Improvements in Pianoforte Actions.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Jan., 1896-Accepted, 14th Mar., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
. Improvements in Pianoforte Actions.
I GEORGE DANIEL ROSE of 45 Horseferry Road Westminster London
Pianoforte Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to the construction of the actions of pianofortes and to the
formation mode of connection and assemblage of some of the details thereof and
it consists as a requirement of the first part of the combination in the formation
of the hammers at the part where they are pivoted and the parts to which they are
pivoted so that while separately or independently pivoted the hammers may be
carried on a continuous pivot wire or wire which is continuous for a number of
hammers. The parts to which the hammers are pivoted are made in the form of
double racks or combs fixed to the bearer and made to clip or clamp the said pivot
wire by fixing and adjusting screws. By these means in combination with the
parts hereafter described I secure greater steadiness in the hammer and greater
certainty and accuracy of direction and incidence of the blow given by it. My
invention also secures greater durability and less liability to disarrangement than
can be obtained with the present usual methods of hammer articulation support
and operation as employed with the actions generally used.
Secondly my invention consists in the use in combination with the foregoing of
adjusting screws fitting in the said racks or combs for regulating the rise of the
repetition lever instead of the devices usually used for this purpose, the said
adjusting screws passing through the before mentioned pivoting racks or combs
and having their upper ends formed to be moved by a turn key.
Thirdly according to my invention and to complete the combination and secure
the above mentioned advantages I attach to the underside of the hammer butt a
tongue which is suitably clothed with a soft material adapted to the purpose and so
formed as to receive the free end of a sticker and hold it in the correct position
under the notch or cushion upon which it operates. This tongue is of a lesser
width than the hammer butt and passes through a slot in the repetition lever the
same slot admitting the upper end of the sticker. By these means I ensure a
greater certainty of action less frequent necessity for recentering or regulating
this part of the action and less liability to disarrangement than heretofore.
The combination of parts comprising my invention is shewn in the drawing
hereunto attached.
In this drawing A is the butt of the hammer b having a shaft C and head r.
B is a section of the bearer to which is fastened the double metal racks or combs
seen on edge at D and holding between them by each tooth of the combs the
pivotting wire e. The end of the butt pivotted at e is of the full width of the
greatest available space for the spaces in the metal combs between the teeth.
At g is a pad limiting the descent of the shaft C.
Between the bearer B and the spaces in the racks or combs D are inserted in
screwed holes in the said combs the adjusting screws one to each repetition
lever j. By the adjustment of this screw the height to which the end of the
repetition lever can rise is adjusted, the end of the said lever being covered with
soft material. Attached to the underside of the hammer butt is the before-
mentioned tongue which passes into the slot in the repetition lever and is faced
as shewn at h with soft material. The end of the slot is also faced with soft
material as shewn at w'. Pivotted at u is the sticker k the upper end of which
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also passes through the slot in the repetition lever where it comes into contact
with the cushion a under the hammer butt. When the action lever i is pushed
upward at E by the upward movement of the key d through the medium of the
adjusting screw the horizontal arm t of the sticker comes into contact with the
adjustment screw or set off button when the hammer 6 having made its stroke
the sticker is forced to leave the cushion at a and take a place between it and the
cushion at w¹ the top end of the sticker being then beneath but not in contact with
a piece of felt on the underside of the hammer butt. The action lever i is
pivotted at o in the piece p fixed to the bearer n. The repetition lever j pivotted
at is caused always to have an upward tendency at the end wo by means of a
spring which may be like the wire spring shown adjustable by the screw y or may
be a spiral spring placed below the letter j. The range of the upward movement
at the end w is adjusted by means of the screw z on the lower end of which is a
pad or head which normally rests on a piece of soft material on the lever i. Too
great a range of movement of this lever is prevented by the wire the end of which
is turned over as seen at S¹. A wire at S limits the movement of the sticker k
under the influence of the spring S³ pivotted at m when the hammer is removed
from the action. When the action lever i is thrown up forcibly by the key d the
motion is communicated to the hammer b through the medium of the sticker k
which escapes from the pad a upon the arrival of the arm at the button f and
recoils at high velocity and the end of the key being still up the check s catches
the tail of the head r and frictionally holds and prevents it from vibrating until
the pressure on the note is decreased after which the repetition lever j and its
connected parts come into play independently of the check s.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that I am
aware that it is not new to construct pianoforte actions with levers such as those
shewn at ijkt but that what I claim is
in
In pianoforte actions the repetition adjusting screw and the tongue
combination with the levers ijkt and the hammer butt A carried by the
-continuous pivot wire e held by the double metal rack or comb-plates D.
Dated this 21st day of January 1896.
FIRTH & Co.,
77 Chancery Lane, Solicitors, Agents for the Applicant.