IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOS AND OTHER KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Price, of Dover Street, Ryde, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOS AND OTHER KEYED MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS."
Sealed the 28th July 1868, and dated the 16th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Price at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th May 1868.
I, GEORGE PRICE, of Dover Street, Ryde, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOS AND OTHER KEYED
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in pianos and other
similar keyed musical instruments, and consists in applying imme-
diately under the keys one or more heated vessels of sufficient
dimensions for the purpose of warming the ivory surfaces of the keys
and of preventing that excessive coldness of the fingers and hands so
commonly complained of in winter, which makes the practice of the

page_text: piano painful and sometimes impossible, and prevents perfect execution
on it by professionals and others.
In pianos and similar keyed instruments already made the under part
in front may be slightly altered and the heated vessel may be put up
from below; but new instruments should be constructed so as to allow
the heated vessel to be put up from below or to be slipped in from the
front under an iron front pin carrier, and it may be concealed by a light
silk fringe or curtain. The key board and keys and the front cross
piece or frame should be perforated or cut to facilitate the passage of
the heat to and through the keys. The heated vessel shquld, so as to
retain the heat longer and distribute the heat where most required, be
covered with non-conducting material, except immediately under that
part of the keys touched by the fingers, which would lead the young
beginner to acquire the habit of striking the key in the most advantageous
part.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Price in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th November 1868..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
PRICE, of Dover Street, Ryde, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Price, Her special licence that I,
the said George Price, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George Price, 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 PIANOS AND OTHER
KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said George Price, my executors or administrators, by an instru-

page_text: thick-from-its.original thickness, as shown by the dotted lines; d, d, are
iron rests on which the nozzle ends of the warmers are placed; e, e, is a
pieco of wood 4 inches deepcandrone inch thick to receivei (underneath)
the catch, Figure 5, by which the warmers are kept in position.
Figure 3. shews the Patent warmers d, d, when in position under the
keys in a piano altered to receive them and kept there by f,f, (Figure 4).
Figure 4 represents the catch to be placed under e, e, (Figure 2) to
support one end of each warmer. Figure 5 represents the iron support
close to the sides of the piano, seen at 'd, d, Figure 2, to support the
nozzle ends of the warmers.
In Figure 6 a is one of the keys which may be hollowed at under the
ivory. is a section of the first pin rail perforated at d with holes onc
inch by two inches long at intervals of ½inch; e is a section of the extra
brace; is a section of the front frame of the piano reduced from the
dotted line; shows the nozzle end of the warmer supported by h, h.
In pianos already made there are generally one or more cross pieces
tenoned into the front part of the frame of the piano as at a, a, Figure 1,
which would prevent the warmers being placed under the keys. They
must be therefore partly removed, and for this purpose an extra brace
b, b, b, Figure 2, must be let into and screwed to the sides of the piano
from beneath, the cross pieces a, a, being let into and screwed to the
brace, their ends are then cut away so as to leave a clear space to receive
the two warmers (cach about 20 inches long, 5 inches wide, and 4 inches
deep), as at Figure 2. The space necessary to receive them must be
6 inches wide, and is obtained partly by reducing the thickness of the
front frame of the piano c, c, on which the lock is placed to about
2 inches. In new pianos provision is made for the reception of the
warmers by having no cross pieces, and by making the front part of the
frame c, c, about 2 inches wide. The balance pin rail will not be
disturbed by this alteration, nor will the front pin rail, but it should be
perforated between the two rows of pins with holes of about one inch by
2 inches throughout its length, leaving half an inch between cach
hole in order to permit the more free ascent of the heat to the keys. For
the same reason the white keys in
part of the ivory as at a, Figure 6.
in the middle by a piece of wood
marked e, e, Figure 2, on which is screwed the catch, Figure 4, to
support one end of each warmer. The end with the nozzle rests on a
new pianos may be hollowed under a
The two warmers must be separated
one inch thick and 4 inches deep

page_text: thin iron support, Figure 5, and seen at d, d, Figure 2. The water
should be boiling, and the leather or india-rubber or gutta percha
washers for the nozzles of the warmers be kept cleaned and greased.
The nozzle end being first put up in its place on the iron support d, d,
Figure 2, the other end is kept in its place by the catch dotted at f, f,
Figure 3. The inside part of the frame where the warmers are placed
may be lined with flannel, and the warmers be covered with it in order to
economize the heat and to allow the warmers to be more freely handled.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Price, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
GEORGE PRICE. (L.S.)