Improvements in Mechanism for Regulating the Touch of Organs or other Instruments having Keys.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Sept., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 30th June, 1890-Accepted, 9th Aug.,
1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Mechanism for Regulating the Touch of Organs or
other Instruments having Keys.
1, JAMES JOHN WALKER of 27 Francis Street in the County of Middlesex Organ
Builder do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object an improved means of causing the key of the
organ or other musical instrument to return to its seat with rapidity and certainty
when it is allowed to rise after having been depressed by the performer, and also for
providing a means of regulating the touch of the keys, that is of giving a definite
and similar resistence if required, to all the keys of an instrument irrespective of the
varying weights of the parts of the action to be moved by the keys. I also find it a
convenient means of regulating and adjusting various other parts of the actions of
organs and other musical instruments where it is practicable to apply springs. To
attain my object I use a hollow tube of suitable diameter and length and this tube
is driven or fastened into the frame of the instrument in a convenient position.
Inside the tube I place a screw which may be an ordinary iron or brass screw used
by organ builders and others having a flat underside to its head though this is not
essential, and which screw passing down the tube is sufficiently long to go into the
woodwork of the instrument in which the tube is fastened. This screw is passed
through a hole in a spring of convenient form suitably curved so that whilst one end
rests on the part of the action to be depressed by it the other end rests on the top of
the tube on the side furthest from the bearing of the spring on the action to which
it is applied. By tightening the screw I can cause the curved spring to apply any
desired pressure on the action or vice versa. When I apply my invention to the keys
of an organ or other musical instrument I use my hollow tube and its screw in the
place of the solid pins used to keep the keys of the organ in their places on the key
rail and I find that the increasing resistence of the spring as pressure is applied to
the keys produces a more agreeable touch than the method sometimes employed of
weighting the keys and that the springs and key rail being structurally tied together
assist in maintaining the rigidity of the key rail. As an alternative I sometimes tap,
that is make a screw thread in the inside of the tube and cause the adjusting screw
to engage with it instead of screwing into the woodwork of the instrument.
Dated this 2nd day of September 1889.
JAMES JOHN WALKER.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Mechanism for Regulating the Touch of Organs or
other Instruments having Keys.
I, JAMES JOHN WALKER of 27 Francis Street London in the County of Middlesex
Organ Builder 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 :-
This invention has for its object an improved means of causing the key of the organ
or other instrument to return to its seat with rapidity and promptness when it is
allowed to rise after having been depressed by the performer, and also for providing
a means of regulating the touch, that is, of giving a definite and similar resistence,
if desired, to all the keys of an instrument such as an organ or piano irrespective of
the weight of the parts to be moved by the keys.
A reference to the drawings in which like letters represent like parts will help to
explain the construction of my invention.

page_text: Figure 1 is an elevation in section shewing the key of the instrument a, a, mounted
in its place on the key rail e, e, and having the usual taper aperture through which a
pin is placed to retain the key in its place, usually and preferably the fulcrum of the
key. Instead of the solid pins generally used I employ a hollow tube d, d, which is
driven into or otherwise fixed in the key rail and projects above the face of the key.
Inside this tube I place a screw b, b, which may be an ordinary iron or brass screw
such as is employed by organ builders and others having a head that has a flat
shoulder on its underside (though this is not essential) and which screw passing
down the tube is sufficiently long to go into the wood of the key rail as shown.
Between the head of the screw and the top of the tube I place a flat or other
conveniently formed spring usually shaped as shown at c, c, so that one end rests on
the key, which I usually hollow out to receive it, and act as a guide, and the other
rests on the top of the tube, on the side furthest from the bearing on the key. The
spring has a hole made in it to allow the screw to pass through it.
Figure 2 is a plan of Figure 1 and Figure 3 is a variation of Figure 1 in which
the tube is tapped or made with a screw thread inside it with which the regulating
screw engages.
At times I use my invention in combination with the usual solid pins used for
retaining the key in its place on the key rail and I sometimes employ an additional
key rail placed nearer the tail end of the key to carry my touch regulators or I
attach them to some convenient part of the frame that carries the action in such a
manner that the springs project over and bear on the tail ends of the keys.
It will be seen that by making the spring of the form described and illustrated,
I can cause it to press more or less heavily on the keys as I find necessary regulating
the pressure of the spring to suit the weight of the parts connected with it, so that
the amount of pressure necessary to move the keys may be made various, or absolutely
similar if desired throughout the keyboard. In cases when I employ an electric or
other action I find the increasing resistence by the use of springs produces a more
agreable touch than the method sometimes employed of weighting the tail end of
the key to ensure its return, and the springs and key rail being structurally tied
together assist in maintaining the rigidity of the key rail.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The use of a hollow tube and a screw the screw being placed either in or through
the hollow tube (used in substitution for or in combination with the usual solid pins
which retain the key of an organ or other instrument in its place on the key rail)
in connection with a controlling spring for the purpose and in manner substantially
as above described.
Dated this 30th day of June 1890