IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Priestley, of Cleveland Street, Fitzroy
Square, in the County of Middlesex, Pianoforte Manufacturer, for the
Invention of 16 Tunn
TW DYWA
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Priestley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th April 1856.
I, FREDERICK PRIESTLEY, of Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square, in the County
of Middlesex, Pianoforte Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference, firstly, to what is commonly known as the
action of a pianoforte, and consists in making it with a rocking lever or butt.
to each key, such rocking lever or butt being constructed with a hammer shank
and hammer, and also with or without a damper, and being so shaped, and the
back end of the key being also so shaped, that the pressure of the finger on the
key will cause the hammer not only to strike the string but also to recoil
therefrom, and afterwards to remain at any required distance from but near to
the string, so that on releasing the finger and again quickly pressing the key,.
even though it may have risen to a very small extent, the hammer will again
distinctly and clearly strike the string and repeat the note.

page_text: My Invention consists, secondly, in a modification of the improvement firstly
set forth, by the intervention of a block or sticker between the back end of the
key and the rocking lever or butt; in such case the top end of the block or
sticker, instead of the back end of the key itself, being so shaped as to act
the rocking lever or butt.-
upon
My Invention consists, thirdly, in constructing pianoforte action, either as
firstly or secondly set forth, with a spring, serving not only to cause or assist
in causing the back motion of the hammer, but also to keep the rocking lever
and key, or the rocking lever and the block or sticker, constantly in contact
with each other.
The accompanying illustrative Drawing represents the manner of performing
the foregoing parts of my Invention.
Figures 1 and 2 are side views (in different positions) of the mechanism or
apparatus appertaining to a single key or note; and Figures 3 and 4 are.
similar but full sized views of the butt and of the back end of the key.
a is the key mounted in the ordinary manner on a fulcrum at c; d is an
ordinary hammer mounted on the rocking lever or butt e; g is a frame form-
ing the fulcrum of the butt; h is the spring for keeping the key and rocking
lever in contact, intended by my third improvement; i, i, are balance weights;
m is a damper, which may be fixed either upon the butt, as shewn, or in any
other convenient manner. The Figures 1 and 3 shew the position of the
several parts when the key is at rest; the Figures 2 and 4 shew the position
of the several parts when the key is pressed upon. When a block or sticker
is used between the key a and the butt e, in accordance with my second
improvement, the key may be jointed or connected in any convenient manner
to the lower end of the block or sticker, instead of being shaped as shewn, but
the top end of the block or sticker is to be made to the shape required, to
produce the desired action upon the butt, and in such case the spring h,
referred to in my third improvement, must be modified accordingly.
Fourthly, my Invention has reference to the mode of fixing and constructing
the belly or sounding board of a pianoforte, and consists in supporting the
belly and belly bridge, either entirely or partially by or from the strings, by
means of the bridge pins, and also constructing a belly so supported with the
belly bridge disposed at or upon or so as to form its bottom edge. This part
Invention is sufficiently obvious without detailed illustration.
of
my

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Priestley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
PRIESTLEY, late of Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square, but now of Berners
Street, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, Pianoforte Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Frederick Priestley, Her spécial licence that I, the said Frederick Priestley, my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick
Priestley, 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 PIANOFORTES,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Priestley,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Frederick Priestley, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention has reference, firstly, to what is commouly known as the
action of a pianoforte, and consists in making it with a rocking lever or butt
to each key, such rocking lever or butt being constructed with a hammer
shank and hammer, and also with or without a damper, and being so shaped,
and the back end of the key being also so shaped, that the pressure of the
finger on the key will cause the hammer not only to strike the string, but also
to recoil therefrom, and afterwards to remain at any required distance from
but near to the string, so that on releasing the finger and again quickly
pressing the key, even though it may have risen to a very small extent, the

page_text: hammer will again distinctly and clearly strike the string and repeat the
note.
My Invention consists, secondly, in a modification of the improvement firstly
set forth, by the intervention of a block or sticker between the back end of the
key and the rocking lever or butt; in such case the top end of the block or
sticker, instead of the back end of the key itself, being so shaped as to act
upon the rocking lever or butt.
.
My Invention consists, thirdly, in constructing pianoforte action, either.as
firstly or secondly set forth, with a spring, serving not only to cause or assist
in causing the back motion of the hammer, but also to keep the rocking lever
and key, or the rocking lever and the block or sticker, constantly in contact
with each other.
Fourthly, my Invention has reference to the mode of fixing and constructing
the belly or sounding board of a pianoforte, and consists in supporting the belly
and belly bridge, either entirely or partially by or from the strings, by means of
the bridge pins, and also constructing a belly so supported with the belly
bridge disposed at or upon or so as to form its bottom edge.
And now having set forth the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed
to describe the manner in which. the several parts of which it consists are to be
and may be performed, reference being had to the accompanying illustrative
Drawing, and to the figures and letters marked thereon.
The Figure 1 is an illustration of a pianoforte action constructed in accordance
with my first improvement, being a side view of the mechanism or apparatus
appertaining to a single key or note, drawn the full size, and intended for a
piccolo pianoforte, the full lines shewing the position of the several members or
parts of the apparatus when at rest or not in use, and the dotted lines shewing
the position they assume when the key is firmly pressed upon and held down.
a is the key, mounted in the ordinary manner on a fulcrum at c; d is an
ordinary hammer supported by an ordinary hammer shank d*, which is
mounted on the rocking lever or butt e; g is a double frame composed of two
plates fixed to the hammer rail, and forming the fulcrum of the butt, or more
properly, of several butts, being made in sufficient length for mounting or
holding a number of them; i, i, are ordinary balance weights in the key; m is
a damper, which may be fixed either upon the butt, as shewn, or not upon the
butt, in which case, if desired, it may be adapted to the instrument in any
other convenient manner; n is a padded bar, represented only in section,
but extending along the whole length of the instrument, to form a rest or
support for all the hammer shanks to fall back upon; o is the string to be
struck or sounded,

page_text: The Figures 2, 3, and 4 are illustrations of pianoforte action constructed
in accordance with my second improvement, Figures 2 and 3 being full-sized
views, and Figure 4 a half full-sized view, similar to the Figure 1, but repre-
senting the adaptation of the Invention to a cottage pianoforte, to a grand, or
square, or other horizontal pianoforte, and to an upright pianoforte respectively..
Similar letters are employed to indicate the parts corresponding with those
described in Figure 1. In these cases it is to be noted that a block p or a
sticker p* intervenes between the back end of the key and the rocking lever
or butt e, and that the upper end of the block or sticker is shaped so as to
act upon the butt, instead of the extremity of the back end of the key being
shaped or adapted for that purpose, as in the piccolo pianoforte; 9 is a screw,.
by means of which an adjustment is afforded, as regards the height of the
acting end of the block above the key, and consequently as regards the action
itself upon the butt. This means of adjustment, however, may either be pro-
vided or not provided, as may be preferred. In upright pianofortes the
sticker p* may be of any convenient length, in accordance with the height of
the instrument; an ordinary guide with cloth socket, as shewn at v in the
Figure 4, or other suitable guide, being provided for its upper end, so as to
maintain it in a correct position. The Figure 3 also varies from Figure 1 in
respect of the arrangement for damping. That ordinarily in use for grand
or horizontal pianos is represented, and will be readily comprehended (by
persons conversant with the subject,) without detailed description. The fore-
going Figures 1, 2, and 4, further illustrate the use of a spring, as intended
by my third improvement to be employed in combination with my first and
second improvements; 8, in these Figures, represents the description of spring
which I prefer to use, consisting of a plain piece of wire with a single coil
only, one end being fixed to the key or sticker, or to a peg or piece of wood
projecting from the key, and the other end pressing on a small pin passing
through the heel of the butt, which has a slit or opening to receive the spring,
as shewn in the end or edge view of a butt, represented at Figure *. In the
Figure 2, the dotted lines t represent another description of spring which may
be substituted for the spring s. In the instance of a grand or horizontal
pianoforte, the use of a spring is not so necessary, and therefore no spring is
represented in the Figure 3, but a spring may be employed if preferred.
The action or motion of the several parts in all the cases illustrated in the
Drawing, is delineated in dotted lines, as before particularly mentioned in
respect of the Figure 1. On the key being pressed upon by the finger, the
part or point 1 of the inclined acting surface of the key, or block, or sticker
strikes the corresponding part or point of the inclined acting surface of the

page_text: butt, and the effect of the impulse or blow so given is to cause the butt to
rock or turn on its axis or fulcrum on the frame g, and consequently to send
the hammer forward against and to strike the string, and for the moment to
overpower the effect of the springs or t. The hammer, however, immediately
recoils from the string by reason of the elasticity of the spring and of the string
and hammer covering, or if not from these causes, it is brought back by the
part or point 2 of the inclined acting surface of the key, or block, or sticker
striking the corresponding part or point of the inclined acting surface of the
butt. The effect of a continued pressure on the key is to bring the full length
of these two acting surfaces respectively into contact, and to hold the hammer
in the position shewn by the dotted lines nearly close up to but not quito
touching the string. The spring also immediately after the blow performs its
office of keeping the acting parts in contact, so that on the release of the key,
and again quickly pressing it, even though it may have risen to only a very
small extent, the acting point I will give à fresh impulse to the butt and
hammer, which having to travel only a small distance before again striking
the string, a rapid but distinct and clear repetition of the note is effected. To
prevent noise or jarring, and to ensure a smooth and proper motion, I cover
the acting surface of the key, or block, or sticker, with a piece of box cloth, as
represented in the Drawing, and I likewise black lead the acting surface of the
butt. And I would here remark, that I effect the soft pedal action in my
improved pianofortes in the same manner as heretofore; and also, that I
effect the loud pedal action in the same manner as heretofore in the case of
grand, square, or other horizontal pianofortes; but in the case of instruments
other than of horizontal construction, I throw off the dampers, not by drawing
back a damper rail, as is ordinarily the case, but by drawing back the hammer
rail or frame on which the butts e are mounted; and as the butts carry the
dampers as well as the hammers, it is evident that the movement of the
hammer rail will effect the loud pedal action required. But it should be
noted that in those instruments in which stickers are employed, that the
upper ends of the stickers should be also drawn back, or moved along with the
hammer rail, and that in those instruments in which stickers are not employed
(other than of horizontal construction), it is necessary to shift or move the
entire pianoforte action along with the hammer rail, which supports or carries
the butts as above described.
The Figure 5 is a front elevation, and the Figure 6 a transverse section
(taken at Z, Z, in Figure 6,) both drawn to a scale of one-eighth of the actual
dimensions, of a belly or sounding board of a pianoforte fixed and constructed in
accordance with my fourth improvement, a piccolo instrument being selected

page_text: for the illustration.
In these Figures, A is the wrest plank, constructed in the
ordinary manner of several sorts of wood; B, B, ordinary posts or bracings;
and C and D, the ordinary bottom block and angle plate; E is also an
ordinary "bent side;" F, the improved belly or sounding board, which, in the
particular instance represented, is fixed to the wrest plank and to the bent.
side, as heretofore; but its two other edges are perfectly free, and have no
connection with the bracings or framing, excepting by means of the strings o, o,.
a few only of which are shewn, in order to render the arrangement the more.
distinctly to be understood; F* is a fillet or strengthening rib on the front
side of and at one edge of the belly. The positions and opposite inclinations of
the several pairs of bridge pins on the belly bridge II (which is precisely the
same as heretofore, excepting that the belly bridge itself is disposed at or
upon, and so as to form the bottom edge of the belly in accordance with my
improvement,) make them to clip or hold on to the strings. A portion of the
case of the instrument is represented at I, on the left hand or bass side of the
Figure 5, in order to shew that the belly also hangs free from the case, a clear
space existing between them.
The foregoing is an illustration of the improvement when the belly or
sounding board is suspended only partially by the strings, but when it is
supported entirely by the strings; it must not be fixed either to the wrest plank,
nor to the bent side, nor to any portion of the framing or case; in other
respects the construction is the same as reprepresented in the Figures 5 and 6,
neither wrest plank, bridge, nor the belly bridge, being altered in position. The
belly is therefore supported by the clip or hold upon the strings taken by the
bridge pins on the belly bridge, that is to say, either entirely by the support
thus afforded, or by the addition of a small short bridge or block at or near
the top edge of the belly, with pins to clip one or more strings situate on the
left or bass side of the instrument, and not employed for the purposes of the
instrument otherwise than for affording such additional support; or such
additional support may be afforded in any other convenient position that may
be preferred. And when the belly is entirely supported by the strings, instead
of partially by the strings and partially by the framing or other parts of the
instrument, I prefer to make it, not as represented, but without the left-hand
or bass top corner, as is frequently done in instruments of ordinary con-
struction. And I would remark, that other descriptions of pianoforte than the
piccolo instrument, selected for illustration, may also have their sounding
boards supported in a similar manner, either partially or entirely. 'The
Figure 7, which is drawn to a scale of one-eighth of the full size, is an illus-
tration of the small dimensions or compass within which, by shortening the

page_text: bass strings (and making them heavier in compensation for their shorter
length), and by the use of my improvements, as above set. forth and described,
I am enabled to manufacture piccolo pianofortes. But I would remark, that
in using such short strings for the bass notes, it is desirable to strike them
slightly above the general range or striking line of the hammers throughout
the instrument, which object I effect by increasing the length of the hammer
shanks of the last few hammers (say twelve in number, or thereabouts,) as
shewn in dotted lines in the Figure 5.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Priestley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
FREDERICK PRIESTLEY (L.S.)