CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING THE FINGER KEYS AND OTHER PARTS OF PIANO- PORTES, ORGANS, AND OTHER MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I, FREDERICK
WILLIAM ISAAC, of Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, in the County of Middle-
sex, Ivory, Tortoise Shell, and Pearl Worker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of June, in the third year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,"
the said Frederick William Isaac, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Frederick William Isaac, my exors,"
admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick William Isaac,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,"
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of " CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING THE FINGER KEYS AND OTHER PARTS OF PIANO-
PORTES, ORGANS, AND OTHER MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Frederick William Isaac, "shall
cause à particular description of the nature of 'my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said" Majesty's
High Court of Chancery, within six calendar months' next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in 'and' by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear."

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Frederick William Isaac, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and the following description thereof (that is to say) :-
My said Invention of Improvements in Ornamenting the Finger Keys of
Pianofortes, Organs, and other Musical Instruments, consists in new and
improved modes of covering those parts of them which are usually either
veneered with ivory, or made of ebony with pearl, tortoise-shell, turtle-shell,
or other fit and proper rich and beautiful materials, so as not only to add
greatly to their splendid and elegant appearance, but also from the superior
hardness, glossiness, or high polish of their surfaces, to facilitate the rapidity
of the fingering in the performance of quick and brilliant passages in musical
compositions. In covering the finger keys with pearl, I employ the following
improved method: instead of merely cementing flat plates or lamina of pearl
to the wooden parts of the keys by means of glue as usual, I compose a
superior cement in the following manner :-To a solution of the best Salisbury or
other English glue, made in a leaden glue pot with fresh ale to a proper con-
sistency, I add a small quantity of isinglass, which has been previously dissolved
in a mixture of ale and of acetic acid or vinegar by a gentle heat, and also a
little boiled linseed oil, and when the whole have been thoroughly incorporated
by stirring them together at a simmering heat, I add a sufficient quantity of
the fine German carbonate of lead, termed Khrem's white in commerce, or the
finest plaster of Paris finely powdered and sifted, to give to the cement an
uniform white colour, the intent of these additions to the solution of gluc
in ale being to give it the power of resisting the atmospheric changes of heat
and cold and moisture and dryness, and also to suit it to the white colour of
the pearl, and therefore these said additions must be varied in their proportions
accordingly and agreeably to the different qualities of the said compound
materials. In addition to this superior cement, and especially to guard against
the ill effects of hot climates, I introduce between the lamina of pearl and
the wooden part of the keys a slip of cloth, such for instance as hempen, linen,
or cotton sheeting, or of woven silk, or the fine woollen fabrics known as
cacheneris or merinoes, or cloths of any other materials, and of about the same
thickness as the above; instead of cloth, slips of vellum or parchment may be
also used with advantage, the intent being to counteract the great tendency
of glue to shrink and contract in drying, and thereby cracking and loosening,
by the introduction of the above or similar partially elastic and yielding
materials. I-fill the pores or interstices of the said cloth with the above

page_text: composition or improved cement, by laying it upon the wooden part of the
finger key, and by repeatedly striking the brush or Dutch painter's tool filled
therewith upon the surface of the said cloth, until they are completely
saturated therewith, and the cement passes through and effectually binds the
cloth to the wood, when they are to remain till they become perfectly dry.
I then coat the surface of the cloth and of the pearl with the cement, in a
similar manner as when the common glue is used, and laying them together
in their place, I employ the heated caul in the ordinary manner of veneering,
to press the parts together, and expel the extra quantity of cement which
would otherwise remain. In using vellum or parchment instead of cloth, I
merely brush them over with cement, instead of striking the brush upon them
in the manner above described. When the cement is become hard, the pearl
is to be cleaned off and prepared for polishing in the German manner, first,
with pumice-stone powder and water, and then with rotten-stone powder and
sulphuric acid applied upon á soft woollen cloth, with which the pearl must
be rubbed until a beautiful polish is obtained. I can also employ the above
cement and cloth vellum parchment in veneering the finger keys with ivory
and with similar advantages. In veneering the short finger keys with tortoise-
shell or turtle-shell, I employ a similar cement to that before described, only
that it is coloured yellow, green, maroon, red, black, or of any other color
required, by using properly ground and sifted colours accordingly. I likewise
have the cloth dyed of similar colours, and cement it upon the wooden parts
of the keys in the manner above mentioned. I then apply the tortoise-shell
or turtle-shell with the cement, in the usual manner of veneering with tortoise-
shell or turtle-shell, and lastly polish it also in the usual way.
In order, however, to facilitate the process of veneering the short finger
keys with tortoise-shell or turtle-shell, as well also as to render it more durable,
instead of laying the shell upon the wood in several parts or pieces as usual,
I form it into a solid cap or coat in the shape of the key, means of male
and female dies employed in a screw press and immersed in boiling salt water.
In the Drawing Fig. 1 is a front view or elevation and section of such a press,
and dies placed in a boiler, and mounted upon a furnace or fireplace. Fig. 2
is a plan, and Fig. 3 an end section, of parts of the press and dies in the boiler,
the same letters of reference indicating the similar parts in all the Figures.
A is part of the metal frame of the press, having two projecting pieces B, B,
to steady it in the boiler C, and which is furnished with four upright guides
D, D, D, D. Fig. 2, to steady the bottom plate of the press frame within the
boiler. E, the screw of the press. F, the female screw. The lower end of
the screw is made cylindrical, and has a groove made around it. This

page_text: cylindrical, part enters a cylindrical hole, made to receive it in the upper die,
as shewn at G, in Fig. 1; and a cylindrical pin H is passed through a hole
made in the die, and entering the groove, G, thus connects, the, die with the
screw in the manner of a garter piece, and allows the screw to turn and to
raise and depress the die, the shoulder I upon the end of the screw pressing the
die down in use. The die J is guided in its upward and downward movements
within the sides K,,K, of the press, frame, as shewn in Figs. 1 and 3, whilst
the lower die L is lodged and rests between them also. J, Fig. 4, is, an under
view of the top, die; and J, Fig. 5, is a section thereof, J, Fig. 6, being a side
view of it. L, Fig. 7, is a top view of the bottom or lower die; and Fig. 8,
an inside view of one of its two, ends M, M. These ends M, M, are secured
firmly to the body of the die L by means of screws, and there are two steady
pins N, N, Fig. 7, fixed in the upper faces of the ends M, M, which enter
into corresponding holes O, O, made in the under side of the top die J, to
receive them, and as shewn in Fig. 4. The projecting part P.of the top
die J is made to fit the hollowed part Q in the bottom die in such a manner as
to allow of a sufficient thickness of tortoise or turtle shell to lie between them,
when compressed by the action of the screw aided by the lever, R, so as to
form two caps or coats in length at one pressing, and as, shewn in Fig. 9, at S,
and which may be afterwards cut into two parts at the dotted lines, in that
Figure.
Fig. 10 is a section of the full size of part of a short finger key T, with a
wooden block U cemented upon it, in the manner above mentioned, and
covered or veneered with a tortoise or turtle shell cap S also in the
before-mentioned mode; and Fig. 11 is a plan of a short finger key T, with its
tortoise or turtle shell veneer S; and V is a long finger key, having the part
at W veneered with pearl in the above-described mode.
Having thus described the methods of ornamenting the finger keys of
musical instruments, I shall now proceed to the other parts, and which are
the name boards, the key slips, the check pieces, and the candle boards.
These may also be advantageously veneered with tortoise or turtle shell or
with buhl at discretion, by employing the above-mentioned improved cements,
and introducing the cloth, vellum, or parchment in either of the before-men-
tioned methods. I can likewise greatly improve the art of veneering the
cabinet or wood parts of musical instruments with common glue, by introducing
a bed of linen, hempen, or cotton sheeting in the above manner.
I do not mean or intend hereby to claim as my Invention any of the various
means or methods herein mentioned which may already have been known
or in use; but I do hereby claim the introduction of the woven fabrics or cloths

page_text: or vellum or parchment in order to afford a degree of elasticity to the glued
or cemented veneers; and I likewise claim the formation of the tortoise-
shell or turtle-shell caps or coats for the short finger keys in one solid piece,
by means of the screw press and dies, instead of veneering them with separate
pieces.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick William Isaac, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two.
FREDERICK WILLIAM (L.s.) ISAAC.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1832, the aforesaid Frederick William Isaac came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.