONS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to ensure the proper action of the "hopper,"
which by reason of damp gaining access to the contact surfaces of the hopper
and lever or hammer butt, is very liable to stick, and produce what is called.
the blocking of the strings (thereby destroying the vibration).. To avoid this:
I cover the upper end of each hopper with metal, which will always present a
smooth surface to the buff leather of the lever or hammer butt (as the case'
may be) and thus I avoid the necessity for frequent blackleading of the parts...

page_text: In upright pianofortes, instead of using the ordinary check rail, I mount on
each key a stop, which is carried by a wire; this admits of the ready removal
of a single key for the purpose of adjusting the action of the parts connected
therewith.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Cook, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd December 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
Coox, of Finsbury Place South, in the County of Middlesex, Pianoforte
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Twenty-third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Richard Cook, Her special license, that I, the said Richard
Cook, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Richard Cook, my 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, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTE ACTIONS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Richard Cook, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly 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 Richard Cook, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
"
The chief object of this Invention is to ensure the proper action of the
"hopper" or instrument employed in " pianoforte actions to throw the
hammer against the strings and then suddenly to release it, that it may after

page_text: delivering a blow instantly fall back to its quiescent position ready for repeating
the operation.
Hitherto the hopper by reason of damp gaining access to that portion of its
surface which comes in contact with the lever for transmitting the motion to
the hammer or to the hammer butt has been very liable to stick and produce
what is called the blocking of the strings, thereby destroying the vibration. To
avoid this defect I employ a metallic contact surface to work against the buff
leather or other soft covering of the lever or hammer butt, as, shewn in the
accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1 represents in side elevation the
"action" of an upright pianoforte with the Invention applied thereto.
A is the pianoforte key, the depression of which by the player sets the
"action" in operation; B is the hopper mounted on the key, and therefore
rising and falling with it; C is the lever to which. motion is communicated by
the hopper B for the purpose of raising (through the intervention of the
sticker C¹) the hammer D, and causing it to strike the string E. Each hopper
of the instrument I cover at its upper end with sheet metal, by preference
brass, (see the face view of the hopper Fig. 2) which will always present a
smooth surface to the buff leather of the lever.
This improvement applies equally well to horizontal pianofortes; the hopper
in that case acting directly on the hammer butt, and thus avoiding the necessity
for frequent blackleading of the contact parts. For ensuring the tripping of
the hopper in vertical instruments, I secure to the hopper by a bent wire a, a
stop b, which by being struck by a rocking piece c mounted on the key A when
that rocking piece comes in contact with a padded fixed rail d will ensure the
hopper being thrown back or tripped so as to release the hammer from contact
with its string. The hopper is returned to its normal position by a pressure
spring as usual.
As a further improvement in pianofortes, applicable however to upright
instruments only, instead of using the ordinary check rail, I mount on each key
a stop F, which is carried by a bent wire G. The advantage of this change is
that it admits of the ready removal of a single key for the purpose of adjusting
the action of the parts connected therewith.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in the
Construction of Pianoforte Actions," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, I claim,―
First, the means above described. for ensuring the proper action of the
hoppers of horizontal and upright pianofortes.

page_text: Secondly, the substitute above described for the ordinary check rail in
upright pianofortes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Cook, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
RICHARD COOK. (L.S.)