SEVERAL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS CALLED & PIANOFORTE, BY WHICH IMPROVEMENTS THE TONES OF SUCH INSTRUMENTS ARE RENDERED MORE DISTINCT AND PERFECT, AND THE PLAYERS PLAYING ON SUCH INSTRUMENTS HAVE A POWER TO PRODUCE THE GRADATION OF TONES FROM PIANO TO FORTE WITH GREATER EFFECT THAN THEY WERE ABLE AT THE THEN PRESENT TO
Year: 1794

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SOUTHWELL, late of Great Marlborough Street, in the City of Dublin, in the
Kingdom of Ireland, but now of Lad Lane, London, Musical Instrument
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of October, in the thirty-fourth
year of His reign, gave and grant unto me, the said William Southwell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, His said Majesty's special license, full
power, sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said William Southwell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and
themselves, or by my and their deputy and deputies, servants or agents, or
such others as I, the said William Southwell, my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term of fourteen years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend my Invention of
"SEVERAL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
CALLED & PIANOFORTE, BY WHICH IMPROVEMENTS THE TONES OF SUCH INSTRUMENTS
ARE RENDERED MORE DISTINCT AND PERFECT, AND THE PLAYERS PLAYING ON SUCH
INSTRUMENTS HAVE A POWER TO PRODUCE THE GRADATION OF TONES FROM PIANO TO
FORTE WITH GREATER EFFECT THAN THEY WERE ABLE AT THE THEN PRESENT TO

page_text: PRODUCE THE SAME, AND AN ADDITIONAL NUMBER OF KEYS MIGHT BE PUT TO SUCH
INSTRUMENTS IN A NEW MANNER, UPON A BETTER CONSTRUCTION THAN SUCH KEYS
COULD BE PUT TO PIANOFORTES AT THE THEN PRESENT," within that part of the
Kingdom of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said William
Southwell, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or any of them, should, in
my or their descretions, secin meet; in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a provisoe that if T, the said William Southwell, should not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
scal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's Iligh Court of
Chancery within one calendar month next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all libertys
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine,
and become void, aud thing therein-before contained to the contrary thereof
in anywise notwithstanding, as in and by the said Letters Patent, reference
being thereto lind, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said provisoe and Letters
Patent, I, the said William Southwell, do hereby declare that the nature of
the said Invention, and the manuer in which the same is to be performed, is
particularly described and ascertained as follows (that is to say):-
It consists first of a new mode of using the dampers in pinnofortes, which
new mode is as follows:-A small wire marked A in the Drawing hiercon
written, of the length of three inches, a little more or less, is at its bottom
screwed in a button of wood or other material marked B in the same Drawing,
about half an inch high, little more or less, which button of wood is at its
bottom glewed or otherwise fastened to a thin piece of leather or other
material, and which leather or other material is at its bottom glewed to the
key marked C of the said instrument, near the hammer end of such key.
The damper, which is made of wood or other material, and lined with cloath
or other material (but which damper in itself is not new, and the mode of
using which only is new), is fixed to the upper part of the wire A. This
wire A passes between the strings to each separato note, and acts in a slip of
wood or socket marked D, which is fastened to the edges of the back block,
which slip of wood or socket has a round hole covered with leather (or other
material) for the said wire to act in, so that the damper is raised by the act of
playing, and the vibration is stopped by the damper falling down on the strings
by the weight of the key.
The Invention consists, secondly, in a new manner of putting additional

page_text: keys to the treble of the instruments, and upon a better construction than here-
tofore used. The additional keys, at that part of them where they are touched
and played upon by the finger of the performer, stand in the same line with the
other keys, but they act in another compartment of the instrument under the
sounding board at E, and occasion a new order of strings at F, of hammers
at G, of keys at H, and of pinblock at I. These keys are divided from the
other keys towards and at the end thereof by a partition under the sounding
board K they pass under. The hole L is made in the sounding board for the
purpose of the hammers which strike the strings there freely playing up and
down; and the bridge M, over which all the strings of the said instrument
passes, is so constructed as to carry both orders of strings, and the pinblock
for such additional strings is cut out of the back of the instrument, for the
purpose of not encroaching on the sounding board.
The nature of this Invention and of these several improvements, and in
what manner the same are to be performed, are further particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings or Figures contained on this piece of
parchment, and the explanation and references above mentioned which refer
to the Drawings or Figures. Letter A, the wire above mentioned; B, the
button or piece of wood; C, the key; D, the slip of wood or socket which is
fastened to the pinblock; E, sounding board; F, new order of strings; G,
hammers; H, keys; I, pinblock; K, sounding board; L, hole; M, the
bridge. The whole appearance of the instrument is drawn in a large
Figure N.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Southwell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Third day of November, in the year of our
W SOUTHWELL. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Third day of November,
in the year above written, the aforesaid William Southwell came before our
O Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Seventh day of November, in the year above written.