CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOUNDING BOARDS FOR PIANOFORTES AND OTHER LIKE STRINGED INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Alfred Waddington, of 44, Stonegate, City
of York, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Pianoforte Maker, for the
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOUNDING
BOARDS FOR PIANOFORTES AND OTHER LIKE STRINGED INSTRUMENTS."
Sealed the 13th October 1854, and dated the 1st May 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Alfred Wad-
dington at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition,
on the 1st May 1854.
I, WILLIAM ALFRED WADDINGTON, of 44, Stonegate, York, in the West
Riding of Yorkshire, Pianoforte Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOUNDING
BOARDS FOR PIANOFORTES AND OTHER LIKE STRINGED INSTRUMENTS" to be as follows,'
that is to say:-
My Invention has simply for its object a different arrangement of the ribs
for strengthening. the sounding board, which ribs are placed according to my
Invention on the front of. the sounding board instead of placing them at the.
back thereof, whereby I obtain increased strength and resistance to the tension
of the strings.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Alfred Waddington in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ALFRED WADDINGTON, of Stonegate, York, in the North Riding of Yorkshire,
Pianoforte Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First 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
William Alfred Waddington, Her special licence that I, the said William
Alfred Waddington, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Alfred Waddington, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOUNDING BOARDS
FOR PIANOFORTES AND OTHER LIKE STRINGED INSTRUMENTS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Alfred Waddington, by an in-
strument 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 William Alfred Waddington, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-
My Invention has simply for its object a different arrangement of the ribs
for strengthening the sounding board, which ribs are placed according to my
Invention on the front of the sounding board instead of placing them at the
back thereof, whereby I obtain increased strength and resistance to the tension
of the strings.
In order that my Invention may be more fully understood, I will proceed
to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed, on which similar letters denote
corresponding parts.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents the front elevation of a sounding board for an upright
pianoforte constructed according to my Invention. a, a, is the sounding board;
b, b, the ribs or strengthening bars; and c, the strings. It will therefore be
seen, by an inspection of the Drawing, that instead of placing the ribs or bars
b, b, on the back or posterior side of the sounding board, as heretofore, I glue
or otherwise attach them to the front or anterior side of such sounding board
immediately behind the strings, whereby greater resistance to the tension of
the strings is obtained.
In Figure 2, which represents a plan of a sounding board for a horizontal-
or grand pianoforte, it will be observed that the ribs are on the top side of
such board immediately below the strings, instead of the under side, as
heretofore.
I would also observe that I do not confine myself to the manner or direction
in which such ribs are placed, as they may be either in parallel or converging
lines; but that which I do claim as of my Invention is, the placing such ribs
or strengthening bars on the anterior side of sounding boards for pianofortes
and other like stringed instruments, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Alfred Waddington, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
WILLIAM ALFRED WADDINGTON. (L.S.)