CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES, AND IN THE MODE OF STRINGING THE SAME
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
STEWART, late of Store Street; but now of George Street, in the Parish of
Saint Pancras and County of Middlesex, Pianoforte Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-seven, in the eighth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Jaines Stewart, His
especial licence, full power, sole privilego and authority, that I, the said
James Stewart, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Stewart, my exors, admors, 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 the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES, AND IN THE MODE OF STRINGING THE
SAME;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a provisoe obliging me, the
said James Stewart, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, 'and
in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to-be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Stewart, do hereby declare that my said new-invented improvements
are as follows:
First, in the mode of applying the damper to that description of piano-
fortes commonly called double-action square pianofortes, which I effect in the
following manner, viz*:-Instead of passing down the wire of the damper next
to the strings intended to be damped by such damper, as is now the practice,
I pass it down next to the strings, which produce two semitones or a whole
tone higher. For example: The wire of the damper, which to stop the
vibration of the strings which produce the lowest F in the bass, I pass down
in the space between the strings which produce G and G-sharp, and I make
the head of the damper, see Drawing at A, long enough to reach over the
intermediate strings and rest upon those of F. This first stop in the bass being
taken the rest of the damper wires must of course range between each suc-
ceeding note, so that on arriving at the point where the dampers ceased to be
applied, the last damper wire will be situated two notes beyond the last string
"intended to be damped, in the same manner as described for the first note Fin
the bass. But as this mode of placing the damper wires, and which carries
them further in towards the back of the instrument than those applied in the cus-
tomary way, will not allow of the damper socket being continued farther towards

page_text: damper levers must be lengthened, and the case made wider from back to
front in proportion as the damper levers and wires are made to recede from
the hammer heads (see Drawing at E). Though this improvement is
applicable to square pianofortes, with short sound boards resting on what
is commonly called the belly rail, and whose mechanism is consequently
divided into two parts, the treble division only of which is placed under the
sound board, yet its advantages are more conveniently obtained in square
pianofortes, whose sound boards are prolonged through the instrument without
the introduction of a belly rail, and the mechanism of which is included in one
frame, which is secured to the case in the manner of that of a horizontal
grand pianoforte by screws passing up through the bottom of the instrument,
for as by my mode of introducing the check the keys cannot be taken off the
frame without first removing the hammer rails, it will be found most con-
venient to be enabled to draw the whole mechanism out at once. The back
touch, or that resistance which is necessary to be given to the keys to prevent
their rising higher after the hammer has quitted the strings, is easily affected
by coating the under side of the under hammer rail (see Drawing at F) with
cloth or leather.
My next improvement is in the mode of raising all the dampers off the
strings at once, so as to prevent the very sensible alteration in the weight of
the touch caused by the common way of effecting this object. Instead of
raising the damper levers at the outward ends as is commonly done, I raise the
beam (see Drawings at I), to which the damper levers are attached from
behind, leaving the outer ends of the levers (see Drawing K) still resting on
the ends of the keys, so that the weight of the touch is altered so little when
the dampers are raised as scarcely to be perceptible from the weight of the
touch when the dampers are performing their office. This is effected by
having two projecting pieces of wood, see Drawing at G, fixed to the bass and
treble end of the beam of the damper lifter, corresponding with the length of
the first and last damper lever, which two pieces of wood projecting from the
lever beam move on pivots (see Drawing at H) parallel with the first and last
lever fixed in a bracket at the treble and to the side of the case at the bass.
To prevent the damper from rising higher than is necessary, a rail guarded
with cloth is placed over the front ends of the damper lever, and fixed at the
treble on the bracket above mentioned, and in the bass to the end of the case.
This improvement is applicable to horizontal grand pianofortes, which have
their dampers attached to damper levers in the manner of those above alluded
to as employed in square pianofortes.
My last improvement is in a particular mode of putting strings on piano-
fortes without twisted loops or nooses for attaching them to the hitch pins.