A MACHINE, INSTRUMENT, OR APPA- RATUS TO ASSIST IN THE ATTAINMENT OF PROPER PERFORMANCE ON THE PIANOFORTE, OR OTHER KEYED INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1820

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
HAWKER, of Long Parish House, near Andover, in the County of Hants,
Major in the Army, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the First day of November, in the first year of His reign, give and grant unto
the said Peter Hawker, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Peter Hawker, my
exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A MACHINE, INSTRUMENT, OR APPA-
RATUS TO ASSIST IN THE ATTAINMENT OF PROPER PERFORMANCE ON THE PIANOFORTE,
OR OTHER KEYED INSTRUMENTS;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso that if I, the said Peter Hawker, shall not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is 'to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of

page_text: Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted shall utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Peter Hawker, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):
The machine, instrument, or apparatus consists, in the first place, of a
supporting rod A, A, as shewn in Figure 1 of the annexed Drawing, which is
efixed before the keys of the musical instrument by means of two inverted
hooks or pins of metal a, a, which drop or slip into the holes b, b, b, in two
pieces which I call rests, placed above the two metal vices or screw clamps
B, B, which screw on to the front of the bottom board of the musical instru-
ment. The supporting rod A, A, may be formed of any wood or metal, and
may be either round or oval (as shewn in the Drawing); its strength need only
be sufficient to bear the weight of the hands upon it without bending, and it
must be made so smooth (particularly on its upper side) as to permit the
handmoulds herein-after described to slide freely and smoothly upon it without
any interruption. Its length is optional, but in general I make it rather less
than the entire length of the keys of the instrument to which it is to be
applied, as is shewn in the Drawing, all the Figures of which are one half the
size of the actual parts or pieces I make use of. The handmoulds are shewn
in their proper position for use in Figure 1, at C and D. They are formed of
wood, paper machée, metal, or the composition used by frame makers and
others for casting, ornament, or other suitable material, and are so carved
out or formed as. to fit pretty accurately to the under sides of the hands to
which they are to be applied by the strap and buckle, or clasp shewn at c, c,
in all the Figures (except Figure 6, and by means of which they are fixed to
the wrists of the person using them. Of course, several different sizes of hand-
moulds must be prepared suitable to the size of the hands of the performers,
and they not only require this variation in size, but others in shape likewise;
thus.for example, the right-hand and left-hand mould must not be parallel to
each other, but they must incline towards each other, or converge towards each
other, at the ends where the fingers are placed, as will be seen by inspecting
Figures 2 and 3, in such manner as to throw the hands, wrists, and arms into
a natural, easy, graceful, and effective position for performance. Figure 2

page_text: represents a left-hand and Figure 3 a right-hand handmould, but they are never-
theless not a pair, for the two moulds in each pair are of similar dimensions,
which is not the case in Figures 2 & 3; for Figure 2 is a handmould to
support and assist the hand in performing open passages, such as cords and
octaves, for example, in which the fingers. require to be extended, while
Figure 3 is a mould for close passages or those in which the notes follow each
other in succession; and it is moulds of this description which I recom-
mend for the use of those who are first beginning to learn the art of fingering,
while the open-hand moulds should be afterwards resorted to. In open-hand
moulds the right-hand mould therefore, equally wide or extended at the
finger end, as the example shewn at Figure 2, which shews a left-hand mould
of this description only, and the same observations apply to the close-hand
mould Figure 3, which is for the right hand, but the left-hand mould would
be equally narrow or contracted so as to prevent an undue spreading of the
fingers. The great and important use of the handmoulds is. not, however, so-
much to influence the position of the fingers as that of the hand and wrist
generally; for since one great desideratum in the operation of fingering a keyed
instrument gracefully and perfectly is to maintain a level or horizontal position.
with the hands, and to prevent the wrists from falling or sinking, so the hand-
mould itself, with the assistance of the supporting rod, effects the first of these
objects, while the continuation of the mould under the wrist of the performer
produces the second. With a view, however, to the more perfect accomplish-
ment of this last object, I not only form the handmoulds in the forms or shapes
herein-before described, but I occasionally leave or introduce a swell in the
wood or other material of which they may be formed immediately upon that part
on which the wrist would rest, as shewn at d, in Figures 1, 2, 4, and 5. This
swell for bearing up the wrist is, however, best seen at Figure 4, which is a
perspective section of Figure 2, or a view of it as it would appear if sawed in
two in the direction of the line e, f, in Figure 2. In Figure 4 the dotted
9, h, shews what would be the direction of the bottom of the handmould
if the swell d which is there shewn had not been formed.
line
Figure 5 shews a handmould for the left hand, as it would appear from the
front, or that part over which the fingers project when in use. In this
Figure, i shews the cavity for the rest, and the cavity for the thumb, while
the solid quantity of wood or other material 1, forms a slope for the other
fingers to recline upon so as to give the hand its due position. All the hand-
moulds, whether of the one or other description already noticed, are equipped
on the flat under sides with a small piece of hard wood or other material.
having a very smooth groove or channel formed on its under side, correspondent

page_text: -in form with the form of the upper part of the supporting rod A, A, whatever
it may be. By means of this piece, which is seen at v in Figures 1, 4, and 5,
and the situation of which is indicated by dotted lines at the same letter in
Figures 2 and 3, the handmoulds can be made to slide freely but truly
from one end to the other of the supporting rod A, A. To apply the appa-
ratus herein-before described to a pianaforte or other keyed instrument, one of
the vices or screw clamps B, Figure 1, is to be applied to the instrument near
.the bass or treble end of the keys; one end pin of the supporting rod A, A,
is then to be dropped into one of the holes of the rest of the vice as aforesaid,
and this will determine the situation of the other vice, which is to be screwed
at the opposite end of the keys, 'at such distance from the first vice as will
permit the other end pin of the supporting rod to correspond with the holes in
the rest. This done, the supporting rod must be made parallel to the front of
the keys, which will be effected by putting it into corresponding holes in the
rest of each clamp, while the holes to be so used 'must be regulated by the
length of the person's fingers using the apparatus, for several holes are made in
each rest in order to admit of placing the supporting rod nearer to or further
from the keys. This done, the height of the supporting rod must be regulated
in such manner that when the hand is applied in a handmould upon that rod,
and the bottom of the handmould is level, the thumb may just lie upon, or
come into contact with, the lower or natural keys of the instrument.
vertical adjustment is produced by two screws shewn at m, m, in
B, B, Figure 1, the rests b, b, forming the heads of such screws.
therefore, as the supporting rod A, A, is taken away the rests may be turned
round and set to any required height, when the rod is again restored to its
proper situation. The vices shewn at B, B, Figure 1, are of a form and
construction well adapted for applying the apparatus to a grand pianoforte, or
finger organ, as they are generally constructed, but from the much greater
thickness of the bottom boards of square pianofortes, and some other instru-
ments, another kind of vice must be resorted to. Accordingly, Figure 6
shews a view on a different construction, and such a one as may be applied
with advantage in such cases. In this vice the opening between n and o is
much greater than in the former example, and the fixing screw p is much
longer, by which it may be applied to a grand as well as a square pianoforte or
other instrument. The rest b, b, is similar as to its position and holes for
receiving the pins of the supporting rod to that before described, but instead of
regulating its elevation by a screw, as at m, in Figure 1, I apply a stem q
under the bottom of the rest, which slides upon two screws r, r, against the
side or back of the screw vice, and I keep or maintain it at its proper height
This last
the vices
So soon,

page_text: by a spring click S, acting into notches or ratchet teeth formed upon the
stem q, so that in this construction the rests may be set to their proper height
without removing the supporting rod, and with greater rapidity. This con-
struction of rest may also be applied to the smaller vices B, B, Figure 1. I
do not, however, think it necessary to describe all the means by which this,
my aforesaid apparatus, may be applied to the instrument to be performed on,
since its shape may require other or special modes of attachment, which I
consider as no part of the Invention, which I confine entirely to the supporting
rod and handmoulds fixed, formed, and used as aforesaid, for it is upon these
alone that the due position and motion of the hands and wrists will depend. To
use the aforesaid apparatus but few instructions will be necessary. The learner
in the first instance must have his or her hands fitted with a pair of hand-
moulds of proper size. If close moulds, as at Figure 3, the cheeks or
projections t, t, should just fit the widest part of the hand within the knuckles,
while on the contrary, if open moulds are to be used, the cheeks t, t, Figure 2,
must be so spread or opened as to permit the fingers and thumb to reach an
octave without restraint. The handmoulds in either case are to be buckled
or otherwise fixed round the wrists of the hands for which they are respec-
tively formed, and then (the supporting rod having been previously adjusted.
to its proper distance from and height with respect to the keys of the instru-
ment) the grooves in the sliders v of the handmoulds are to be applied on
the top of the supporting rod A, A, so as to conduct the fingers properly to
the keys. The entire weight of the hand and mould is in this way transferred
to the supporting rod, and the handmoulds are, on no account to be raised
from that rod, but must be kept constantly pressed down upon it, so as to
prevent the grove v from being disengaged from the supporting rod, upon
which it must only slide in a right or left hand direction, as may be necessary,
until the learner has acquired the habit of keeping the hands flat and at one
equal distance from the surface of the keys and always parallel to it, which is
the great object and use of the apparatus. The handmoulds may be covered
with leather, silk, velvet, or other materials, and they, as well as all the other
parts of the apparatus, may be variously decorated and ornamented, or may be
constructed with ornamental wood, metals, or other materials, all which, not
affecting the nature of my aforesaid Invention, I do not particularize.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Hawker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty.
PETER (L.S.) HAWKER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1820, the aforesaid Peter Hawker came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One