IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANO- PORTES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Hallett, of Clarges Street, Piccadilly, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANO-
PORTES." A communication from Joseph Becker, of the City of New
York.
Sealed the 3rd November 1857, and dated the 11th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Hallett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th May 1857.
I, SAMUEL HALLETT, of Clarges Street, Piccadilly, in the County of Middle-
sex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PIANOFORTES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in pianofortes, and the
Invention consists in constructing the sound boards of pianofortes of a curved
form, and applying the strings thereto so that they, in place of being arranged
in a plane in each instrument as heretofore, are arranged concentric with the
sound boards.
The combination of parts which is preferred when carrying out the Inven-
tion is a cylindrical frame with one or more sounding boards around it of
sufficient capacity to admit of two or more sets of keys on the same cylinder,
thus giving one, two, four, six, or eight sets of keys and key boards to the same
instrument, also one or more sets of strings arranged vertically in a concentric
circle around the cylinder, to which arrangement one or more straight key
boards are applied to the cylinder. The keys of each key board are made:
longer and longer than each other as they diverge from the centre to the left
and to the right, and they are cranked in order that their ends may come into

page_text: proper positions around the cylinder to act on the "stickers," or apparatus
interposed between the keys and the respective hammers and other parts of
the mechanism necessary to the proper action of the hammers and dampers on
their respective strings. It is not essential that there should be as many
as two or that there should be only two curved sound boards to each
pianoforte, but it is preferred that there should be two; or one sufficiently large
for two sets of keys; the cylinder or curved frame may however; if desired,
be made sufficiently extensive to admit of more sound boards being combined
therewith, together with more than two key boards and sets of mechanical
actions. By thus arranging the "actions" of pianofortes around curved or
cylindrical sound boards, not only can the notes of a pianoforte be better
developed, but the system of construction admits of a greater variety of elegant
structures than can now be produced when using flat sound boards.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Hallett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
HALLETT, of Clarges Street, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Hallett, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Hallett,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Samuel Hallett, 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
PIANOFORTES, a communication from Joseph Becker, of the City of New
York, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel
Hallett, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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

page_text: Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Hallett, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in pianofortes, and the
Invention consists in constructing the sound-boards of pianofortes of a curved
form, and applying the strings thereto so that they, in place of being arranged
in a plane in each instrument as heretofore, are arranged concentric with the
sound boards. The combination of parts which is preferred when carrying out
the Invention is a cylindrical frame with one or more sounding boards around
it of sufficient capacity to admit of two or more sets of keys on the same
cylinder, thus giving one, two, four, six, or eight sets of keys and key boards
to the same instrument, also one or more sets of strings arranged vertically in
a concentric circle around the cylinder, to which arrangement one or more
straight key boards are applied to the cylinder. The keys of each key board
are made longer and longer than each other as they diverge from the centre
to the left and to the right, and they are cranked in order that their ends may
come into proper positions around the cylinder to act on the "stickers," or
apparatus interposed between the keys and the respective hammers and other
parts of the mechanism necessary to the proper action of the hammers and
dampers on their respective strings. It is not essential that there should be
as many as two, or that there should be only two curved sound boards to each
pianoforte, but it is preferred that there should be two, or one sufficiently large
for two sets of keys; the cylinder or curved frame may however, if desired,
be made sufficiently extensive to admit of more sound boards being combined
therewith, together with more than two key boards and sets of mechanical
actions. By thus arranging the "actions" of pianofortes around curved or
cylindrical sound boards, not only can the notes of a pianoforte be better
developed, but the system of construction admits of a greater variety of
elegant structures than can now be produced when using flat sound boards.
And in order that the said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.

page_text: 1, 2, of Figure 1. a, a, is the cylindrical sound board of the apparatus, which
is supported by the uprights b, b, fixed at top and bottom to massive rings of
wood c, c', built up by glueing a large number of pieces together. Round the
sound board two sets of strings, arranged concentrically with it, and in order
to resist the strain of the strings, metal tension bars are employed in the
usual way, only that they are arranged to suit the curve of the sound board.
The two sets of strings are acted on by means of keys arranged on two key
boards d and e. It will be seen that the length of the key levers is varied,
according to the distance of the key from the string, so that the key levers
increase in length as they recede from the centre of the key board in either
direction. The keys give motion in the usual way to an action which may be
of any ordinary description, and consequently no detailed description of this
part of the instrument will be necessary; the only changes which I make are,
that the rails carrying the different centres or axes, and which are shewn in
section at Figure 2, are curved, to correspond with the sound board, in place of
being straight, as in ordinary pianos, and that the key levers at the two
extremes of the key boards act by means of secondary levers placed at an angle
to the direction of the key levers. The instrument is enclosed in an orna-
mental case, and in order that the top or cover of this case may with facility be
lifted up
for tuning the instrument, it is fixed upon the end of the upright
screw g, passing through a nut f, carried by a cross bar fixed to the upper
wooden ring c. By arranging the top or cover of the case in this way, it is
readily raised by turning it round, so as to cause the screw to rise up through
its nut. h is a cross bar placed within the cylindrical sound board to prevent
the screw and the top or cover from descending below its proper level. It
will be evident that by increasing the size of the cylindrical sounding board
any désired number of sets of strings may be arranged round it.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Hallett, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
SAM HALLETT. (L.S.)