IMPROVEMENTS IN THE KEYS OF PIANOFORTES AND OTHER KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THEOPHILE
AUGUSTE DRESCHKE, of the Rue Therese, in the City of Paris, late an Officer
of Artillery in the Service of Prussia, and late Professor of Sacred Music at
the University of Berlin, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Thirty-first day of July, in the tenth year of Her reign, did give and
grant unto me, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial license, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, my exors, admors, and assigns,
and such others as I, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter, 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, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE KEYS OF PIANOFORTES AND OTHER
KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS;" in which Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso that I, the said Theophile Auguste Dreschke, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in. what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately the date of the said Letters Patent,
as, on reference thereto, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Theophile Auguste Dreschke, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly ascer-
tained and described in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters marked thereon,
that is to say :-
My Invention consists of Improvements in the Keys of Pianofortes and other
Keyed Musical Instruments. In these keys each note has its usual lever A, B,
on which are fixed in a proper manner four different stops alternately, an
oblong C, a pentagon D, a hexagon E, and an oblong F, or an oblong G, a
hexagon H, a pentagon J, and an oblong K. The length of the first stop
C or G is equal to the breadth of a finger. Its breadth depends on the
hexagon, so that two stops C and G of first part are only as broad as a single
hexagon E. The breadth of the pentagon D or J, and of the hexagon E
or H is one sixth of that of an octave of an ordinary key board, but it can
be reduced to the breadth of a white stop of an ordinary key board. The
length of the pentagon and of the hexagon is equal to the diameter of a
circle described round the hexagon. The length of the fourth stop F or K
depends on the construction of the instrument, provided it be not too short,
which would impede the movement of the hands. The breadth of this stop
For K is equal to that of the first stop C or G. The first stop C or G is
lower than the three others D, E, F, or H, J, K, which are on the same
level. The number of the notes depends on the construction of the instru-
ment to which the key board to be applied. The key board thus made forms
for the level two parts P, L, O, Q, and L, M, N, O, which have both a
smooth surface, except the sides of the each stop, which are rounded, but for
the performance of a piece of music three parts should be distinguised,
P, L, O, Q, L, R, S, O, and R, M, N, S. The first part, P, L, O, Q, and
the third, R, M, N, S, contain the chromatic gamut, a note simply near the
other. The second part L, R, S, O, presenting four rows of stops, contains
the chromatic gamut in zigzag. Each note has two stops in this part, either
a pentagon in the first row and a hexagon in the third, or a hexagon in the
second row, and a pentagon in the fourth row. The key board is white, except

page_text: the black points of two kinds, of which the large ones mark the la and the
mi b, and the small ones the ut and fa #. The invariable order of the
notes is shewn in the Drawing by the Italian names of the notes.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
eighth day of September, One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
THEOPHILE AUGUSTE (L.s.) DRESCHKE.
Taken and acknowledged by Theophile
Auguste Dreschke, party hereto, the
Twenty-eighth day of September,
101 Davis hafnan ma

page_text: By An
AND. BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the oath of William Henry
Ritchie, the Specification aforesaid was enrolled, word for word, as above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.