CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Pol, Piano Maker, of Paris (Empire of
France), and of 32, Essex Street, Strand, London, for the Invention
ofCERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Pol at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th June
1855.
I, LOUIS, POL, Piano Maker, of Paris (Empire of France), and of 32, Essex
Street, Strand, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOPORTES " to be as follows:-
.It consists in facilitating the tuning of pianofortes, so that a person not con-
versant with music may perform this operation. A metallic board, having as
many, set screws as there are strings in the piano, is fixed above the bar in
which the pegs are fixed. These pegs are in two parts; one stationary, and has
the string wound round it in a groove covered with cloth or leather; the other
is screwed into the metallic board and presses the stationary part, thus acting
upon the string & facilitating the tuning operation. The metallic board,
which may extend along the whole, division of strings, may also be divided into
sets, corresponding to one or several notes. The sounding-board, which I con-
struct of split wood, is independent both of the-peg bar-and the bar for the

page_text: points, thus preventing its being acted upon by the extension of the strings.
For the harmony through the unisons; by means of the application of an octave
of reed pipes or blades that imitate the sound of the string, by means of a
seperate sliding sound-board giving the harmony:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Pol in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS POL,
Piano Maker, of Paris, Empire of France, and of 32, Essex Street, Strand,
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Louis Pol, Her, special licence that I, the said Louis .Pol, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Louis Pol, 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 Íslands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Louis Pol, by an instru-
ment 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 Louis Pol, 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:-
The chief object of this Invention' is, first, facilitating the tuning of piano-
fortes in such a manner that any person non-conversant with music: may
perform this operation either with instruments constructed according to my
improved system, or such to which the necessary improvements. may have
been added. ...
53
..

page_text: Second, constructing with split wood the sounding-board, which is inde-
pendant both of the peg bar and of the bar for the points, thus preventing it
being acted upon by the extension of the strings.
I obtain this result, viz., facilitating the tuning, by means of a metallic
board, which is fixed above the peg bars, and receives as many set screws-as
there are strings in the piano. These screws are divided in two parts one of
which remains stationary, when the other is acted upon and wound. round in
the bar in which the pegs are fixed. The stationary part is provided with a
groove, clothed with leather-or cloth at that end which rests on the strings,
and at the opposite end is joined to the other part in such a manner as to 'act
upon it, when the screw is wound round in either sense, which causes the
string that is in contact with it, and on which the end joined to the screw
Fests, to be stretched or loosened. This first part of the Invention consists in
using a metallic board with as many grooves as there are strings in the piano;
said board being fixed above the peg bar. The metallic board, which may
extend along the whole division of strings, may also be divided into sets corre-
sponding to one or several notes. The sounding-board is constructed with
split wood, and is independant of both the peg bar and the bar for the points;
thus it is prevented being acted upon by the extension of the strings. These
arrangements may be applied to pianofortes of every description..
The annexed Drawings show the application of this improved system to an
upright pianoforte with semi-oblique strings.
Fig. 1 is a front view of that side on which the strings are fixed; Fig. 2 is
a top view of the same from that side of the piano where there is but one
string; Fig. 3 is likewise a top view of the same, but from that side of the
piano where there are three strings.
The board a is supported on a sufficient number of iron bars 6, which are
arranged longitudinally; it receives the pegs c, serving to stretch the strings d,
and to tune the instrument. The pegs c may be arranged either as shown at
Figs. 1 & 3 or as at Fig. 2; said pegs serving to stretch the strings d, and
working the more easily, as they are in contact with the brass pillow blocks e
on the metallic board a. The metallic board f is carried from place to place
by means of the bearings g, and receives in fit holes the screws h, ending
externally in a square piece to be worked by the spanner. On the opposite
side, or opposite the strings, each screw bears a piece i, shown separately at
Fig. 4, split, and clothed with leather or any suitable material for the string
to rest on. Each screw h is connected to each piece i by a cylindrical rod,
thus allowing the screw to be wound without the said piece i; by this means
the string may be stretched and easily brought to the desired tone.

page_text: '
By such an arrangement a pianoforte may be tuned through the unisons as
well as by any other means actually, used, viz.:. by fifths or fourths. For, the
harmony through the unisons, an octave of reed pipes or blades may be applied
that imitate the sound of the strings by means of a separate sliding sound-
board giving the.harmony... Finally, it will be easily understood, that, the
standard tones may be as well obtained by any other arrangement inside.or
outside the instrument, and even in many occasions a correct ear would
suffice.
Having, thus described the principle of this Invention; and the manner in
which it is or may be carried into effect, I wish it to be distinctly understood
that what I claim as novel, and being secured to me by the herein-before. in
parts.recited Letters Patent, is,
First, the use of a board having as many set screws as there are strings in
the piano, so that the player himself may tune his instrument, as players on
violin, harp, &, generally do.
Second, the use of a sounding-board constructed with. split wood, inde-
pendant both of the peg, bar and the. bar for the points, thus preventing it
being acted upon by the extension of the strings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Pol, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this 12th day of December, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five.
LOUIS POL. (L.S.)