IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Harrison, of Fitzroy Square, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES."
Sealed the 29th August 1854, and dated the 25th May 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Harrison at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th May 1854.
I, JOSEPH HARRISON, of Fitzroy Square, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PIANOFORTES" to be as follows, that is to say:-
My improvements consist in giving additional strength & security to the
bracings of pianofortes, & rendering them less subject to expansion & con-
traction from atmospheric changes or other causes, by which means the
instruments acquire a greater & more permanent brilliancy of tone; to effect
which objects, I substitute in place of the ordinary wooden rest plank a metallic
one, shod or otherwise secured upon the upper end of each of the wooden
bracings which form the back or framing of the piano; & upon the lower end
of the said bracing I attach in like manner, in place of the ordinary hitch pin
block, a clipper shoe plate, provided with end bearings, for the metallic rest
plank. In the action of the piano a slight modification only may be required
with the above arrangements.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Harrison in the Great Seal Patent Oflice on the
25th November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HARRISON, of Fitzroy Square, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Harrison, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Harrison,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Harrison, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
timo agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire
land, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PIANOFORTES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph
Harrison, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describo and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and causo 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 Joseph Harrison, do hereby declaro
the nature of my 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 (that is to say):
My said improvements having reference, firstly, to certain improvements in
constructing the bracings of pianos, for the purpose of giving them additional
strength and security, and rendering them less liable to expansion and con-
traction from atmospheric changes or similar causes, by which means a greater
and more permanent brilliancy of tono is secured to the instrument, consist in
substituting for the ordinary wooden rest plank a metallic one, shod or other-
wise secured upon the upper end of each of the wooden bracings which form
the back or framing of the piano, and in place of the ordinary hitch pin block,
attaching upon the lower end of the said bracing a plate, which I term a
metallic clipper shoe plate, provided with end bearings, for the metallic rest
plank.
My Invention referring, secondly, to certain improvements in that mechanism

page_text: which is called the action in pianofortes, having for their object the more
effective regulation of the return stroke of the hammer, consists in certain
modifications in the method of buffing the under lever, so that a portion of the
said buffing is replaced by a leather button, of which the pressure against the
jack or hopper head is adjusted by a suitable screw, and another portion
on which the sticker rests in the ordinary construction is replaced by
securing the sticker in a small padded groove in the upper side of the
under lever.
But in order that these my said improvements may be more fully under-
stood and readily carried into effect, I proceed to describe them by the aid of
the accompanying Drawings, reference being had to the letters and figures
thereon marked, that is to say :-
Fig. 1 is a vertical front view of my improved bracing; Fig. 2, a side view
thereof, showing part of the metallic rest plate, bridge board, and clipper shoe
plate, in section; Fig. 8, a back elevation thereof; Fig. 4, a top or plan view;
Fig. 5, a transverse section taken through the dotted lines in Fig. 2; and
Fig. 6, the upper portion of the clipper shoe plate with the bracing removed.
In each Figure the same letters of reference denote similar corresponding
parts. A, A, wooden bracing; B, B, metallic rest plate; C, C, rest plank or
bridge board; D, D, clipper shoe plate; E, E, strings or wires; F, F, hitch
pins; G, G, tuning pins passing through the metallic rest plate into the bridge
board; H, H, screws for securing the said rest plate and clipper shoe plate to
the wooden bracings. In Fig. 7 of the accompanying Drawings, which repre-
sents the improved action for pianofortes, described under the second head of
my Invention, I, I, is the key; J, J, jack or hopper; K, K, under lever
with my improvements attached; L, L, under buffing thereof; M, M, leather
button; N, N, pin for regulating the position thereof; 0, 0, pin rail rigidly
connected with the sticker rest P, P, on the upper side of the under lever;
Q, Q, sticker hinge joint, replacing the ordinary buffing on the upper side of
the under lever; R, R, sticker; S, S, hammer; T, T, hammer rail; U, U,
hammer rest; V, V, damper; W, damper wire. The effect of the leather
button, when suitably adjusted by the regulating pin and in connection with
the improved sticker hinge joint, is to give greater steadiness to the action
of the hammer, and check all excessive vibration consequent upon its action
on the string.
Having now fully described the nature of this my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I would have it clearly under-
stood that I do not by any means confine myself to the precise details herein-
before described, as the same might be varied without departing from the

page_text: general principle of my said improvements; but that which I do claim as new
and of my said Invention is,
Firstly, the construction and arrangement of the metallic rest plate for
pianofortes, in the manner and for the purposes herein-before set forth and
described:
Secondly, the employment, in conjunction with the said metallic rest plate,
of the clipper shoe plate, described, in place of the ordinary hitch pin block, for
purpose of giving additional strength and security to the wooden bracings,
and rendering them less liable to expansion and contraction from atmospheric
changes or similar causes..
the
And, thirdly, the improved regulating under lever furnished with the leather
button, regulating pin, pin rail, sticker rest, and sticker hinge joint, as shewn
in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Harrison, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.