IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES
Year: 1858

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Vincent Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th August 1858.-A communication.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements upon a Patent obtained on behalf
of the present Inventor, and bearing date the 1st day of November 1855.
The Specification of that Patent described, among other matters, a mode of
giving increased resonance to pianofortes by the use of a double sound-board,
the second or additional sound-board taking the place of the stiff planking
which formed the bottom or the back of the pianoforte case, and being
attached to the wooden side pieces of a skeleton metallic frame detachable from
the case, and carrying the wrest plank and the hitch plate, and consequently
taking the pull of the strings.
Now, the objects of the present improvements are to leave the sound
chamber (the space between the sound-board and the thin vibratory bottom
board), as described in the said Specification, more free from obstructions, and
still further to improve the tone, and simplify and cheapen the construction of
the instruments, and to materially reduce their weight. These results are
attained by dispensing with the main and heavier parts of the wood framing,
and bringing the framework and bracings which sustain the pull of the strings,

page_text: and which are to be made in a compact and efficient form as near to the strings
as is practicable. This sustaining power consists of metallic framing placed
either wholly on one side or the other of the sound-board, or partly on one
side and partly on the other, according to the kind of instrument to which it
is to be applied, or the taste or judgment of the maker; and still further, by
securing the thin vibratory board, which forms one side of the sound chamber,
and the only back or bottom of the instrument directly to the outer case of
the instrument, giving it a slightly outward convex form to increase its
reverberating power. In order to give it a secure fastening, the bottom board
of the sound chamber may be attached to strips of wood glued in the inner
side of the case, or to a light inside wood frame, as may be required by the
kind of instrument. When this board is applied to grand or semi-grand piano-
fortes, it is preferable to extend it forward only to the lyre. In squares,
uprights, and cabinets, and those of like form, it should extend over the whole
of the underneath or back surface of the instrument, to get as great a re-
verberating surface as possible. The sound-board (proper) is to be attached
directly to the inner sides of the case where the formation of the instrument
will admit of it, or partly to them, and partly to light iron or wood frames,
plates, or strips, where the complete attachment to the case is not admissible.
The sound board is connected to the under or back vibrating board by one,
two, or more sound posts, to ensure sympathetic action.
improvements, when combined, constitute a structure more nearly resembling
the body of a violin or violincello than has hitherto been attained in the piano-
forte, producing that full round tone, at once pure and sympathetic, which has
heretofore been peculiar to instruments of the viol kind.
These several
It will be understood, that this mode of applying a reverberating board as
an under or back sound-board has reference to pianofortes of all kinds, whether
constructed of metallic or other framing; but for ensuring purity of tone and
sustaining power, it is desirable to keep the sound chamber as free from
incumbrances as possible.