IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTER
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Chandler Hewitt, of Richmond, in the County
of Surrey, Professor of Music, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTER."
Sealed the 30th March 1855, and dated the 16th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Chandler Hewitt
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th December 1854.
I, DANIEL CHANDLER HEWITT, of Richmond, in the County of Surrey,
Professor of Music, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTES" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to a mode of avoiding the necessity for con-
structing a costly framework with strong bracings for taking the strain of the
strings of pianofortes. This object 1 effect by availing myself of the resisting
power of one of the walls of the apartment in which a pianoforte is required
to be used. To the brick, stone, or other wall or strong partition of an apart-
ment I affix at any convenient height (by means of iron brackets or otherwise)
a "wrest plank" and a "bent side" or curved bar of the ordinary construction,

page_text: which two parts together carry the strings, and I apply the strings thereto in
the usual manner.
The wall or partition will then take the strain that is ordinarily borne by
the framing of the pianoforte, and by reason of its great resisting power there
will be no giving way to the pull of the strings. The tuning pins I prefer to
make of steel screws, and the opposite ends of the strings I connect in the
usual way to the bent side. In order, however, to facilitate the tuning of the
treble strings, I connect them severally to a lever, which bears against
the upper edge of the "bent side," and is connected thereto by means of an
adjusting screw, by turning which the smallest perceptible variation in the
tension of the string may be readily effected. A sounding board is provided
between the wall and the strings, and it is borne up by coiled springs let into
the wall. In order to increase the pressure of these springs upon the sound-
ing board, when required, adjustable screws carried by the sounding board at
or near the bridge are caused to press upon the springs, and compress them
to the amount required for increasing their resistance to the inward pressure
of the sounding board.
Secondly, to avoid the waste of space now considered necessary between
the strings of the several notes to allow for the lateral movement of the
hammers, I propose to arrange the strings for the several notes on dif
ferent inclined planes, by causing them to bear upon inclined or zig-zag
surfaces, instead of surfaces which lie in a right line. The lateral movement
of the hammers will, of course, be parallel to the plane in which their
respective strings lie, and thus, though the strings are more closely arranged
than heretofore, the action of the hammers will always be confined to their
respective strings.
Thirdly, to prevent as far as possible the tendency of the keys to work loose
and rattle on their fulcrum pins, I propose to raise the level of the bearing
point to a level with the face of the key, and for this purpose I arch the key
at the bearing point, and cause the fulcrum pin to work in the arched part.
These details I propose to apply to pianofortes generally.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Daniel Chandler Hewitt, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
CHANDLER HEWITT, of Richmond, in the County of Surrey, Professor of Music,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Daniel Chandler Hewitt, Her special licence that I, the said Daniel
Chandler Hewitt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Daniel Chandler Hewitt, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Daniel Chandler Hewitt, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Daniel Chandler Hewitt, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates, firstly, to a mode of avoiding the necessity for con-
structing a costly framework with strong bracings, for taking the strain of the
strings of pianofortes. This object I effect by availing myself of the resisting
power of one of the walls of the apartment in which a pianoforte is required
to be used, and connecting thereto at any convenient height a "wrest plank
and a "bent side" or curved bar of the ordinary construction, which two parts
together will carry the strings in the usual manner. The strain of the strings,
which is ordinarily borne by the framing of the pianoforte, will thus be thrown

page_text: upon the wall or partition, and by reason of its great resisting power there
will be no yielding to the pull of the strings.
In the accompanying Drawing this part of my Invention is shewn in several
views.
Fig. 1 represents in sectional elevation a wall with the parts constituting
the pianoforte applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same; and
Fig. 3 is a sectional plan shewing the mode of applying a shifting key-board.
A, A, A, is the wall or partition to which is attached the wrest plank B, B,
and also the bent side C, C, by means of iron brackets or otherwise. The
bent side C may be made of the usual form, or it may consist of several
detached pieces of wood inserted in the wall. The wrest plank is here placed
below and the bent side above, but this arrangement will admit of being
reversed; D, D, is the sounding board, which is secured at its edges to the
wall. The sounding board may either lie between the limits of the wrest
plank and bent side, or extend from the wrest plank to the uttermost limits of
the bent side, and be glued and screwed thereon. By the latter method the
strings must pass on to hitch pins, or to the new tuning apparatus (to be
hereafter described) on the bent side, and in this case two pins to each string
will in most instances be required on the sounding board bridge to compensate
for the want of sufficient down bearing; but, by the first method, as the
strings are attached to hitch pins on the sounding board, a sufficient down
bearing will be obtained to render the use of more than one pin to a string on
the sounding board bridge unnecessary. E, E, are iron brackets for maintaining
the wrest plank and bent side in position; F, F, are two brick piers built up
at opposite ends of the instrument, and standing out a little beyond the front
of the wrest plank and bent side. A free course and uninterrupted space is left
between these two projections or pillars for the sounding board and strings.
G, G, are the strings which are attached at one end to the tuning pins H below,
and at the other end (after passing over the bridges K) to the hitch pins I.
Figures 4 represent two rather stout plates of brass or iron, to be fixed in
the wall or partition A, A, the one marked K on the right and the other
marked L on the left, for the purpose of receiving and supporting the action
and the key-board, the object being that the position of the same may be
shifted when the performer requires to transpose a piece of music from any
one key to that of any other; a pin or hook a, attached to the left-hand side of
the action, drops into one of a series of holes in the plate L, and a similar
hook or pin b projects into the slot of the plate K at the other side of the
instrument. When the pin a is in the hole O, the keys will answer to their

page_text: proper notes, but if this pin be dropped into the hole 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, on
the right of the hole O, then will the instrument be made to transpose respec-
tively 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 semitones higher, and vice versa, if the pin be dropped
into any one of the holes on the left of the hole O. The pin b in the slot
of the plate K will, of course, adapt itself to the exact position required.
The action should be made to turn upon any and every one of the holes
in the plate K, as upon a hinge, for the convenience of replacing a broken
string.
In order to facilitate the tuning of the treble strings, I propose in some
cases to connect those strings severally to a lever which bears against the
bent side, and is connected thereto by means of an adjusting screw, by turning
which the smallest perceptible variation in the tension of the string may be
readily effected. This arrangement is shewn in front view at Fig. 5, and
in cross section at Fig. 6. A -edged bar c is attached to the bent side to
form a fulcrum or knife edge for the levers d to rest upon. On to these levers
the strings are hitched as on to hitch pins, and the rough tuning having been
effected by the ordinary tuning pins H, Fig. 1, the screws c, which pass
through the ends of the levers d, and connect them to the bent side, are
turned by a key for the purpose of elevating the outer ends of the levers. By
this means the strings may be drawn up to the required tension with great
nicety, and without any fear of drawing them up beyond the required pitch.
To give more room for the screws, the levers d are made of two different
lengths, and they are arranged so as to alternate, one long and one short, as
shewn in the Figures. When this tuning apparatus is applied to my improved
construction of wall pianoforte, the strings must be carried forward over the
edge of the bent side, instead of being hitched on to pins standing up from the
sound board or from the face of the "bent side."
The second part of this Invention relates to a mode of arranging the strings
of pianofortes, so as to apply to a new and beneficial use the space between
the strings of the consecutive notes, which space is now considered indis-
pensable in order to permit of the lateral movement of the hammers, when the
soft pedal is brought into action.
The Diagram Fig. 7 represents the ordinary mode of distributing tho
strings when there are three to a note over the wrest plank bridge, by which
arrangement space equal to that apportioned to two strings is left between
each triplet, in order that by means of the pedal in connection with the shifting
movement, the hammers may be made to strike upon either two or one string
to a note instead of three. Now, in order to avoid the many inconveniences

page_text: arising from thus crowding the strings together, and at the same time throwing
away two-fifths of the whole space, I propose to arrange the strings as shewn
at Fig. 8. In this arrangement the strings are set at equal distances apart, and
the wrest plank bridge is notched or provided with a series of inclined planes,
each one of which receives the strings belonging to one note. When, there-
fore, the position of the hammers (which must be canted to suit the face of the
inclined planes) is shifted by the soft pedal movement, for the purpose of
striking upon two or only one string to a note, instead of three, it is evident
they will be prevented from coming into contact, and striking those of the
semitone above, in consequence of this new distribution of the strings. The
dampers as well as the hammers will, of course, require to be slightly modified
to suit this new arrangement. The advantages of this plan will be very great
for tuning, and especially when considered in relation to the present system
after the instrument begins to be worn a little, also for facilitating the adjust-
ment of the shifting movement. Thicker strings in the base will also be
admissable by reason of the increased space provided between the individual
strings, and the tone will also from the same cause be improved.
The third part of this Invention relates to certain means for preventing the
keys of pianofortes from working loose on their fulcrum pins and acting
against each other. Fig. 9 represents in position on the key-board a key,
the peculiarity of which is that its bearing surface is raised to near a level
with the ivory face of the key, by which means greater stability is given to the
key than when its centre of action is in a line with the lower surface of the
key; ff, is the key frame, to which is attached the raised piece g, which
carries the fulcrum pins. The key is shewn at h as formed in two parts,
which are connected together by a bridge piece i. This bridge piece is slotted
in the usual way to receive the fulcrum pin, and allow for the free action of
the key upon it.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in the
Construction of Pianofortes," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim,-
First, applying pianoforte strings to walls or fixed partitions as a substitute
for the strong portable wooden frames and metal bracings at present employed
for taking the strain of such strings.
Secondly, I claim the application to pianofortes generally of the lever
arrangement before described for holding the strings at tension, and facilitating
the tuning of the same.

page_text: Thirdly, I claim arranging the strings of the several notes in different
planes, in the manner and for the purpose above set forth.
And, lastly, I claim raising the level of the bearing point of the keys, in the
manner and for the purpose above explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Chandler Hewitt, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
D. C. HEWITT. (L.S.)